C++ API Reference
Checkpointed Class Reference

Class implementing ability to keep track of when objects are changed. More...

#include <adskCheckpointed.h>

+ Inheritance diagram for Checkpointed:

Public Member Functions

Checkpoint checkpoint () const
 Retrieve the current object checkpoint state. More...
 
bool changedSinceCheckpoint (const Checkpoint &check) const
 Determine if the object has been altered since the given checkpoint. More...
 
 Checkpointed ()
 Default constructor - initialize counter.
 
virtual ~Checkpointed ()
 Destructor, updates checkpoint count for the class.
 
 Checkpointed (const Checkpointed &rhs)
 Copy constructor - counter starts where copy left off. More...
 
Checkpointedoperator= (const Checkpointed &rhs)
 Assignment operator and copy constructor are just to allow objects with counters embedded or derived to copy properly. More...
 

Static Public Member Functions

static Checkpoint globalCheckpoint ()
 Retrieve the global checkpoint. More...
 
static Checkpoint globalChange ()
 Update the global checkpoint and return the new value. More...
 
static bool Debug (const Checkpointed *me, Debug::Print &request)
 Answer a Print request for a Checkpointed object. More...
 
static bool Debug (const Checkpointed *me, Debug::Footprint &request)
 Answer a footprint request for an Checkpointed object. More...
 

Protected Member Functions

Checkpoint objectChanged ()
 Call this whenever an object changes, increments the class and object checkpoint counters. More...
 

Protected Attributes

Checkpoint fCheckpoint
 ID updating when the object changes.
 

Static Protected Attributes

static Checkpoint sfGlobalCheckpoint = 0
 Global monotonic checkpoint. More...
 

Detailed Description

Class implementing ability to keep track of when objects are changed.

Often the question arises "has this object changed since I did X?". Using this class gives you the ability to create a unique monotonic ID to identify how recently something has changed, usually accompanied by the queryer remembering a checkpoint value to compare against.

This class must be a mixin to the class being tracked. The important thing is to insert this call at every point that object is changed:

Since the virtual function table isn't correct until the top level class constructor is called unfortunately you also have to insert checkpoint updates into the constructors and destructor of your class. The macros

CheckpointCreate( MyClass );
CheckpointDestroy( MyClass );

will do that for you.

Object changes will also flag the class as changed but if any other changes happen which apply to the class as a whole they can be tagged with:

classChanged();

Example 1: An external object handler wishes to know when any object of class type MyObject was changed.

class MyObject : public adsk::Checkpointed {
...
};
MyObject::MyObject()
{ CheckpointCreate(MyObject); ... }
MyObject::~MyObject()
{ CheckpointDestroy(MyObject); ... }
void MyObject::anyMethodChangingAnObject()
{ objectChanged(); doTheChanges(); }
... in the handler ...
adsk::Checkpoint checkpoint = MyObject::sClassCheckpoint();
doHandlerStuff();
if( MyObject::sClassChangedSinceCheckpoint( checkpoint ) )
doHandlerChangedStuff();

Note that since construction and destruction of objects count as changes to "the set of" MyObject they also get the edit flag updated.

Example 2: An external object handler wishes to know when a specific object has been changed.

class MyObject : public adsk::Checkpointed {
...
};
MyObject::MyObject()
{ CheckpointCreate(MyObject); ... }
MyObject::~MyObject()
{ CheckpointDestroy(MyObject); ... }
void MyObject::anyMethodChangingAnObject()
{ objectChanged(); doTheChanges(); }
... in the handler ...
MyObject mObj;
adsk::Checkpoint checkpoint = myObj.checkpoint();
doObjectStuff( mObj );
if( mObj.changedSinceCheckpoint( checkpoint ) )
doObjectChangedStuff();

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

Checkpointed ( const Checkpointed rhs)

Copy constructor - counter starts where copy left off.

It won't hurt to be higher and this prevents any unintended clash between objects who have copied counters.

Parameters
[in]rhsCounter to be copied

Member Function Documentation

Checkpoint objectChanged ( )
protected

Call this whenever an object changes, increments the class and object checkpoint counters.

Returns
New object checkpoint value
Checkpoint checkpoint ( ) const

Retrieve the current object checkpoint state.

Returns
Current object checkpoint value
bool changedSinceCheckpoint ( const Checkpoint &  check) const

Determine if the object has been altered since the given checkpoint.

Parameters
[in]checkPrevious checkpoint to compare against
Returns
True if the object has been changed since the checkpoint, otherwise false
Checkpointed & operator= ( const Checkpointed rhs)

Assignment operator and copy constructor are just to allow objects with counters embedded or derived to copy properly.

Assignment operator, updates the checkpoint and copies values.

Parameters
[in]rhsCounter to copy
[in]rhsCounter to copy
Returns
Reference to this copied object (to allow chained assignments)
Checkpoint globalCheckpoint ( )
static

Retrieve the global checkpoint.

Maintaining a single global checkpoint value ensures that any objects that are checkpointed can be compared against not only themselves but also each other. A fine enough grained timer would serve the same function but a monotonic counter is more flexible since its updates are asynchronous.

Returns
Current global checkpoint value
Checkpoint globalChange ( )
static

Update the global checkpoint and return the new value.

This is called after any change to any checkpointed object.

Returns
New global checkpoint value
bool Debug ( const Checkpointed me,
Debug::Print request 
)
static

Answer a Print request for a Checkpointed object.

Use the request object to dump all information on the "me" Checkpointed, or all static Checkpointed information if "me" is NULL.

Parameters
[in]mePointer to object to debug, NULL means class static
[out]requestPrint request object
Returns
True if the request was successfully processed.
bool Debug ( const Checkpointed me,
Debug::Footprint request 
)
static

Answer a footprint request for an Checkpointed object.

Populate the Footprint request with the information on all data stored within this class if "me" is NULL, otherwise the information stored in the Checkpointed object pointed at by "me".

Parameters
[in]mePointer to object to footprint, NULL means class static
[out]requestFootprint object to populate
Returns
True if the request was successfully processed. The Footprint object will have all information added to it.

Member Data Documentation

Checkpoint sfGlobalCheckpoint = 0
staticprotected

Global monotonic checkpoint.

Monotonically increasing global checkpoint.

Bumped any time any object or class of any time changes.


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