How to get n-th attribute of class in C++ - c++

Question

With a normal class. For example:
class A {
public:
int a;
std::string b;
A() {}
~A() {}
}
We can do:
A x;
x.a = 1;
x.b = "hello";
But now I don't want to do like above. I want to access n_index-th attribute of object. For example pseudo like x.get<2>() (or x.set<2>(...)) like x.b.
How can do that? Have any template for that.
Beside if I want code like that
int number = 2;
x.get<number>()
Any problem with constexpr?

Answer 1

I think the closest you can get is using boost::fusion.
An example would be
#include <boost/fusion/adapted.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/sequence.hpp>
#include <boost/mpl/int.hpp>
#include <iostream>
class A {
public:
int a;
std::string b;
A() {}
~A() {}
};
BOOST_FUSION_ADAPT_STRUCT(A,
(int, a)
(std::string, b)
)
using namespace boost::fusion;
int main()
{
A x;
x.a = 1;
x.b = "hello";
std::cout << at<boost::mpl::int_<0>>(x) << '\n';
std::cout << at<boost::mpl::int_<1>>(x) << '\n';
at<boost::mpl::int_<0>>(x) = 5;
at<boost::mpl::int_<1>>(x) = std::string("World");
std::cout << at<boost::mpl::int_<0>>(x) << '\n';
std::cout << at<boost::mpl::int_<1>>(x) << '\n';
}

Answer 2

If you want to set several values at the same time when you create the object, you could use a multi-parameter constructor. For example, let's imagine you have this:
class A {
public:
int a;
std::string b;
A() {}
~A() {}
};
You could add a constructor that sets a and b:
class A {
public:
int a;
std::string b;
A() {}
A(int a, std::string b) {
this->a = a;
this->b = b;
}
~A() {}
};
That way, you can create your object and set a and b with :
A a = A(1, "hello");
There is no ready-made way of setting the n-th attribute of your object. You could make one, but I would very, very highly recommend that you don't. Like I said above, if you reorder your attributes, then you will have to rework everything.
If you really, really want to make your life very, very, very much harder, a very ugly and error-prone way of doing this would be like :
template<class T>
void A::setNth(int nth, const T& value) {
switch (nth) {
case 1: a = value; break;
case 2: b = value; break;
// You should #include <stdexcept> to use runtime_error, or you could handle the exception in some other way.
default: throw std::runtime_error("A::setNthAttribute : Value of nth is out of bounds.");
}
}
For the getter:
template<class T>
void A::getNth(int nth, T& valueOut) {
switch (nth) {
case 1: valueOut = a; break;
case 2: valueOut = b; break;
default: throw std::runtime_error("A::getNthAttribute : Value of nth is out of bounds.");
}
}
You would use these methods like this:
A a;
a.setNth(1, 2); // put 2 into a
int i;
a.getNth(1, i); // put a into i
Just writing this code send shivers down my spine. Please, never write what I just wrote. Chuck Norris will kill yoU agfh
86sd asdsa dDASD8!4.

Answer 3

What you are considering is in fact possible, but a bit of a headache. I would approach it by creating a template getter and setter for every member that one can set or get, and then having a template method that takes an int and sets or gets the appropriate property. The getters/setters would have to be specialized for the correct type, and throw an error for other types. This method would have to use a switch to return the right member:
class bar {
private:
int a;
std::string b;
template<T>
T getA() {
// error
}
template<T>
T getB() {
// error
}
template<T>
void setA(const T& A) {
// error
}
template<T>
void setB(const T& B) {
// error
}
template <> std::string getB(); // specialization
template <> int getA();
template <> void setB(const std::string&);
template <> void setA(int);
public:
template<T>
T get(int what) {
switch(what) {
case 1:
return getA();
case 2:
return getB();
default:
// handle error here
break;
}
}
template<T>
void set(int what, const T& t) {
switch(what) {
case 1:
return setA<T>(t);
case 2:
return setB<T>(t);
default:
// handle error here
break;
}
}
};
bar b;
b.set<std::string>(2, "foo");
auto str = b.get<std::string>(2);

Answer 4

Here's an elaborate way to accomplish what you want.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
// A namespace explicitly defined for class A.
namespace A_NS
{
// A template for members of A.
template <int> struct Member;
// Specialization for the first member.
template <> struct Member<1>
{
using type = int;
type var;
};
// Specialization for the second member.
template <> struct Member<2>
{
using type = std::string;
type var;
};
}
class A {
public:
A() {}
~A() {}
template <int N> typename A_NS::Member<N>::type get() const
{
return static_cast<A_NS::Member<N> const&>(members).var;
}
template <int N> void set(typename A_NS::Member<N>::type const& in)
{
static_cast<A_NS::Member<N>&>(members).var = in;
}
private:
// Define a type for the member variables.
struct Members : A_NS::Member<1>, A_NS::Member<2> {};
// The member variables.
Members members;
};
int main()
{
A a;
a.set<1>(10);
a.set<2>("test");
std::cout << a.get<1>() << ", " << a.get<2>() << std::endl;
}
Output:
10, test