/*************************************************************************** interfaces.h - description ------------------- begin : Fre Feb 28 2003 copyright : (C) 2003 by Martin Witte email : witte@kawo1.rwth-aachen.de ***************************************************************************/ /*************************************************************************** * * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify * * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by * * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or * * (at your option) any later version. * * * ***************************************************************************/ #ifndef KRADIO_INTERFACES_H #define KRADIO_INTERFACES_H #ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H #include #endif #include #include #include #include /* ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Interfaces - Our Concept Without connection management an interface can be defined easily as empty abstract C++-Class. But that's not what we want. Our interfaces also provide connection management. Thus each interface has exactly one matching counterpart, the complementary interface (cmplIF). Therefore connecting two objects that have matching interfaces can be automated. Our interfaces have to be able to support the following "functions": - send and receive messages (e.g. notifications, commands, ...) to all connected interfaces. These functions do not need a return value, but in some cases the sender might want to know if anyone has received his message. Thus a boolean return value should indicate if the message was handled or ignored. - query for information on connected interfaces / answer queries. These functions usually have a return value. A query is only executed on the "current" or - if not selected - the first or only connection. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Why are we not using QT signal/slots? First the idea of using qt for connecting interfaces is very nice, as the signal/slot model is well known and hopefully properly implemented. But there are some problems: - Signals/slots do not support return values, except "call by reference". To provide queries or a delivery feedback for messages, wrapper functions would have been necessary. - TQt does not support multiple inheritance of TQObjects. Thus even signals have to be declared abstract by the interface though the (later) implementation is already known. Those functions have to be declared as signals in the interface implementation (derived from TQObject) though the implementation does not want to worry about these signals. - TQt does connect functions (signals/slots) and not interfaces. These functions have to be connected separately. By that it is possible to forget to connect signals/slots of that interfaces. - Aggregation of multiple interface implementations (each one is an TQObject) is not possible because qt does not allow multiple inheritance of TQObjects ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// What about our own solution? Well, it eliminates at least the qt-problems explained above. But first we need a common mechanism to manage interface connections. This functionality can be provided by a common base class "InterfaceBase". It stores all connected interfaces in a list of InterfaceBase pointers, e.g. TQPtrList. With this approach we would have some problems: - When calling a function of a connected interface a slow dynamic_cast is necessary to upcast the stored InterfaceBase pointer to the apropriate type. - Multiple inheritance of InterfaceBase must not be virtual. Otherwise interface connection management is mixed between interfaces. (well, virtual inheritance is usually no real issue, but worth a hint;-) To avoid these problems, InterfaceBase is a template with two parameters, thisIF (IF = interface) and cmplIF (complementary IF). With that information the base class for an interface is capable to handle connections with the correct type information. Additionally some pseudo types are declared (thisInterface, cmplInterface, IFList, IFIterator) to make easy-to-use macros for messages and queries possible. