Inserting the data ,containing a pointer, to vector - c++

I have a following class:
class Op
{
private:
std::vector<std::string> m_operands;
std::string m_op;
public:
Op(std::string op = "") : m_op(op){}
std::string GenCode();
void AddOperand(std::string& operand) ;
std::vector<std::string> GetOperands() const { return m_operands; }
std::string GetOp() const { return m_op; }
};
The instances of the class are saved to std::vector<Op> m_movOpV;
I.e. the following method adds a new op:
Op* AddMovOp()
{
Op op("MovOp");
m_movOpV.push_back(op);
return &m_movOpV.back();
}
In addition I have defined :
typedef std::pair<std::string,Op*> Assignment;
std::vector<Assignment> m_proceduralAssign;
Thus,after adding the Op,I can generate an Assignment using the following function :
void AddAssignment(ModuleVCodeGen::Op* op,const std::string& lExp)
{
Assignment assignment = (Assignment)std::make_pair(lExp,op);
m_proceduralAssign.push_back(assignment);
}
The belowfollowing scenario generates a problem:
1.Op* op1 = AddMovOp();
2.op1->AddOperand("operand1");
3.AddAssign(op,"1");
4.Op* op2 = AddMovOp();
After performing the step 4. m_movOpV is updated correctly with new Op.But m_proceduralAssign has a junk data : The Assignment that already exists in m_proceduralAssign turns to have empty m_operands and bad pointer to m_op.
And no new Assignment (which I tried to add) is added.
Can you please advise where the problem happens?And how to solve it?

You should revisit your design. A big problem I see with your code right now is that, references and pointers to vector objects are invalidated quite often (during push_backs and other operations), so by returning a pointer to the newly inserted item you are asking for trouble. If I were you I'd look into saving the index instead.

