signed/unsigned trait programming - c++

Question

I'm starting to learn about traits and templates in c++. What I'm wondering is is it possible to create templates for signed/unsigned integral types. The idea is that the normal class would (probably) be implemented for singed integer types, and the variation for unsigned integer types. I tried:
template <typename T>
class FXP<T>
{ ... };
template <typename T>
class FXP<unsigned T>
{ ... };
but this does not compile.
I even came across:
std::is_integral
std::is_signed
std::is_unsigned
So, how do I put these in action to define a class that only supports these two variants?

Answer 1

In this case, there's a few ways to go about it, but my favorite for cases where there's a limited number of variants (e.g., a boolean or two saying which way it should behave), partial specialization of a template is usually the best way to go:
// Original implementation with default boolean for the variation type
template <typename T, bool is_unsigned = std::is_unsigned<T>::value>
class FXP {
// default implementation here
};
Your next step is to then provide a partial specialization that takes the typename T, but only works for a specific variant of the template parameters (e.g. true or false).
template <typename T>
class FXP<T, false> {
// partial specialization when is_unsigned becomes false
};
template <typename T>
class FXP<T, true> {
// partial specialization when is_unsigned becomes true
};
In this case, if you write a default implementation, you only need to make a specialization for the case that's non-default (like the true case).
Here's an example, where the default case gets overridden by a specialized template parameter:
http://coliru.stacked-crooked.com/a/bc761b7b44b0d452
Note that this is better only for smaller cases. If you need complex tests, you're better off using std::enable_if and some more complicated template parameters (like in DyP's answer).
Good luck!

Answer 2

With an additional template parameter:
#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>
template <typename T, class X = void>
struct FXP
{
// possibly disallow using this primary template:
// static_assert(not std::is_same<X, X>{},
// "Error: type neither signed nor unsigned");
void print() { std::cout << "non-specialized\n"; }
};
template <typename T>
struct FXP< T, typename std::enable_if<std::is_signed<T>{}>::type >
{ void print() { std::cout << "signed\n"; } };
template <typename T>
struct FXP< T, typename std::enable_if<std::is_unsigned<T>{}>::type >
{ void print() { std::cout << "unsigned\n"; } };
struct foo {};
int main()
{
FXP<foo>().print();
FXP<int>().print();
FXP<unsigned int>().print();
}