Using a C++ library for a C application - c++

Question

I have a command line (+HTTP interface) audio application in C, which currently is being compiled with gcc on Mac OSX, but which I would like to keep this application linux compatible.
However, I would like to use the freeverb3 library. This is in C++. I would prefer not to convert all my code to C++. I don't (as far as I can see) need to call any C code from C++, nor will I need to use C++ objects in my C code. Simple method calls passing arrays of doubles plus a few ints as arguments will be all that I need in terms of interaction from my main application an the C++ code.
From some quick googling, it seems that I can write a C++ interface module, which can then expose some c compatible functions that I can call to make use of freeverb3. I"ve written a micro example to see how this might work. For this example, I have a dummy c++ file called test.cpp:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class test_class
{
int a;
public:
int get_a();
void set_a( int v );
};
int test_class::get_a()
{
return a;
}
void test_class::set_a( int v )
{
a = v;
}
static test_class *c;
extern "C"
{
void init();
void set( int v );
int get();
}
void init()
{
c = new test_class();
}
void set( int v )
{
c->set_a( v );
}
int get()
{
return c->get_a();
}
I have a dummy c file that calls the functions:
#include <stdio.h>
/* Forward declaratoins for extern "C" functions in C++ code */
void init();
int get();
void set( int v );
/* C language code that references functions in C++ code */
int main()
{
init();
set( 55 );
printf( "value: %d\n", get() );
set( get() + 12 );
printf( "value: %d\n", get() );
return 0;
}
And, I have a makefile that creates an executable.
test: test.o user.o
g++ -o test user.o test.o
test.o: test.cpp
g++ -c test.cpp
user.o: user.c
gcc -c user.c
Is this a good way of using C++ code from C? Is there a better/more sophisticated/more traditional way of achieving this aim?

Answer 1

You might want to think about it the other way.
Write your higher level application in C++, invoke the C++ library where you want without complications and call all your current C modules from the C++ level.
IMHO, this is easier to achieve than doing the same with C as high level.

Answer 2

If you intend to use more than one C++ object from C you need to pass an extra instance pointer (this) to the C wrapper functions:
struct A {
A();
~A();
void set(int);
};
The C wrapper:
extern "C"
{
struct A* a_create(void);
void a_destroy(struct A*);
void a_set(struct A*, int);
}
You may also like to catch all C++ exceptions in the C wrapper functions and convert them to error codes.

Answer 3

Pass a pointer to your object instead of using a static variable.
C++ class:
class Foo
{
public:
void doStuff();
};
Common include file:
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C"
{
#endif
void Foo_doStuff(void* handle);
void* Foo_create();
void Foo_destroy(void* handle);
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif
Wrapper functions
void Foo_doStuff(void* handle)
{((Foo*)handle)->doStuff();}
void* Foo_create()
{return new(nothrow)Foo;}
void Foo_destroy(void* handle)
{delete (Foo*)handle;}

Answer 4

Not sure whether this goes from C to C++ but it is well worth looking into Swig

Answer 5

Make an extern "C" wrapper in C++, e.g.
// myWrapper.h
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C"
{
#endif
void func1(void);
int func2(void);
void func3(char const *str_ptr, size_t len);
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif
// myWrapper.cpp
#include "myWrapper.h"
#include "your_cpp_library.h"
void func3(char const *str_ptr, size_t len)
{
std::string s(str_ptr, str_ptr + len);
call_cpp_function(s);
}
// etc.
In your C code you #include "myWrapper.h" and call those functions. Make sure that:
The code in myWrapper.h stays in the common subset of C and C++
You do not do any cross-boundary resource allocation
The latter might work but it's best to avoid it to be safe. The latter point means that if memory is to be allocated, it must be allocated and freed by the same side; e.g. you can't have the C++ side call malloc and give a pointer to the C side, and then have the C side call free. You have to pass the pointer back to whoever allocated it and let them free it.
Important: as Alf says in a comment, you must have main() in C++ and use the C++ linker , when doing C - C++ inter-linking. This is not a big hurdle though; you can rename your C code's main() function to main2(), and have the C++ code do extern "C" int main2(); and call it.