Related

Save reference to void pointer in a vector during loop iteration

Guys I have a function like this (this is given and should not be modified).
void readData(int &ID, void*&data, bool &mybool) {
if(mybool)
{
std::string a = "bla";
std::string* ptrToString = &a;
data = ptrToString;
}
else
{
int b = 9;
int* ptrToint = &b;
data = ptrToint;
}
}
So I want to use this function in a loop and save the returned function parameters in a vector (for each iteration).
To do so, I wrote the following struct:
template<typename T>
struct dataStruct {
int id;
T** data; //I first has void** data, but would not be better to
// have the type? instead of converting myData back
// to void* ?
bool mybool;
};
my main.cpp then look like this:
int main()
{
void* myData = nullptr;
std::vector<dataStruct> vec; // this line also doesn't compile. it need the typename
bool bb = false;
for(int id = 1 ; id < 5; id++) {
if (id%2) { bb = true; }
readData(id, myData, bb); //after this line myData point to a string
vec.push_back(id, &myData<?>); //how can I set the template param to be the type myData point to?
}
}
Or is there a better way to do that without template? I used c++11 (I can't use c++14)
The function that you say cannot be modified, i.e. readData() is the one that should alert you!
It causes Undefined Behavior, since the pointers are set to local variables, which means that when the function terminates, then these pointers will be dangling pointers.
Let us leave aside the shenanigans of the readData function for now under the assumption that it was just for the sake of the example (and does not produce UB in your real use case).
You cannot directly store values with different (static) types in a std::vector. Notably, dataStruct<int> and dataStruct<std::string> are completely unrelated types, you cannot store them in the same vector as-is.
Your problem boils down to "I have data that is given to me in a type-unsafe manner and want to eventually get type-safe access to it". The solution to this is to create a data structure that your type-unsafe data is parsed into. For example, it seems that you inteded for your example data to have structure in the sense that there are pairs of int and std::string (note that your id%2 is not doing that because the else is missing and the bool is never set to false again, but I guess you wanted it to alternate).
So let's turn that bunch of void* into structured data:
std::pair<int, std::string> readPair(int pairIndex)
{
void* ptr;
std::pair<int, std::string> ret;
// Copying data here.
readData(2 * pairIndex + 1, ptr, false);
ret.first = *reinterpret_cast<int*>(ptr);
readData(2 * pairIndex + 2, ptr, true);
ret.second = *reinterpret_cast<std::string*>(ptr);
}
void main()
{
std::vector<std::pair<int, std::string>> parsedData;
parsedData.push_back(readPair(0));
parsedData.push_back(readPair(1));
}
Demo
(I removed the references from the readData() signature for brevity - you get the same effect by storing the temporary expressions in variables.)
Generally speaking: Whatever relation between id and the expected data type is should just be turned into the data structure - otherwise you can only reason about the type of your data entries when you know both the current ID and this relation, which is exactly something you should encapsulate in a data structure.
Your readData isn't a useful function. Any attempt at using what it produces gives undefined behavior.
Yes, it's possible to do roughly what you're asking for without a template. To do it meaningfully, you have a couple of choices. The "old school" way would be to store the data in a tagged union:
struct tagged_data {
enum { T_INT, T_STR } tag;
union {
int x;
char *y;
} data;
};
This lets you store either a string or an int, and you set the tag to tell you which one a particular tagged_data item contains. Then (crucially) when you store a string into it, you dynamically allocate the data it points at, so it will remain valid until you explicitly free the data.
Unfortunately, (at least if memory serves) C++11 doesn't support storing non-POD types in a union, so if you went this route, you'd have to use a char * as above, not an actual std::string.
One way to remove (most of) those limitations is to use an inheritance-based model:
class Data {
public:
virtual ~Data() { }
};
class StringData : public Data {
std::string content;
public:
StringData(std::string const &init) : content(init) {}
};
class IntData : public Data {
int content;
public:
IntData(std::string const &init) : content(init) {}
};
This is somewhat incomplete, but I think probably enough to give the general idea--you'd have an array (or vector) of pointers to the base class. To insert data, you'd create a StringData or IntData object (allocating it dynamically) and then store its address into the collection of Data *. When you need to get one back, you use dynamic_cast (among other things) to figure out which one it started as, and get back to that type safely. All somewhat ugly, but it does work.
Even with C++11, you can use a template-based solution. For example, Boost::variant, can do this job quite nicely. This will provide an overloaded constructor and value semantics, so you could do something like:
boost::variant<int, std::string> some_object("input string");
In other words, it's pretty what you'd get if you spent the time and effort necessary to finish the inheritance-based code outlined above--except that it's dramatically cleaner, since it gets rid of the requirement to store a pointer to the base class, use dynamic_cast to retrieve an object of the correct type, and so on. In short, it's the right solution to the problem (until/unless you can upgrade to a newer compiler, and use std::variant instead).
Apart from the problem in given code described in comments/replies.
I am trying to answer your question
vec.push_back(id, &myData<?>); //how can I set the template param to be the type myData point to?
Before that you need to modify vec definition as following
vector<dataStruct<void>> vec;
Now you can simple push element in vector
vec.push_back({id, &mydata, bb});
i have tried to modify your code so that it can work
#include<iostream>
#include<vector>
using namespace std;
template<typename T>
struct dataStruct
{
int id;
T** data;
bool mybool;
};
void readData(int &ID, void*& data, bool& mybool)
{
if (mybool)
{
data = new string("bla");
}
else
{
int b = 0;
data = &b;
}
}
int main ()
{
void* mydata = nullptr;
vector<dataStruct<void>> vec;
bool bb = false;
for (int id = 0; id < 5; id++)
{
if (id%2) bb = true;
readData(id, mydata, bb);
vec.push_back({id, &mydata, bb});
}
}

