My static map is always empty - c++

I declared a static unordered map in a header file as follows:
static boost::unordered_map<KeyAction, sf::Key::Code> WindowKeyMap;
in that same header file, i have a function that fills the map with some values:
static void Initialize(std::string &file)
{
WindowKeyMap[MoveLeft] = sf::Key::Code::Left;
WindowKeyMap[MoveRight] = sf::Key::Code::Right;
WindowKeyMap[MoveUp] = sf::Key::Code::Up;
WindowKeyMap[MoveDown] = sf::Key::Code::Down;
std::cout << std::endl << WindowKeyMap.size() << std::endl;
}
Later on in my program, inside a seperate class/function, i attempt to read one of the values:
std::cout << std::endl << WindowKeyMap.size() << std::endl;
auto test2 = WindowKeyMap[MoveRight];
but the map is always empty. The output to the console is always 4 from the initialize routine then 0 from the second cout. I thought static maps were persistent across the program, so I'm a little confused as to how my static map becaomes empty. Can anyone shed some light?
Thanks

When you declare your variable in the header like that each compilation unit (*.cpp) gets it's own local static copy. You have to declare it extern
extern boost::unordered_map<KeyAction, sf::Key::Code> WindowKeyMap;
and in one cpp put
boost::unordered_map<KeyAction, sf::Key::Code> WindowKeyMap;

Simple: just don't do it. While you can get rid of the initialization and scope as suggested by #Eelke, you will shoot yourself in the foot in the long term... Do you really want to have the hash table accessible by everybody and everywhere? Do you really accept the risk of uncontrollable access to the (apparently important) data? Do you really want to have an untestable global state all across your application? Do you really want to have all the dependencies introduced by <unordered_map> pulled into many translation units of your program? I could continue like that for a while but the point is: Wrap the logic and data into a class and provide the service via an interface. Create the instance of the interface via a factory or dependency container and manage the lifetime of that object explicitly.
Regards,
Paul

Related

Questions about DefineClass and my attempted usage of it

I'm trying to create a class/inject a class inside a java process through injecting a DLL into the process and using JNI to interface with java.
I came across a function called DefineClass but i can't quite get it work how i expected it to, so i have a few questions about the parameters the functions take:
In my case, what do i pass as class loader?
It accepts a byte array and its length as the "content" of the class, what would be the correct way of getting these bytes?
Which parts of the class is to be included in the array of bytes? Do i include everything or strip away parts?
Everything i have tried so far has resulted in the function returning null, so I'm not sure where to begin looking. If anyone would include some example usage or important notes about the usage that would be amazing!
jobject defined = jni->DefineClass("ChatFormatting", NULL, reach_buf, 4132);
if (defined == nullptr) {
std::cout << "Defined is NULL." << std::endl;
} else {
std::cout << "Success!" << std::endl;
}
You can get only class name and its' member entries addresses are incorrect.
Before inject, you must change addresses of entries by injectee module address.

C++: How to pass user input through the system without using global variables?

