What is the best way to throw exception from the constructor initializer?
For example:
class C {
T0 t0; // can be either valid or invalid, but does not throw directly
T1 t1; // heavy object, do not construct if t0 is invalid, by throwing before
C(int n)
: t0(n), // throw exception if t0(n) is not valid
t1() {}
};
I thought maybe making wrapper, e.g. t0(throw_if_invalid(n)).
What is the practice to handle such cases?
There are multiple ways of going about this, I think. From what I understand, n can only take on a specific range of numbers. For that, you might prevent the constructor from even being run:
template <typename T, T Min, T Max>
class ranged_type_c
{
public:
typedef T value_type;
ranged_type_c(const value_type& pX) :
mX(pX)
{
check_value();
}
const value_type& get(void) const
{
return mX;
}
operator const value_type&(void) const
{
return get();
}
// non-const overloads would probably require a proxy
// of some sort, to ensure values remain valid
private:
void check_value(void)
{
if (mX < Min || mX > Max)
throw std::range_error("ranged value out of range");
}
value_type mX;
};
Could be more fleshed out, but that's the idea. Now you can clamp the range:
struct foo_c
{
foo_c(ranged_value_c<int, 0, 100> i) :
x(i)
{}
int x;
};
If you pass a value that does not lie from 0-100, the above would throw.
At runtime, I think your original idea was best:
template <typename T>
const T& check_range(const T& pX, const T& pMin, const T& pMax)
{
if (pX < pMin || pX > pMax)
throw std::range_error("ranged value out of range");
return pValue;
}
struct foo
{
foo(int i) :
x(check_range(i, 0, 100))
{}
int x;
}
And that's it. Same as above, but 0 and 100 can be replaced with a call to some function that returns the valid minimum and maximum.
If you do end up using a function call to get valid ranges (recommended, to keep clutter to a minimum and organization higher), I'd add an overload:
template <typename T>
const T& check_range(const T& pX, const std::pair<T, T>& pRange)
{
return check_range(pX, pRange.first, pRange.second); // unpack
}
To allow stuff like this:
std::pair<int, int> get_range(void)
{
// replace with some calculation
return std::make_pair(0, 100);
}
struct foo
{
foo(int i) :
x(check_range(i, get_range()))
{}
int x;
}
If I were to choose, I'd pick the runtime methods even if the range was compile-time. Even with low optimization the compiler will generate the same code, and it's much less clumsy and arguably cleaner to read than the class version.
You can throw from the expression(s) that initialize t0 or t1, or any constructor that takes at least one argument.
class C {
T0 t0; // can be either valid or invalid, but does not throw directly
T1 t1; // heavy object, do not construct if t0 is invalid, by throwing before
C(int n) // try one of these alternatives:
: t0( n_valid( n )? n : throw my_exc() ), // sanity pre-check
OR t1( t0.check()? throw my_exc() : 0 ), // add dummy argument to t1::t1()
OR t1( t0.check()? throw my_exc() : t1() ) // throw or invoke copy/move ctor
{}
};
Note that a throw expression has void type, making throw more like an operator than a statement. The ?: operator has a special case to prevent that void from interfering with its type deduction.
This is a way to throw from the initializer list
C(int n)
: t0(n > 0 ? n : throw std::runtime_error("barf")),
t1() {}
You're saying "throw exception if t0(n) is not valid". Why don't you throw from the constructor of T0?
An object is supposed to be valid after construction.
Just wrap class T0 inside another class which does throw in cases like this:
class ThrowingT0
{
T0 t0;
public:
explicit ThrowingT0(int n) : t0(n) {
if (t0.SomeFailureMode())
throw std::runtime_error("WTF happened.");
};
const T0& GetReference() const {
return t0;
};
T0& GetReference() {
return t0;
};
};
class C
{
ThrowingT0 t0;
T1 t1;
public:
explicit C(int n) : t0(n), t1() {
};
void SomeMemberFunctionUsingT0() {
t0.GetReference().SomeMemberFunction();
};
};
