Public ref class implementing internal interface in C++/CX - windows-runtime

I have a Windows Runtime component in which all of my classes need to expose a handle internally:
private interface class IHandleContainer {
IntPtr GetHandle();
}
namespace Foo {
public ref class Bar: IHandleContainer { ... }
public ref class Baz: IHandleContainer {
internal:
virtual IntPtr GetHandle() = IHandleContainer::GetHandle;
}
}
I don't need IHandleContainer to be public, but I do need IHandleContainer to be on the interface list so that each of my internal objects can be safe_cast<IHandleContainer> successfully.
Being outside of a namespace, IHandleContainer should not be emitted to metadata, but should have a COM GUID associated with it and by listing it on the ref class's interface list, CX should be able to wire up the correct response to QueryInterface. Structurally, everything should "just work." But the compiler isn't cooperating:
error C3991: 'Foo::Baz': cannot implement a non-public or nested interface 'IHandleContainer'

Unfortunately this is not possible using C++/CX, and none of the tricks you might try will work.
Interface members can't be internal
There is no such thing as internal inheritance
public WinRT types can't derive from private bases
WinRT types can't derive from non-WinRT types
public WinRT types can't be unsealed unless they derive from something that is unsealed
That last one is recursive, and the only way out of it is to derive from an existing unsealed platform-provided type like DependencyObject, but you really don't want to do that.
You need to use something CloakedIid in WRL, or Kenny Kerr's pure C++ example on MSDN Magazine. Either way you have to define your types in IDL and implement them the "hard" way.

Related

How to declare static field in class

I have a XAML + DirectX app and I want to add static field to my "interop" class:
[Windows::Foundation::Metadata::WebHostHidden]
public ref class Direct3DInterop sealed : public Windows::Phone::Input::Interop::IDrawingSurfaceManipulationHandler
{
public:
static int VALUE = 0;
...
};
It does not compile saying "only static const integral data members can be initialized within a class".
If I change it to const static int VALUE = 0; then it still does not compile with error "a non-value type cannot have any public data members"
What am I doing wrong?
WinRT public classes have a number of limitations to ensure they are consumable by multiple languages including C++, JavaScript, and C#. This is why you are getting error C3984. You can't have public fields and instead must use properties. You'd make it a read-only property:
property int VALUE
{
int get() { return 0; }
}
It is important to remember that properties are function calls and can't usually be optimized away, so you should consider that when designing the interfaces.
If you intend to have this class only consumable by C++, consider not using a WinRT class and instead use a simple C++ class which you managed the lifetime using std::unique_ptr or std::shared_ptr. In that case, you can of course use the public field approach as always.
The original problem you got is a general C++ language restriction not specific to WinRT. Error C2864 (you are using VS 2012 from the text you posted) is a little more general with C++11 in VS2013.

Jackson 1.9.0: JsonTypeInfo for abstract class not working with Lists

Using this abstract class:
#JsonTypeInfo(use = Id.NAME, include = As.PROPERTY, property = "type")
#JsonSubTypes({ #JsonSubTypes.Type(value = PostingTaskInstanceDto.class, name = "TI") })
public abstract class BasePostingDto {}
and this inherited class:
public class PostingTaskInstanceDto extends BasePostingDto {}
I get correct serialization for a single object. This works, using Spring-MVC:
#RequestMapping("/{id}")
#ResponseBody
public BasePostingDto findById(#PathVariable("id") Long id) {
return createDto(postingService.findById(id));
}
But if I retrieve a List of BasePostingDto from the remote controller, the type property is missing:
#RequestMapping("/by-user/all")
#ResponseBody
public List<BasePostingDto> findByUser() {
return createDtoList(postingService.findByUser(AuthUtils.getUser()));
}
Why is this and how can I force the type property?
Update: the type property is also included if I change List<BasePostingDto> to BasePostingDto[], however I would prefer to go with the List.
It sounds like the framework you are using (and which uses Jackson under the hood) is not passing full generics-aware type information.
I don't know how that can be fixed (it is problem with integration by framework, and not something Jackson can address), but the usual work around is for you to use sub-class of List:
public class PostingDtoList extends List<BasePostingDto> { }
and use that in signature, instead of generic type. This solves the issue because then the generic type signature is retained (since it is stored in super type declaration, and accessible via type-erased PostingDtoList class!).
In generally I think it is best to avoid using generic List and Map types as root type (and instead use POJO); partly because of problems issued (there are bigger problems when using XML for example). But it can be made to work if need be.