I am having the problem, that my application can has a lot of user input which determines how the application will be run. The application is an in memory database system and the user could for example invoke the program with commands like '--pagesize 16384' (sets the memory page size to use), '--alignment 4096' (sets the memory alignment to use) or '--measure' (sets a flag to measure certain routines).
Currently I save all the user input in global variables which are defined as extern in a header file:
//#file common.hh
extern size_t PAGE_SIZE_GLOBAL;
extern size_t ALIGNMENT_GLOBAL;
extern size_t MEMCHUNK_SIZE_GLOBAL;
extern size_t RUNS_GLOBAL;
extern size_t VECTORIZE_SIZE_GLOBAL;
extern bool MEASURE_GLOBAL;
extern bool PRINT_GLOBAL;
extern const char* PATH_GLOBAL;
and in main source file:
#include "modes.hh"
size_t PAGE_SIZE_GLOBAL;
size_t ALIGNMENT_GLOBAL;
size_t MEMCHUNK_SIZE_GLOBAL;
size_t RUNS_GLOBAL;
size_t VECTORIZE_SIZE_GLOBAL;
bool MEASURE_GLOBAL;
bool PRINT_GLOBAL;
const char* PATH_GLOBAL;
int main(const int argc, const char* argv[]){
...
//Initialize the globals with user input
PAGE_SIZE_GLOBAL = lArgs.pageSize();
ALIGNMENT_GLOBAL = lArgs.alignment();
MEMCHUNK_SIZE_GLOBAL = lArgs.chunkSize();
RUNS_GLOBAL = lArgs.runs();
VECTORIZE_SIZE_GLOBAL = lArgs.vectorized();
MEASURE_GLOBAL = lArgs.measure();
PRINT_GLOBAL = lArgs.print();
std::string tmp = lArgs.path() + storageModel + "/";
PATH_GLOBAL = tmp.c_str();
...
}
I then include the header file common.hh in each file, where a global variable is needed (which can be very deep down in the system).
I already read a dozen times to prevent global variables so this is obviously bad style. In the book 'Code Complete 2' from Steve McConnell the chapter about global variables also stated to prevent global variables and use access routines instead. In the section 'How to Use Access Routines' he writes
"Hide data in a class. Declare that data by using the static keyword
(...) to ensure only a single instance of the data exists. Write
routines that let you look at the data and change it."
First of all, the global data won't change (maybe this is changed later but at least not in the near future). But I don't get how these access routines are any better? I will also have a class I need to include at every file where the data is needed. The only difference is the global data are static members accessed through getter functions.
(Edited) I also thought about using a global data Singleton class. But an object with ALL the global data sounds overkill since only a few global variables of the object are needed at its different destinations.
My Question: Should I just stick to the global variables? Are there better solutions, what am I missing? What are the best practices?
Edit:
If I would identify a few classes where the user input is needed the most, I could change the global data to member variables. What would be the best practice to pass the user input to these classes? Passing the data as parameters through the whole system down to the lowest layers sounds wrong. Is there are design pattern (thinking about something like a factory) which would be suited here?
How to pass user input through the system without using global
variables.
It is easy. Surprise, I created a class.
For a while, I called this class a travel case, because I considered it analogous to the needs of a suitcase during a trip. The TC_t is a non-standard container which held useful things for what is going on at your destination, and there is only one created, with references passed to any other objects that could use the information. Not global, in the strictest sense.
This TC_t is created in main() thread, while studying the command line options.
I recently wrote yet-another-game-of-life. User inputs included a) destination of output (i.e. a tty num), b) initial fill-pattern choices, c) 'overrides' for game board dimensions, d) test modes, including max speed, and vector vs. array options for cell behaviours.
The GOLUtil_t (Game Of Life Utility) (previously TC_t) includes methods that are useful in more than one effort.
For your question, the two typical globals I avoided are the a) gameBoard, and b) ansi terminal access.
std::cout << "accessing '" << aTermPFN << "' with std::ofstream "
<< std::endl;
std::ofstream* ansiTerm = new std::ofstream(aTermPFN);
if (!ansiTerm->is_open())
{
dtbAssert(nullptr != ansiTerm)(aTermPFN);
std::cerr << "Can not access '" << aTermPFN << "'" << std::endl;
assert(0); // abort
}
// create game-board - with a vector of cell*
CellVec_t gameBoard;
gameBoard.reserve (aMaxRow * aMaxCol);
GOLUtil_t gBrd(aMaxRow, aMaxCol, gameBoard, *ansiTerm);
This last line invoked the ctor of GOLUtil_t.
The instance "gBrd" is then passed (by reference) to the ctor of the game, and from there, to any aggregate objects it contained.
std::string retVal;
{
// initialize display, initialize pattern
GameOfLife_t GOL(gBrd, timeOfDay, fillPatternChoiceLetter, useArray);
std::string retValS = GOL.exec2(testMode);
retVal = gBrd.clearGameBoard(retValS); // delete all cells
}
// force GameOfLife_t dtor before close ansiTerm
ansiTerm->close();
Summary - No globals.
Every instance of any class that needed this info (where to output? what are dimensions?) has access to the GOLUtil_t for their entire lifetime. And GOLUtil_t has methods to lighten the coding load.
Note: because single output terminal, I used a single thread (main)
Your first refactor effort might be to:
a) remove the global classes,
b) and instead instantiate these in main() (for lifetime control)
c) and then pass-by-reference these formerly global instances to those non-global objects that make use of them. I recommend in the ctor(s).
d) remember to clean up (delete if new'd)
my environment: Ubuntu 15.10, 64 bit, g++ V5

