I'd like to set up a function pointer as a member of a class that is a pointer to another function in the same class. The reasons why I'm doing this are complicated.
In this example, I would like the output to be "1"
class A {
public:
int f();
int (*x)();
}
int A::f() {
return 1;
}
int main() {
A a;
a.x = a.f;
printf("%d\n",a.x())
}
But this fails at compiling. Why?
The syntax is wrong. A member pointer is a different type category from a ordinary pointer. The member pointer will have to be used together with an object of its class:
class A {
public:
int f();
int (A::*x)(); // <- declare by saying what class it is a pointer to
};
int A::f() {
return 1;
}
int main() {
A a;
a.x = &A::f; // use the :: syntax
printf("%d\n",(a.*(a.x))()); // use together with an object of its class
}
a.x
does not yet say on what object the function is to be called on. It just says that you want to use the pointer stored in the object a
. Prepending a
another time as the left operand to the .*
operator will tell the compiler on what object to call the function on.
int (*x)()
is not a pointer to member function. A pointer to member function is written like this: int (A::*x)(void) = &A::f;
.
Call member function on string command
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
class A
{
public:
void call();
private:
void printH();
void command(std::string a, std::string b, void (A::*func)());
};
void A::printH()
{
std::cout<< "H\n";
}
void A::call()
{
command("a","a", &A::printH);
}
void A::command(std::string a, std::string b, void (A::*func)())
{
if(a == b)
{
(this->*func)();
}
}
int main()
{
A a;
a.call();
return 0;
}
Pay attention to (this->*func)();
and the way to declare the function pointer with class name void (A::*func)()
You need to use a pointer to a member function, not just a pointer to a function.
class A {
int f() { return 1; }
public:
int (A::*x)();
A() : x(&A::f) {}
};
int main() {
A a;
std::cout << (a.*a.x)();
return 0;
}
While this is based on the sterling answers elsewhere on this page, I had a use case which wasn't completely solved by them; for a vector of pointers to functions do the following:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
class A{
public:
typedef vector<int> (A::*AFunc)(int I1,int I2);
vector<AFunc> FuncList;
inline int Subtract(int I1,int I2){return I1-I2;};
inline int Add(int I1,int I2){return I1+I2;};
...
void Populate();
void ExecuteAll();
};
void A::Populate(){
FuncList.push_back(&A::Subtract);
FuncList.push_back(&A::Add);
...
}
void A::ExecuteAll(){
int In1=1,In2=2,Out=0;
for(size_t FuncId=0;FuncId<FuncList.size();FuncId++){
Out=(this->*FuncList[FuncId])(In1,In2);
printf("Function %ld output %d\n",FuncId,Out);
}
}
int main(){
A Demo;
Demo.Populate();
Demo.ExecuteAll();
return 0;
}
Something like this is useful if you are writing a command interpreter with indexed functions that need to be married up with parameter syntax and help tips etc. Possibly also useful in menus.