C++ invalid object return semantics

Couldn't find the answer in any similar-named question.
I want a user to be able to initialize a string member at any point in the lifetime of an object, not necessarily on construction, but I want them to know that the object is invalid until the string is initialized...
When creating a simple class, say the following:
#include <string>
class my_class {
public:
my_class() : _my_str() { }
my_class(const std::string & str) : my_class() {
set_my_str(str);
}
std::string get_my_str() const {
return _my_str;
}
void set_my_str(const std::string & str) {
_my_str = str;
}
private:
std::string _my_str;
};
and a user creates an empty instance of the class (i.e. using the empty constructor), _my_str will be an empty/uninitialized string?
So, I see two ways of handling behavior: the way mentioned above, where an empty string is returned, or a possible second way:
#include <string>
class my_class {
public:
my_class() : _my_str(), _my_str_ptr(nullptr) { }
my_class(const std::string & str) : my_class() {
set_my_str(str);
}
std::string * get_my_str() const {
return _my_str_ptr;
}
void set_my_str(const std::string & str) {
_my_str = str;
_my_str_ptr = &_my_str;
}
private:
std::string _my_str;
std::string * _my_str_ptr;
};
Where you return a nullptr, and you maintain a pointer to a local variable?
Is that valid behavior? Which way is preferred and why? Wouldn't the second way be better since you are telling the user, "listen, this object is currently invalid, you need to initialize it" while still implying that you are managing the lifetime of such object.
_my_str will be an empty/uninitialized string?
Empty, yes. Uninitialized, no. It's completely initialized (to an empty string).
Where you return a nullptr, and you maintain a pointer to a local variable?
Is that valid behavior?
Yes it's valid, but
Which way is preferred and why? Wouldn't the second way be better since you are telling the user, "listen, this object is currently invalid, you need to initialize it" while still implying that you are managing the lifetime of such object.
It makes absolutely no sense to maintain two distinct member variables for this. It sounds like what you need is std::optional (or the equivalent in Boost, boost::optional), so that _my_str has two states: empty/invalid (contains no string) and non-empty/valid (contains a string):
#include <string>
#include <experimental/optional>
using std::experimental::optional;
class my_class {
public:
my_class() /* default-initializes _my_str as empty */ { }
my_class(const std::string & str) : _my_str(str) { }
const std::string * get_my_str() const {
if (_my_str) // if it exists
return &*_my_str; // return the string inside the optional
else
return nullptr; // if the optional is empty, return null
}
/* Or simply this, if you don't mind exposing a bit of the
implementation details of the class:
const optional<std::string> & get_my_str() const {
return _my_str;
}
*/
void set_my_str(const std::string & str) {
_my_str = str;
}
private:
optional<std::string> _my_str;
};
If "" (an empty string) can be used as a sentinel value to signify the "empty/invalid" state in your case, then you can just do this:
#include <string>
class my_class {
public:
my_class() /* default-initializes _my_str as "" */ { }
my_class(const std::string & str) : _my_str(str) { }
const std::string * get_my_str() const {
if (!_my_str.empty()) // if it'a non-empty
return &_my_str; // return the non-empty string
else
return nullptr; // if it's empty, return null
}
void set_my_str(const std::string & str) {
_my_str = str;
}
private:
std::string _my_str;
};
In general, the pattern you're referring to is called Null object pattern.
The "oldest way" of implementing it was using one of possible values of a variable and reserving it for "no value" meaning. In case of a string an empty string commonly was used in such a way. Obviously not always possible, when all values were needed.
The "old way", was always using a pointer - (const T* get_t() const). This way the whole range of variable values could be meaningful, and still "no value" semantics were available by means of returning a null pointer. This was better, but still pointers are not as comfortable to use, not safe. Nowadays, pointers are usually bad engineering.
The modern way is optional<T> (or boost::optional<T>).
An empty std::string value is not per definition invalid. It is just empty.
On important difference is that the second "get_..." approach does not copy the object but gives the user a non const pointer to the internal string which leads to violation of const correctness since you imply that the class may not be changed by having const at the get method while still providing a pointer that may change the internal state.
If your logic implies that "empty string" == "invalid" and if this is a possible state there is not much of a difference whether the user must do
if (get_my_str())) // use valid pointer to nonempty string versus
if(!get_my_str().empty()) // use valid nonempty string
I think.
You'd want to return std::string const & from your get method and leave it to the user wether to copy the object or not.
4.1. No forced copy (versus by value return std::string)
4.2. No pointer which may be nullptr and accidentally dereferenced.
4.3. Passing around and storing a pointer which may outlive the object is more common that dangling references.
I want a user to be able to initialize the string later on, not necessarily on construction, but I want them to be able to know that the object is invalid until the string is initialized...
The question is: Is an empty string actually a "valid" value after proper initialization?
If yes: use optional to add one additional state signaling validity.
If no: let the emptyness of the string stand for invalidity of your object.