DLL – static vector which is filled up at DLL’s initialization time, returns zero size to the client program

I am experiencing the following issue, in my DLL project:
At the DLL side :
Inside the DLL I have declared a static vector as follows :
static std::vector<FilterProcessor::FilterInfo*> TableOfContents;
At DLL’s initialization time of static members, I am adding some entries to the above vector.
I have defined an extern “C” global function (getTocPointer()) which is returning a pointer to the vector, when it called from the client program.
extern "C" __declspec(dllexport) std::vector<FilterProcessor::FilterInfo*>* __cdecl getLibraryTOC();
At the client’s program side :
The DLL library is loaded without any problem
The address of getTocPointer() function is returned correctly to the client program, when the getProcAddress() function is called.
Indeed, when I am performing the debugging process in the DLL-side, the client program calls the above function and the execution process enters to it.
However, the vector has a zero size and, has no any contents which were added to it at initialization time. It seems it points to another vector object. . .
I can’t really understand what exactly goes wrong here.
The way of adding entries to this vector at initialization time, is the proper way?
If yes, what probably goes wrong when the client program calls the getLibraryTOC() function?
Thanks in advance
George
If that static global definition of the vector appears in a header file, then yes you do have multiple different vectors. Change the keyword static to extern to make the header file declare the vector rather than defining it, and then add exactly one definition in an implementation file.
Then, you may encounter the static initialization order fiasco. If the vector is defined in a different compilation unit than the code attempting to add entries to it, there's no guarantee that the vector object is alive yet. Attempting to use a vector whose constructor hasn't run is undefined behavior -- it might easily manifest as the constructor running afterward and setting the contents to zero length (as a default constructor should), but many other problems are possible.
You can avoid the SIOF by using a local static.
std::vector<FilterProcessor::FilterInfo*>& table_of_contents()
{
static std::vector<FilterProcessor::FilterInfo*> singleton;
return singleton;
}
In every location that would have accessed the global, including the initialization logic that fills the vector, and also your getLibraryTOC() exported function, call the accessor function instead.
That all is applicable to any C++ software having multiple compilation units. When you have a DLL, things get even more complicated, because the DLL and EXE are compiled and linked separately from each other, possibly with different settings, different compilers, or even entirely different languages. Sharing of complex objects across DLL boundaries is real trouble. If the DLL and EXE are always recompiled at the same time, it can work. But if you're trying to distribute the DLL for use by another party who writes the EXE code, the strong coupling will quickly become intolerable.
A better approach is to hide the library objects from the DLL boundary, and pass only primitive or OS-managed types across. For example:
#define DLLAPI __declspec(dllexport) __cdecl
extern "C" DLLAPI int32_t getLibraryTocCount()
{ return table_of_contents.size(); }
extern "C" DLLAPI BSTR getLibraryTocName(int index)
{ return ::SysAllocString(table_of_contents[index].name.c_str(); } // assumes std::wstring
// etc
The library I have implemented contains the following code (in a brief description) :
An Index class which implements the Table of contents of the library
A collection of audio filters named Filter01, Filter02 etc.
Index.h
struct LIB_SPECS Library_TableOfContents
{
static bool addTOCEntry(FilterInfo* Filter_Info); // add an entry to the TOC
static std::vector<FilterInfo*> TableOfContents; // TOC
};
/*-------------------------------------------------------------------
Called from the client program to return the pointer to TOC */
extern "C" LIB_SPECS std::vector<FlterInfo*>* __cdecl getLibraryTOC();
Index.cpp
/* Define / Initialize static variables */
std::vector<FilterInfo*> Library_TableOfContents::TableOfContents = {};
//=====================================================================
bool Library_TableOfContents::addTOCEntry(FilterInfo* Filter_Info)
{
Library_TableOfContents::TableOfContents.push_back(Filter_Info);
return false;
}
//======================================================================
std::vector<FilterInfo*>* getLibraryTOC()
{
return &Library_TableOfContents::TableOfContents;
}
For each Audio Filter in the library :
Filterxx.h
class LIB_SPECS Filterxx
{
public:
static struct FilterInfo
{
public:
std::string filterName;
std::string filterDescription;
// other filter info
FilterInfo(); // FilterInfo constructor
} Filter_Info;
virtual String doSomeWork(int AvatarId);
virtual void deleteFilter() = 0;
};
Filterxx.cpp
Filterxx::FilterInfo Filterxx::Filter_Info("Filterxx", “A filter description e.g. Low pass Filter ” ); //
FilterInfo::FilterInfo(std::string name, std::string description)
{
Filter_Info.filterName = name;
Filter_Info.filterDescription = description;
Library_TableOfContents::addTOCEntry(&Filter_Info);
}
// other filter functions
The getLibraryTOC() function, is called from the client program to get the table of contents in order to show it to the user.
As I said, indeed it is called by the client but, at the time of call, the table of contents seems to have a zero size.

