Event Callback Daemon - c++

Question

I am working on an event daemon in C++ that I would like to use member function callbacks. Basically an event queue would collect events which the daemon continuously services. There is a base class Event struct with an ID and all events would derive from it. I would like the methods registered for each event to use the derived event type in their signature.
struct Event
{
unsigned int eventId;
};
struct EventA : public Event
{
unsigned int x;
unsigned int y;
};
// and struct EventB, EventC (use your imagination...)
const unsigned int EVENT_A = 1;
const unsigned int EVENT_B = 2;
const unsigned int EVENT_C = 3;
class Foo
{
public:
void handlerMethod_A(const EventA& e);
void handlerMethod_B(const EventB& e);
};
class Bar
{
public:
void handlerMethod_C(const EventC& e);
};
Then the Daemon would allow these classes to subscribe their member functions using their 'this' pointer.
class EventDaemon
{
public:
void serviceEvents();
template <class CallbackClass, class EventType>
void subscribe(
const unsigned int eventId,
CallbackClass* classInstancePtr,
void (CallbackClass::*funcPtr)(EventType));
private:
Queue<Event*> eventQueue_;
};
So outside this class you could do something like:
EventDaemon* ed = new EventDaemon();
Foo* foo = new Foo();
Bar* bar = new Bar();
ed->subscribe(EVENT_A, foo, Foo::handlerMethod_A);
ed->subscribe(EVENT_B, foo, Foo::handlerMethod_B);
ed->subscribe(EVENT_C, bar, Bar::handlerMethod_C);
And the EventDaemon loop would be along the lines of
void EventDaemon::serviceEvents()
{
while (true)
{
if (eventQueue_.empty())
{
// yield to other threads
}
else
{
// pop an event out of the FIFO queue
Event e* = eventQueue_.pop();
// somehow look up the callback info and use it
classInstancePtr->*funcPtr(reinterpret_cast<?*>(e));
}
}
}
So my question is how I can store the 'this' pointers and member function pointers in some sort of array by event ID. That way I could look up the 'classInstancePtr' and 'funcPtr' by using e->eventId and the event type as well for the reinterpret cast.

Answer 1

You are working too hard. Use boost functions:
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_47_0/doc/html/function.html
These work whether you have a object or not. They will increase your compile time.
Note, whenever you come across these types of questions where you know many people must have had the same problem, there is probably a simple option and, if it is not in the standard library, it is probably in boost.
In response to Nick, I'm constantly throwing boost function objects into vectors and whatnot.
I've found that, while boost function objects can hold object references, having them do so can lead to bugs with object lifetimes and it is better to have them hold copies of the class objects (you run into the same bugs however you try to hold a reference to a object instance that you don't necessarily control the lifetime of). The pattern:
class Foo
{
struct Member
{
// member variable definitions
};
shared_ptr<Member> m_; // the only real member variable
public:
// etc. including the all-important copy
// constructor and assignment operator and
// don't forget the member function that gets stuck into
// the boost function as a callback!
};
where all the member variables get held in a shared_ptr allows for good performance and you don't have to worry about lifetimes of objects held by function objects because you can copy them by value. Threaded code (what I always seem to be writing nowadays) needs additional things like at least one boost mutex element in Member or some other way to assure values don't get stomped on.