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// How do I use it ? - Declarations First you have to declare the two matching interface-classes as unkown classes, because both their names are used in the class declarations. Afterwards you can declare both classes as class derived from InterfaceBase. class Interface; class ComplementaryInterface; class Interface : public InterfaceBase { ... }; class ComplementaryInterface : public InterfaceBase { ... }; With macro abbreviation: INTERFACE(Interface, ComplementaryInterface) { }; INTERFACE(ComplementaryInterface, Interface) { }; In order to receive/send Messages or query/answer queries we have to declare special methods: - sending Messages Declare a virtual constant method with return value "int" and the desired parameters. The return value will indicate how many receivers have handled the message: virtual bool SendingMessages(int any_or_non_param) const; Abbreviation by macros: IF_SENDER( SendingMessages(int any_or_non_param) ) - receiving Messages Declare an abstract Method with return value "bool", and the desired paramters. The return value indicates wether the message was handled or not: virtual bool ReceivingMessages(int any_or_non_param) = 0; Abbreviation by macros: IF_RECEIVER( ReceivingMessages(int any_or_non_param) ) The method has to be implemented by a derived class. The current item of the receivers conntions list is set to the sender. - querying queries Declare a virtual constant method with the desired return value and parameters: virtual int QueryingQueries(int another_param) const; Abbreviation by macros: IF_QUERY( int QueryingQueries(int another_param) ) - answering queries Declare an abstract Method with return value void, and the desired paramters: virtual void AnsweringQueries(int another_param) = 0; Abbreviation by macros: IF_ANSWER( AnsweringQueries(int another_param) ) The method has to be implemented by a derived class. The current item of the receivers conntions list is set to the sender. At last a note on maxConnections. This member is set on initialization by the constructor and thus can be set in a derived class in it's own constructor. Negative values are interpreted as "unlimited". ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// How do I use it ? - Implementations Because we do not have a MOC as TQt does, we have to implement our sending or querying methods by hand. But this minor disadvantage should be considered as less important than the fact, that this implementation is done where it belongs to. Especially because there are easy to use macros to do this: int ComplementaryInterface::SendingMessages(int any_or_non_param) const { IF_SEND_MESSAGE( ReceivingMessages(any_or_non_param) ) // macro includes "return #receivers" } int ComplementaryInterface::QueryingQueries(int another_param) const { IF_SEND_QUERY( AnsweringQuery(another_param), (int)"default return value" ) } Even shorter: IF_IMPL_SENDER( ComplementaryInterface::QueryingQueries(int param), AnsweringQueries(param) ) IF_IMPL_QUERY( int ComplementaryInterface::SendingMessages(int param), ReceivingMessages(param), (int)"default return value" ) ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// How do I use it ? - Disconnect/Connect notifications Usually the virtual methods notifyDisconnect(ed) or notifyConnect(ed) will be called within connect/disconnect methods. As constructors and destructors are not able to call virtual methods of derived classes, there are two possible problems: * Constructors: Calling a connect method in a constructor will not result in a connect notification of any derived class. Thus do not use connect calls in contructors if any derived class hast to receive all connect/disconnect notifications. * Destructors: If connections are still present if the interface destructor is called, it will only call its own empty noticedisconnect method. That shouldn't be a big problem as the derived class is already gone and doesn't have any interest in this notification any more. But it might be possible that the connected object wants to call a function of the just destroyed derived class. That is not possible. Dynamic casts to the derived class will return NULL. Do not try to call methods of this class by use of cached pointers. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Extending and Aggregating Interfaces Our interfaces must be extended by aggregation. The reason is that otherwise we would have the same problems as with a common base class for connection management. Each interface extensions is an normal interface on its own. Example: class I_AM_FM_Radio : public IRadioBase, public IRadioFrequencyExtension, public IRadioSeekExtension { ... }; To guarantee, that connection management continues to work, we have to overwrite the connect and disconnect methods: virtual bool I_AM_FM_Radio::connect (Interface *i) { IRadioBase::connect(i); IFrequencyExtension::connect(i); ISeekExtension::connect(i); } virtual bool I_AM_FM_Radio::disconnect (Interface *i) { IRadioBase::disconnect(i); IFrequencyExtension::disconnect(i); ISeekExtension::disconnect(i); } */ ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // a polymorphic and *virtual* base class so that we can make use of // dynamic_casts in connect/disconnect and to be able to merge // connect/disconnect methods to one single function in case of multiple // inheritance class Interface { public: Interface () {} virtual ~Interface() {} virtual bool connectI (Interface *) { return false; } virtual bool disconnectI(Interface *) { return false; } // "Interface &"-Versions for convienience, not virtual, only "Interface*" // versions have to / may be overwritten in case of multiple inheritance bool connectI (Interface &i) { return connectI (&i); } bool disconnectI(Interface &i) { return disconnectI (&i); } }; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// template class InterfaceBase : virtual public Interface { private: typedef InterfaceBase thisClass; typedef InterfaceBase cmplClass; // friend class cmplClass; // necessary for connects (to keep number of different connect functions low) public: typedef thisIF thisInterface; typedef cmplIF cmplInterface; typedef TQPtrList IFList; typedef TQPtrListIterator IFIterator; typedef thisClass BaseClass; public : InterfaceBase (int maxIConnections = -1); virtual ~InterfaceBase (); // duplicate connects will add no more entries to connection list virtual bool connectI(Interface *i); virtual bool disconnectI(Interface *i); protected: virtual void disconnectAllI(); public: // It might be compfortable to derived Interfaces to get an argument // of the Interface class, but that part of the object might // already be destroyed. Thus it is necessary to evaluate the additional // pointer_valid argument. A null pointer is not transmitted, as the // pointer value might be needed to clean up some references in derived // classes virtual void noticeConnectI (cmplInterface *, bool /*pointer_valid*/) {} virtual void noticeConnectedI (cmplInterface *, bool /*pointer_valid*/) {} virtual void noticeDisconnectI (cmplInterface *, bool /*pointer_valid*/); virtual void noticeDisconnectedI(cmplInterface *, bool /*pointer_valid*/) {} virtual bool isIConnectionFree() const; virtual unsigned connectedI() const { return iConnections.count(); } thisIF *initThisInterfacePointer(); thisIF *getThisInterfacePointer() const { return me; } bool isThisInterfacePointerValid() const { return me_valid; } bool hasConnectionTo(cmplInterface *other) const { return iConnections.containsRef(other); } void appendConnectionTo(cmplInterface *other) { iConnections.append(other); } void removeConnectionTo(cmplInterface *other) { iConnections.removeRef(other); } protected : IFList iConnections; int maxIConnections; // functions for individually selectable callbacks protected: bool addListener (const cmplInterface *i, TQPtrList &list); void removeListener(const cmplInterface *i, TQPtrList &list); void removeListener(const cmplInterface *i); TQMap > > m_FineListeners; private: thisInterface *me; bool me_valid; }; // macros for interface declaration #define INTERFACE(IF, cmplIF) \ class IF; \ class cmplIF; \ class KDE_EXPORT IF : public InterfaceBase \ #define IF_CON_DESTRUCTOR(IF, n) \ IF() : BaseClass((n)) {} \ virtual ~IF() { } // macros to make sending messages or queries easier // debug util #ifdef DEBUG #include using namespace std; #define IF_QUERY_DEBUG \ if (iConnections.count() > 1) { \ kdDebug() << "class " << typeid(this).name() << ": using IF_QUERY with #connections > 1\n"; \ } #else #define IF_QUERY_DEBUG #endif // messages #define SENDERS protected #define RECEIVERS public #define IF_SENDER(decl) \ virtual int decl const; #define IF_SEND_MESSAGE(call) \ int ____n = 0; \ for (IFIterator i(iConnections); i.current(); ++i) { \ if (i.current()->call ) ++____n; \ } \ return ____n; #define IF_IMPL_SENDER(decl, call) \ int decl const \ { \ IF_SEND_MESSAGE(call) \ } #define IF_RECEIVER(decl) \ virtual bool decl = 0; #define IF_RECEIVER_EMPTY(decl) \ virtual bool decl { return false; } // queries #define ANSWERS public #define QUERIES protected #define IF_QUERY(decl) \ virtual decl const; #define IF_SEND_QUERY(call, default) \ cmplInterface *o = IFIterator(iConnections).current(); \ if (o) { \ IF_QUERY_DEBUG \ return o->call; \ } else { \ return default; \ } \ #define IF_IMPL_QUERY(decl, call, default) \ decl const { \ IF_SEND_QUERY(call, default) \ } #define IF_ANSWER(decl) \ virtual decl = 0; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // MACROS for individually selectable callbacks ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// #define IF_SENDER_FINE(name, param) \ protected: \ int name param