How to keep track of call statistics? C++

I'm working on a project that delivers statistics to the user. I created a class called Dog,
And it has several functions. Speak, woof, run, fetch, etc.
I want to have a function that spits out how many times each function has been called. I'm also interested in the constructor calls and destructor calls as well.
I have a header file which defines all the functions, then a separate .cc file that implements them. My question is, is there a way to keep track of how many times each function is called?
I have a function called print that will fetch the "statistics" and then output them to standard output. I was considering using static integers as part of the class itself, declaring several integers to keep track of those things. I know the compiler will create a copy of the integer and initialize it to a minimum value, and then I'll increment the integers in the .cc functions.
I also thought about having static integers as a global variable in the .cc. Which way is easier? Or is there a better way to do this?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Using static member variables is the way to go. However, the compiler will not "create a copy of the integer and initialize it to a minimum value"; you'll have to provide a definition for each one in the .cc file and initialize it to 0 there. (Things are a bit different if you're using C++11, but the basic idea is the same.)
There's no reason to use static global variables instead of static members.
foo.h:
class Foo {
static int countCtor_;
static int countDtor_;
static int countprint_:
Foo();
~Foo();
static void print();
};
foo.cc:
#include <iostream>
#include "foo.h"
int Foo::countCtor_ = 0;
int Foo::countDtor_ = 0;
int Foo::countprint_ = 0;
Foo::Foo() {
++countCtor_;
// Something here
}
Foo::~Foo() {
++countDtor_;
// Something here
}
void Foo::print() {
++countprint_;
std::cout << "Ctor: " << countCtor_ << "\n"
<< "Dtor: " << countDtor_ << "\n"
<< "print: " << countprint_ << "\n";
}
But if you've got a lot of functions, the repetition involved is a bit annoying—it's very easy to accidentally do ++countBar_ when you meant ++countBaz_ (especially if you copy and paste the boilerplate), so you may want something a bit fancier, such as a static map and a macro that increments counts[__FUNC__], so you can just use the exact same line in each function. Like this:
foo.h:
#include <map>
class Foo {
static std::map<const char*, int> counts_;
Foo();
~Foo();
void print();
};
foo.cc:
#include <iostream>
#include "foo.h"
std::map<const char *, int> Foo::counts_;
#define INC_COUNT_() do { ++counts_[__FUNC__]; } while (0)
Foo::Foo() {
INC_COUNT_();
// Something here
}
Foo::~Foo() {
INC_COUNT_();
// Something here
}
void Foo::print() {
INC_COUNT_();
for (std::map<const char *, int>::const_iterator it = counts_.begin();
it != counts_.end(); ++it) {
std::cout << it->first << ": " << it->second << "\n";
}
}
In the example code above, __FUNC__ is a placeholder. Unfortunately, there is no standard-compliant value you can use in its place. Most compilers have some subset of __func__, __FUNC__, __FUNCTION__, __FUNCSIG__, and __PRETTY_FUNCTION__. However, none of those are standard in C++03. C++11 does standardize __func__, but only as an "implementation-defined string", which isn't guaranteed to be useful, or even unique. On top of that, the values will be different on different compilers. Also, some of them may be macros rather than identifiers, to make things more fun.
If you want truly portable code, in C++11, you can use something like string(__func__) + ":" + STRINGIZE(__LINE__)—this will be somewhat ugly, but at least each function will have a unique name. And in C++03, there is no equivalent. If you just need "portable enough", consult the documentation for every compiler you use, or rely on something like autoconf.
Is there any reason you can't use standard profiling tools that will count these calls for you? Something like gprof?
Otherwise static integers would be the way to go.
Assuming you want these statistics tracked all the time in your program, you could use an unordered_map of your function names:
std::unordered_map<const char *, unsigned> stats;
void foo () {
// use __FUNCDNAME__ for MSVC
++stats[__PRETTY_FUNCTION__];
//...
}
The use of compiler specific function name specifiers is purposefully there to get the decorated function names. This is so that overloaded function names get counted as separate functions.
This technique allows you to add new functions easily without thinking about anything else, but there is a small additional cost if there are hash collisions (which can be remedied somewhat by sizing the stats map to be larger). There is no hash computed on the string, since the key is a pointer type, it just uses the pointer value itself as the hash.
If this is just one-off code for profiling, then you should first try to use the code profiling tools available on your platform.
You can put static locals inside the methods themselves, that seems cleaner since these variables aren't logically connected to the class so there's no reason to make them members.
Additionaly, you could have a macro to simplify the work. I normally don't recommend using macros, but this seems like an appropriate use:
#define DEFINE_COUNTER \
static int noCalls = 0; \
noCalls++;
void foo()
{
DEFINE_COUNTER
}
Use a library that implements the Observer Pattern or Method Call Interception. You can choose one from this list, or use something like Vitamin.

