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GAUGE3D::GSmartPointer Class Template Reference

A reference-counting smart pointer class. More...

#include <gauge3d/object.h>

Inherits GAUGE3D::GSmartPointerBase.

List of all members.

Public Methods
tType&	operator[] (int index)const
	Array access for smart pointers that point to arrays.
	operator tType * ()const
	Cast to standard pointer.
Constructors and Destructors
	GSmartPointer ()
	Sets pointer to NULL.
	GSmartPointer (tType *object)
	Cast from regular pointer. More...
	GSmartPointer (const GSmartPointer &other)
	Copy constructor.
	GSmartPointer (const GSmartPointerBase &other)
	Cast constructor from smart pointers for other types. More...
	~GSmartPointer ()
	Decrement reference count and delete if zero.
Assignment Operators
These work like you'd expect them to.
const GSmartPointer&	operator= (const GSmartPointer &other)
const GSmartPointer&	operator= (const GSmartPointerBase &other)
const GSmartPointer&	operator= (tType *other)
Equality Tests
These work like you'd expect them to.
bool	operator== (const GSmartPointer &other)const
bool	operator== (const GSmartPointerBase &other)const
bool	operator== (const tType *other)const
Dereferencing
These work like you'd expect them to.
tType&	operator * ()
const tType&	operator * ()const
tType*	operator-> ()
const tType*	operator-> ()const

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Detailed Description

template<class tType> class GAUGE3D::GSmartPointer

A reference-counting smart pointer class.

GSmartPointer is a reference counting smart pointer class. It can point to any class derived from GObject. For each smart pointer pointing to an object, the object's reference count will be incremented. When the smart pointer is destroyed, the reference count will be decremented. When the count hits zero, the object will be deleted.

By using smart pointers, you can forget about who has ownership of an object and should therefore delete it when done. The object will be deleted automatically when it is done with.

In GAUGE, every class that is derived from GObject has an associated typedef'd smartpointer type. The smartpointer type is named after the object with the prefix 'p'. So, pGObject is a smart pointer to a GObject, and pGFile is a smart pointer to a GFile, etc.

Some important things to remember when using smart pointers:

• Avoid circular links. This occurs when two objects contain smart pointers to each other. In this case, the objects will not be removed automatically as they will always have reference counts of one or more.
• Smart pointers are meant to be passed by value, not by address or reference. Furthermore, smart pointers should always be created either on the stack or as members of larger structures rather than be created wich new. In general, you should never find yourself dealing with either a pointer or a reference to a smart pointer unless you know what you are doing.

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Constructor & Destructor Documentation

template<class tType> GAUGE3D::GSmartPointer<tType>::GSmartPointer<tType> ( tType * object ) [inline]

Cast from regular pointer. WARNING: This can be dangerous. If you have both regular pointers and smart pointers pointing to the same object, and all the smart pointers are destroyed, the regular pointers will be left dangling, and could cause a program crash. Try to avoid using both regular and smart pointers to an object.

template<class tType> GAUGE3D::GSmartPointer<tType>::GSmartPointer<tType> ( const GSmartPointerBase & other ) [inline]

Cast constructor from smart pointers for other types. Note that type checking is not performed. If you cast to a type which the object isn't, you will not be warned. If you need to do dynamic casting, you must do it manually.

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The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

• gauge3d/common/memory.h

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