C++: Immutable method versions

In C++11, what is the best way to provide two versions of a method, one to modify the object itself and one to return a modified copy?
For example, consider a string class which has the "append(string)" method. Sometimes you might want to use append to modify your existing string object, sometimes you might want to keep your string object the same and create a copy.
Of course, I could just implement the first version and manually create a new object everytime I need one but that adds multiple temporary variables and lines of code to my project.
If it is still not clear what I am trying to do:
String s1("xy");
String s2 = s1.appendCopy("z");
s1.appendThis("w");
// s1 == "xyw"
// s2 == "xyz"
In Ruby there is a concept (or rather, a naming convention) which says for such methods, there are two variants: append (creates a new String) and append! (modifies this object)
C++ does not have something like this, so I would be stuck with ugly method names like "appendCopy".
Is there a good way to implement what I am trying to do?
So far, the best idea I had would be to make the modifying versions class members and the copying/immutable versions static methods which take the object to work on as a const argument.
There is actually a guideline, expressed by Herb Sutter in GotW #84:
Prefer non-member non-friend functions.
In your specific case, append (in-place) requires modifying the existing string so is well-suited to be a class-method, while append (copying) does not, so (following the guideline) should not be a class-method.
Thus:
void std::string::append(std::string const&);
inline std::string append(std::string left, std::string const& right) {
left.append(right);
return left;
}
After popular request, here are two overloads that can be used to optimize performance. First the member-version that may reuse its argument's buffer:
void std::string::append(std::string&& other) {
size_t const result_size = this->size() + other.size();
if (this->capacity() < result_size) {
if (other.capacity() >= result_size) {
swap(*this, other);
this->prepend(other);
return;
}
// grow buffer
}
// append
}
And second the free-function that may reuse its right-hand buffer:
inline std::string append(std::string const& left, std::string&& right) {
right.prepend(left);
return right;
}
Note: I am not exactly sure there are not ambiguous overloads manifesting. I believe there should not be...
With the new move semantics you can write:
class A{
public:
// this will get the property
const dataType& PropertyName() const { return m_Property; }
// this wil set the property
dataType& PropertyName() { return m_Propery; }
private:
dataType m_Propery;
};
main()
{
A a;
a.PropertyName() = someValueOfType_dataType; // set
someOtherValueOfType_dataType = a.PropertyName(); // get
}

Access to map data

I have a complex map that defined
typedef short short1
typedef short short2
typedef map<short1,short2> data_list;
typedef map<string,data_list> table_list;
I have a class that fill table_list
class GroupingClass
{
table_list m_table_list;
string Buildkey(OD e1){
string ostring;
ostring+=string(e1.m_Date,sizeof(Date));
ostring+=string(e1.m_CT,sizeof(CT));
ostring+=string(e1.m_PT,sizeof(PT));
return ostring;
}
void operator() (const map<short1,short2>::value_type& myPair) {
OD e1=myPair.second;
string key=Buildkey(e1);
m_table_list[key][e1.m_short1]=e1.m_short2;
}
operator table_list() {
return m_table_list;
}
};
and I use it by
table_list TL2
GroupingClass gc;
TL2=for_each(mapOD.begin(), mapOD.end(), gc);
but when I try to access to internal map I have problems
for example
data_list tmp;
tmp=TL2["AAAA"];
short i=tmp[1]; //I dont update i variable
and when debug it, I see code try add new value to map.then when tmp var is const this cause to a error
but if i use a loop by itrator this work properly
why this no work at first way
thanks herzl
std::map<Key,Value>::operator[](Key const& k) will look for key k. If it's not found, it will insert a new Value() and return a reference to that. This is a modifying operation. Therefore, operator[] is non-const.
The code does not make sense. What is OD? myPair.second would be short in operator() but then you do e1.m_short2 which does not make any sense.
Your likely bug is that for_each takes its 3rd parameter by value which means it is going to make copies of that map and probably you will lose the changes.
You can force for_each to take the 3rd value by reference either by specifying the template parameter directly or by wrapping in boost::ref. However you would do far better to make your functor take the map it is building by reference in its constructor rather than have an instance of a map.
class GroupingClass
{
table_list & m_table_list;
string Buildkey(OD e1)
{
string ostring;
ostring+=string(e1.m_Date,sizeof(Date));
ostring+=string(e1.m_CT,sizeof(CT));
ostring+=string(e1.m_PT,sizeof(PT));
return ostring;
}
public:
explicit GroupingClass( table_list & the_table_list ) :
m_table_list( the_table_list )
{
}
void operator() (const map<short1,short2>::value_type& myPair) const
{
OD e1(myPair.first); // probably what you meant
string key=Buildkey(e1);
m_table_list[key][e1.m_short1]=e1.m_short2;
// did you mean m_table_list[key][myPair.first] = myPair.second; ?
}
};
and use it by
table_list TL2;
for_each(mapOD.begin(), mapOD.end(), GroupingClass(TL2));

Am I Deleting my struct Properly?