const; \ public: \ bool register4_##name (cmplInterface *); \ void unregister4_##name(cmplInterface *); \ private: \ TQPtrList m_Listeners_##name;\ #define IF_SEND_MESSAGE_FINE(name, params, call) \ int ____n = 0; \ for (TQPtrListIterator ____it(m_Listeners_##name); ____it.current(); ++____it) { \ if (____it.current()->call ) ++____n; \ } \ return ____n; #define IF_IMPL_SENDER_FINE(class, name, param, call) \ int class::name param const { \ IF_SEND_MESSAGE_FINE(name, param, call) \ } \ \ bool class::register4_##name(cmplInterface *i) { \ return addListener(i, m_Listeners_##name); \ } \ void class::unregister4_##name(cmplInterface *i) { \ m_Listeners_##name.remove(i); \ } ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// template InterfaceBase::InterfaceBase(int _maxIConnections) : maxIConnections(_maxIConnections), me(NULL), me_valid(false) { } template InterfaceBase::~InterfaceBase() { me_valid = false; // In this state the derived interfaces may already be destroyed // so that dereferencing cached upcasted me-pointers in noticeDisconnect(ed) // will fail. // Thus we must ensure that disconnectAll() is called in the (upper) thisIF // destructor, not here (see macro IF_CON_DESTRUCTOR). // If this has not taken place (i.e. the programmer forgot to do so) // we can only warn, clear our list now and hope that nothing // more bad will happen if (iConnections.count() > 0) { thisClass::disconnectAllI(); } } template bool InterfaceBase::isIConnectionFree () const { int m = maxIConnections; return (m < 0) || (iConnections.count() < (unsigned) m); } template thisIF *InterfaceBase::initThisInterfacePointer() { if (!me) me = dynamic_cast(this); me_valid = me != NULL; return me; } template bool InterfaceBase::connectI (Interface *__i) { // cache upcasted pointer, especially important for disconnects // where already destructed derived parts cannot be reached with dynamic casts initThisInterfacePointer(); // same with the other interface cmplClass *_i = dynamic_cast(__i); if (!_i) { return false; } cmplIF *i = _i->initThisInterfacePointer(); if (i && me) { bool i_connected = iConnections.containsRef(i); bool me_connected = i->hasConnectionTo(me); if (i_connected || me_connected) { return true; } else if (isIConnectionFree() && i->isIConnectionFree()) { noticeConnectI(i, i != NULL); _i->noticeConnectI(me, me != NULL); if (!i_connected) appendConnectionTo(i); if (!me_connected) _i->appendConnectionTo(me); noticeConnectedI(i, i != NULL); _i->noticeConnectedI(me, me != NULL); return true; } else { return false; } } return false; } template bool InterfaceBase::disconnectI (Interface *__i) { cmplClass *_i = dynamic_cast(__i); // use cache to find pointer in connections list cmplIF *i = _i ? _i->getThisInterfacePointer() : NULL; // The cached me pointer might already point to an destroyed // object. We must use it only for identifying the entry in // connections list if (i && _i) { if (me_valid) noticeDisconnectI(i, _i->isThisInterfacePointerValid()); } if (me && _i) { if (_i->isThisInterfacePointerValid()) _i->noticeDisconnectI(me, me_valid); } if (i && hasConnectionTo(i)) { removeListener(i); removeConnectionTo(i); } if (me && i && i->hasConnectionTo(me)) i->removeConnectionTo(me); if (me_valid && i && _i) noticeDisconnectedI(i, _i->isThisInterfacePointerValid()); if (_i && _i->isThisInterfacePointerValid() && me) _i->noticeDisconnectedI(me, me_valid); return true; } template void InterfaceBase::noticeDisconnectI(cmplInterface *i, bool /*pointer_valid*/) { removeListener(i); } template void InterfaceBase::disconnectAllI() { IFList tmp = iConnections; for (IFIterator it(tmp); it.current(); ++it) { /* Do not call virtual methods if I'm in the contstructor! Actually this should be ensured by the compiler generated code and virtual method tables, but unfortunately some compilers seem to ignore this in some situations. */ if (me_valid) disconnectI(it.current()); else thisClass::disconnectI(it.current()); } } template bool InterfaceBase::addListener(const cmplInterface *i, TQPtrList &list) { if (iConnections.containsRef(i) && !list.contains(i)) { list.append(i); m_FineListeners[i].append(&list); return true; } else { return false; } } template void InterfaceBase::removeListener(const cmplInterface *i, TQPtrList &list) { list.remove(i); if (m_FineListeners.contains(i)) m_FineListeners[i].remove(&list); } template void InterfaceBase::removeListener(const cmplInterface *i) { if (m_FineListeners.contains(i)) { TQPtrList > &list = m_FineListeners[i]; TQPtrListIterator > it(list); for (; it.current(); ++it) { (*it)->remove(i); } } m_FineListeners.remove(i); } #endif