[sigc] Generic member functors

[JinXXXX Kili Billl <pbasista hotmail com>]

Hello,

I have been trying to use sigc++ library to make a kind of a generic member functor, but I didn't succeed.

Basically, I would like to create a functor, to which I would be able assign arbitrary member functions of any class derived from a previously chosen base class. I tried this, but with not much luck. I am attaching a simple example where I would like to show what exactly I mean.

I hope that something like this is possible with sigc++.

I have also come across several ambiguities with sigc++, which are commented in the source file. I don't understand the behavior of sigc++ there, and I marked these spots, so you can look at them.

Thank you all in advance.

---

Get news, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Check it out!

/** If you have pkg-config, then you can compile this file for example like this:
 * c++ -Wall `pkg-config --cflags --libs sigc++-2.0` sigcpp.cpp
 */

#include <iostream>
#include <sigc++/sigc++.h>

class Parent {
public:
	int f (int i, double d, char c);
};

int Parent::f (int i, double d, char c) {
	std::cout << "Parent::f" << std::endl;
	return 0;
}

class Child : public Parent {
public:
	int g (int i, double d, char c);
};

int Child::g (int i, double d, char c) {
	std::cout << "Child::g" << std::endl;
	return 0;
}

typedef sigc::slot<int, Parent *, int, double, char> sp;

typedef sigc::slot<int, Child *, int, double, char> sch;

typedef sigc::mem_functor3<int, Parent, int, double, char> mfp;

typedef sigc::mem_functor3<int, Child, int, double, char> mfch;

typedef sigc::mem_functor4<int, Parent, int, double, char, char *> mfp4;

typedef sigc::mem_functor4<int, Child, int, double, char, char *> mfch4;

int foo (void) {
	Parent p;
	Child ch;

	mfp a_p = sigc::mem_fun(& Parent::f); 	// <-- This works.
	a_p(& p, 0, 1.0, 'c');	/// <-- Works
	a_p(& ch, 0, 1.0, 'c');	/// <-- Works

//	mfp a_ch = sigc::mem_fun(& Child::g); 	// <-- Doesn't work, which seems strange.
//	Compile error: conversion from â??sigc::mem_functor3<int, Child, int, double, char>â?? to non-scalar type â??mfpâ?? requested

//	mfch b_p = sigc::mem_fun(& Parent::f);	// <-- Doesn't work, but this seems correct, because of conversion from Parent to Child.
//	Compile error: conversion from â??sigc::mem_functor3<int, Parent, int, double, char>â?? to non-scalar type â??mfchâ?? requested

	mfch b_ch = sigc::mem_fun(& Child::g);	// <-- This works.
//	b_ch(& p, 0, 1.0, 'c');		/// <-- Doesn't work, but this is OK.
//	Correctly displayed error message: invalid conversion from â??Parent*â?? to â??Child*â??
	b_ch(& ch, 0, 1.0, 'c');	/// <-- Works

	sp c_p = sigc::mem_fun(& Parent::f);	///  <-- This works
	c_p(& p, 0, 1.0, 'c');		/// <-- Works
	c_p(& ch, 0, 1.0, 'c');		/// <-- Works

//	sp c_ch = sigc::mem_fun(& Child::g);	///  <-- This does not work, which seems also strange.
//	Compile error: invalid conversion from â??Parent* constâ?? to â??Child*â??

        sch d_p = sigc::mem_fun(& Parent::f);		///  <-- This compiles, which is strange.
//	d_p(& p, 0, 1.0, 'c');		// <-- But this refuses to compile, which is correct.
//      Correctly displayed error message: invalid conversion from â??Parent*â?? to â??Child*â??
	d_p(& ch, 0, 1.0, 'c'); 	// <-- Works

        sch d_ch = sigc::mem_fun(& Child::g);		///  <-- This works
//	d_ch(& p, 0, 1.0, 'c');		/// <-- Doesn't work, but this is OK.
//	Correctly displayed error message: invalid conversion from â??Parent*â?? to â??Child*â??
	d_ch(& ch, 0, 1.0, 'c');	/// <-- Works
	
	// I would like to ask for explnation of how to work-around this previously mentioned error:
	//
	// Error: invalid conversion from â??Parent* constâ?? to â??Child*â??
	//
	// First, why the `const` is added there?
	
	/** I agree that this error is in some way reasonable and I know that this usage of functors is not exactly correct.
	 *  But is there a correct usage, then?
	 *  
	 *  What I would like to achieve:
	 *  
	 *  Have a generic functor, to which I would be able to assign a member function
	 *  of arbitrary class derived from the previously specified base class. The only limitations
	 *  would be the number of parameters and the type of parameters. I would also like to be able
	 *  to alter the number of parameters as well as their type by standard means of sigc++ library.
	 *  
	 *  The most important is that I would like this functor to behave as the unbound member functor,
	 *  so I would be able to choose the instance from which the member function will be called.
	 *
	 *  How can I achieve something like this?
	 */
	
	return 0;
}

int main (int argc, char ** argv) {
	std::cout << foo() << std::endl;
	return 0;
}