This is a homework assignment. The Field container was the assignment from a week ago, and now I'm supposed to use the Field container to act as a dynamic array for a struct NumPair which holds two char * like so:
struct NumPair
{
char *pFirst, *pSecond;
int count;
NumPair( char *pfirst = "", char *psecond = "", int count = 0)
: pFirst(strdup(pfirst)), pSecond(strdup(psecond)), count(count)
{ }
NumPair( const NumPair& np )
: count(np.count), pFirst(strdup(np.pFirst)), pSecond(strdup(np.pSecond))
{ }
NumPair& operator=( const NumPair& np )
{
if(this != &np)
{
pFirst = strdup(np.pFirst);
pSecond = strdup(np.pSecond);
count = np.count;
}
return *this;
}
and the Field container
Field<NumPair> dict_;
The homework requires the use of char *, and not string, so that we can get better with all this low-level stuff. I've already had some question about char to wchar_t conversions, etc.
Now I have a question as to whether or not I'm destructing the NumPair properly. The scenario is as follows:
1) Field destructor gets called
template <class T>
Field<T>::~Field()
{
delete[] v_;
}
2) Delete calls the destructor of every element NumPair in v_;
~NumPair()
{
free(pFirst);
free(pSecond);
}
Is this okay? I haven't really read too many articles about mixing and matching elements created on the heap and free-store as we wish. I figure as long as I don't use delete on an improper malloc'ed element, I should be fine.
However, I don't know the entire intricacies of the delete command, so I'm wondering whether or not this is valid design, and what I could do to make it better.
Also, of course this isn't. I'm getting an error of the type:
This may be due to a corruption of the heap and points to dbgheap
extern "C" _CRTIMP int __cdecl _CrtIsValidHeapPointer(
const void * pUserData
)
{
if (!pUserData)
return FALSE;
if (!_CrtIsValidPointer(pHdr(pUserData), sizeof(_CrtMemBlockHeader), FALSE))
return FALSE;
return HeapValidate( _crtheap, 0, pHdr(pUserData) ); // Here
}
Again, how could I improve this without the use of string?
FIELD CTOR/Copy Ctor/Assignment
template <class T>
Field<T>::Field()
: v_(0), vused_(0), vsize_(0)
{ }
template <class T>
Field<T>::Field(size_t n, const T &val)
: v_(0), vused_(n), vsize_(0)
{
if(n > 0)
{
vsize_ = 1;
while(vsize_ < n)
vsize_ <<= 1;
v_ = new T[vsize_];
std::fill(v_, (v_ + vused_), val);
}
}
template <class T>
Field<T>::Field(const Field<T> &other)
: v_(new T[other.vsize_]), vsize_(other.vsize_), vused_(other.vused_)
{
std::copy(other.v_, (other.v_ + other.vused_), v_);
}
template <class T>
Field<T>& Field<T>::operator =(const Field<T> &other)
{
this->v_ = other.v_;
this->vused_ = other.vused_;
this->vsize_ = other.vsize_;
return *this;
}
FIELD MEMBERS
T *v_;
size_t vsize_;
size_t vused_;
Your copy constructor (of Field<>) seems OK, but the operator= is problematic.
Not only does it leak memory (what happens to the original v_?), but after that, two instances of Field<> hold a pointer to the same block of memory, and the one that is destructed first will invalidate the others v_ - and you can't even tell whether that has happened.
It's not always easy to decide how to deal with operator= - some think that implicit move semantics are okay, but the rest of us see how that played out with the majority of people, with std::auto_ptr. Probably the easiest solution is to disable copying altogether, and use explicit functions for moving ownership.
Your string handling in NumPair looks ok (strdup + free) and your Field container delete[] looks okay but it's hard to say because you don't show what v_ is.
eq mentions in a comment that you should also beware of how you are copying NumPairs. By default, C++ will give you an implicit member-wise copy constructor. This is where a RAII type like std::string makes your life easier: Your std::string containing struct can be copied without any special handling on your part and memory referenced in the string will be taken care of by the string's copy. If you duplicate your NumPair (by assigning it or returning it from a function for example) then the destruction of the temporary will free your strings out from under you.
Your copy constructor for Field just copies the pointers in v_. If you have two copies of a Field, all of the NumPairs in v_ will be deleted when the first Field goes out of scope, and then deleted again when the second one does.