Getting function pointers from specific files

I have a lot (perhaps hundreds) of different c++ files. Each one contains 10 functions, all of them taking in an int and a double and returning an int.
So the pointer to one of these functions in one of these files would look like this:
int (*foo)(int, double);
And then I have a class, which contains 10 of these function pointers.
Is it possible to have the constructor of this class take in a file name of one of these c++ files, put that file's functions into its pointers, and be able to use the functions later?
Preferably it would work so that even if two functions from different files had the same name it would still work (the idea is that multiple programmers could submit different files into the list, and they might use the same names for their 10 functions), but if that's not possible I could figure out something to avoid that.
From what I've searched, I can't seem to find anything that lets you differentiate between files when choosing functions, and even if I were to concatenate the functions into one file, there's still the problem of trying to designate which 10 functions to pick (as they all have the same arguments).
Is there any way to do this? Is there any better solution that I'm just not thinking of?
Is there any way to do this? Is there any better solution that I'm
just not thinking of?
You could just use different namespaces for them I think ? I mean each group of 10 functions in their own namespace; that way they won't conflict any more.
Other than that, you could try some dlsym + dlopen weirdness (or their win32 counterparts). It's not something I would do though.
I believe you are describing a dynamic linking library (aka shared object in Linux-land).
To achieve what you ask literally, you can turn each C++ file into a dynamic library and in the library constructor register the set of functions in some global map using FILE string as a key or declare them static, and make sure each file has some static variable whose initializer triggers functions' registration in the same global map.
To implement the same using plugin approach you can do it the way similar to what I have done it here (just download plugin.tgz, article is not yet ready). Contents:
app.cc - application, loads all plugins' libraries
module.cc - a plugin class implementing a business interface
module_ifc.h and a "loadable" interface bootstrap_ifc.h
client.cc - a plugin implementing bootstrap_ifc.h and using
method from module.cc resolved at runtime
Each of your C++ files having the same set of function would have a class implementing abstract business interface (useful part, all your functions) and bootstrap interface (unified initialization part, will be used by plugin loader). Each such class would be put into a separate shared library that declares class instance constructor and destructor methods.
A simple class to work with shared libraries on Linux:
#include <dlfcn.h>
class library {
void* _handle;
public:
library(char const* path);
~library();
template <typename F> F func(char const* name);
};
library::library(char const* path) {
_handle = dlopen(path, RTLD_NOW);
if (!_handle) throw std::runtime_error(dlerror());
std::clog << "opened library " << path << ", handle=" << std::hex << _handle << std::dec << "\n";
}
library::~library() {
if (_handle) dlclose(_handle);
std::clog << "closed library, handle=" << std::hex << _handle << std::dec << "\n";
}
template <typename F> F library::func(char const* name) {
dlerror();
F func = reinterpret_cast<F>(dlsym(_handle, name));
const char *dlsym_error = dlerror();
if (dlsym_error) throw std::runtime_error(dlsym_error);
std::clog << "loaded symbol " << name << ", ptr=" << std::hex << ((void*)func) << std::dec << "\n";
return func;
}