Answer 2

boost::function [or, if your system supports it, std::function] will take care of holding the this pointer quite well, with the added benefit of not requiring an actual object if it isn't necessary. So instead of void (SomeType::*)(EventA) you have std::function<void(EventA)>, and you call std::bind as appropriate.
subscribe(EVENT_A, std::bind(&foo::handleEventA, &foo, std::placeholders::_1));
A trivial wrapper function can be used to provide the same signature as you originally proposed and hide the nasty placeholders.
You do, of course, still have the issue of each event type having its own signature, and the need to ensure you use the correct Event ID code. In both cases, your base Event type can help out. Your callback need not accept an EventA&; it can accept an Event&, and dynamic_cast it to an EventA at runtime. For the ID, query the type directly.
struct Event {
virtual void ~Event() { }
virtual int ID() =0;
};
template<typename E>
struct EventHelper : Event {
virtual int ID() { return E::EventID; }
};
struct EventA : EventHelper<EventA> {
static const int EventID = 89;
};
Now, if you have an Event* object [when you go to dispatch your events], you can do p->ID() to get the appropriate ID, and if you have a EventA type [when you register your callbacks] you can do EventA::EventID.
So now, all you have to store is a std::function<void(const Event&)> and an associated int value for each of your callbacks, no matter what the actual type of event you have.
void subscribe(int id, std::function<void(const Event&)> f) {
callbacks.insert(std::make_pair(id, f));
}
template<typename E>
void subscribe(std::function<void(const Event&)> f) {
subscribe(E::EventID, f);
}
template<typename O, typename E>
void subscribe(O* p, void (O::*f)(const Event&)) {
subscribe<E>(std::bind(f, p, std::placeholders::_1));
}
You still have the issue that user error when subscribing can result in a function being called incorrectly. If you've used dynamic_cast correctly within the callback, this will get caught at runtime, but a compile time check would be nice. So what if we automate that dynamic_cast? For this step, I'm going to use c++11 lambdas, but it can be implemented in C++03 as well using a variety of methods.
template <class CallbackClass, class EventType>
void subscribe(CallbackClass* classInstancePtr, void (CallbackClass::*funcPtr)(EventType)) {
subscribe<EventType::EventID>([&](const Event& e) {
(classInstancePtr->*funcPtr)(dynamic_cast<const EventType&>(e));
});
}
So now we've gone full circle back to your original interface where your callbacks accept the actual type they are going to be working on, but internally you've squeezed them all into a common signature.

Answer 3

Okay, so I finished an implementation of my original desired interface. I was looking through Dennis' answer but eventually got lead to functors and I realized what I was looking for was a simple polymorphic solution. I failed to grasp before that I could create a non-templated base class with which to use for storing templated classes in vectors/arrays. I think this is what mheyman was trying to tell me... so I apologize I didn't get it right away. Just to clarify though I was really looking for the implementation solution for my own benefit and knowledge, not just a 3rd party library to get the job done. So I guess I would be looking for how Boost functions work, not just that they exist and are awesome.
If anyone is still interested here are the important parts of what I ended up with (minus some extraneous stuff and error checking):
EventFunctor is basically a pointer to member function template class
EventFunctorBase is the non-templated base class used to store them in a vector
The Event is dynamic cast using the templated type before being used to invoke the callback
class EventDaemon
{
public:
template <class CallbackClass, class EventType>
void subscribe(
const EventId eventId,
CallbackClass* callbackClassInstancePtr,
void (CallbackClass::*funcPtr)(const EventType&));
private:
EventFunctorBase* callbacks_[MAX_NUM_EVENTS];
};
template <class CallbackClass, class EventType>
void EventDaemon::subscribe(
const EventId eventId,
CallbackClass* callbackClassInstancePtr,
void (CallbackClass::*funcPtr)(const EventType&))
{
callbacks_[eventId] = new EventFunctor<CallbackClass,EventType>(callbackClassInstancePtr,funcPtr);
}
class EventFunctorBase
{
public:
EventFunctorBase();
virtual ~EventFunctorBase();
virtual void operator()(const Event& e)=0;
};
template <class CallbackClass, class EventType>
class EventFunctor : public EventFunctorBase
{
public:
EventFunctor(
CallbackClass* callbackClassInstancePtr,
void (CallbackClass::*funcPtr)(const EventType&));
virtual void operator()(const Event& e);
private:
CallbackClass* callbackClassInstancePtr_;
void (CallbackClass::*funcPtr_)(const EventType&);
};
template <class CallbackClass, class EventType>
EventFunctor<CallbackClass,EventType>::EventFunctor(
CallbackClass* callbackClassInstancePtr,
void (CallbackClass::*funcPtr)(const EventType&))
:
callbackClassInstancePtr_(callbackClassInstancePtr),
funcPtr_(funcPtr)
{
}
template <class CallbackClass, class EventType>
/*virtual*/ void EventFunctor<CallbackClass,EventType>::operator()(const Event& e)
{
(callbackClassInstancePtr_->*funcPtr_)(dynamic_cast<const EventType&>(e));
}
EventDaemon loop
while (true_)
{
if (eventQueue_->empty())
{
// yield to other threads
}
else
{
Event* e = eventQueue_.pop();
(*(callbacks_[e->ID]))(*e);
}
}
My final steps here will be to try and remove the need to have the developer define an ID for each event... of course this might end up a new post later this week.