OOP Proper use of interfaces in AS3

I'm designing a framework and in the process I have come across an interesting but most likely basic problem. I have a base class called CoreEngine and two other classes that extend it: CoreEngine1 and CoreEngine2. I created an interface that each of these classes would implement to increase the flexibility of my project. However, I have a problem... The definition of my methods in the interface do not match the definition in each inherited class! Each class must implement the following method:
function get avatar():AvatarBase;
The problem is that CoreEngine1 and CoreEngine2 expect a different type of avatar:
CoreEngine1
function get avatar():AvatarScaling
CoreEngine2
function get avatar():AvatarPlatform
As you can see, the return type for avatar in CoreEngine1 and CoreEngine2 do NOT match the type as specified in the interface. I was hoping that since both AvatarScaling and AvatarPlatform inherit AvatarBase that I wouldn't have a problem compiling. However, this is not the case. According to Adobe's documentation, the types MUST match the interface. I am trying to follow one of the core concepts of object oriented programming to extend the flexibility of my framework: "Program to an interface rather than an implementation". The first thing that comes to my mind is that the return type of the accessor method should be of an interface type (Maybe I just answered my own question).
I'm certain this is a common problem others have run into before. Architecturally, what do you think is the best way to solve this problem? Thanks in advance!
Regards,
Will
This is a limitation of how interfaces work and are declared.
If there's inheritance that can happen with the return types, as you've described with AvatarBase and subclasses, then I think the right approach is to make the return type the lowest common denominator and just handle the resulting object on the other end. So, if you're dealing with a CoreEngine1 object, you know you can cast the result from AvatarBase to AvatarScaling. Alternately, if you don't know the object type that you are calling get avatar() on, then you can type check the returned value. The type check would then only be needed if you're looking to call a method that exists on AvatarScaling but not on AvatarBase. I don't think returning an interface type will buy you much in this case because the only things that interface can implement would be things that all forms of Avatar share, which wouldn't be any different than methods in AvatarBase.
Like HotN and Dinko mentioned, it would be best to allow get avatar() to return AvatarBase allways and then cast the returned object as the concrete subclass.
Using Dinko's example:
public /* abstract */ class CoreEngine
{
public /* abstract */ function get avatar():AvatarBase {}
}
public function CoreEngine1 extends CoreEngine
{
override public function get avatar():AvatarBase { return new AvatarScaling(); }
}
public function CoreEngine2 extends CoreEngine
{
override public function get avatar():AvatarBase { return new AvatarPlatform(); }
}
public /* abstract */ class AvatarBase {}
public class AvatarScaling extends AvatarBase
{
public function someAvatarScalingMethod():void {}
}
public class AvatarPlatform extends AvatarBase
{
public function someAvatarPlatformMethod():void {}
}
To use a method from AvatarScaling, cast the returned object:
var c1:CoreEngine1 = new CoreEngine1();
var avatarScaling:AvatarScaling = AvatarScaling(c1.avatar());
avatarScaling.someAvatarScalingMethod();
hth
I think you answered your own question... the return type would still be AvatarBase, you need to follow the signature that you specified in the interface... but you can technically return ANY descendent of AvatarBase in that function. So doing something like
return new AvatarScaling();
in CoreEngine1 would be perfectly acceptable.
Of course in your calling function you will get back an AvatarBase instance, and you will have to know what this is in order to cast to a specific subclass.
CoreEngine1 ce1 = new CoreEngine1();
AvatarScaling avatar = ce1.avatar() as AvatarScaling;

List of OO languages where object immutability can be compiler enforced

Can anyone give me a list of languages where class immutability can be compiler enforced and tested easily ?
I need to be able to do something like:
class immutable Person {
private String name = "Jhon"; // lets say the String is mutable
public Person(String name) {
this.name = name; // ok
}
public void setName(String newName) {
this.name = newName; // does not compile
}
public void getName() {
return this.name; //returns reference through which name can't be mutated
}
private void testImmutability() {
getName().setFirstChar('a'); // does not compile
}
}
EDIT:
For a little more clarification, see here.
Functional programming languages like OCAML, Haskell, and Erlang.
F# and Scala both have the ability to created compiler-enforced immutable types (i.e. classes).
The following shows the basics in F#...
// using records is the easiest approach (but there are others)
type Person = { Name:string; Age:int; }
let p = { Person.Name="Paul";Age=31; }
// the next line throws a compiler error
p.Name <- "Paulmichael"
Here's the equivalent Scala. Note that you can still make mutable objects by using var instead of val.
class Person(val name: String, val age: Int)
val p = new Person("Paul", 31)
// the next line throws a compiler error
p.name = "Paulmichael"
Joe-E
From the language spec
3.4 Immutable Types
A type T is immutable if and only if it implements
the marker interface org.joe_e.Immutable according to the overlay
type system. The (empty) org.joe_e.Immutable interface must be provided
by the Joe-E implementation. The
intuition behind an immutable object
is that such an object cannot be
changed (mutated) in any observable
way, nor can any objects reachable by
following the elds of the immutable
object. The contents of an immutable
objects' elds and any objects
reachable from an immutable object
must not change once the object is
constructed. With the exception of
library classes explicitly deemed to
implement Immutable, an immutable
class must satisfy additional
linguistic restrictions enforced by
the verier (x4.4) to ensure this
property. Library classes that cannot
be automatically verified and are
deemed immutable must be carefully
manually veried to expose no
possibility for modication of their
contents. Note that immutability does
not place any restrictions on any
local variables dened within the
immutable class. It also says nothing
about the mutability of the arguments
passed to methods. It only applies to
the values stored in and objects
reachable from the immutable class's
elds
It also introduces useful notions of powerless, and selfless types.
The D (version D2) programming language has immutability. It has OOP, but immutability is rather a concept from functional pl. There it's called purity.

actionscript-3: refactor interface inheritance to get rid of ambiguous reference error

imagine there are two interfaces arranged via composite pattern, one of them has a dispose method among other methods:
interface IComponent extends ILeaf {
...
function dispose() : void;
}
interface ILeaf {
...
}
some implementations have some more things in common (say an id) so there are two more interfaces:
interface ICommonLeaf extends ILeaf {
function get id() : String;
}
interface ICommonComponent extends ICommonLeaf, IComponent {
}
so far so good. but there is another interface which also has a dispose method:
interface ISomething {
...
function dispose() : void;
}
and ISomething is inherited by ICommonLeaf:
interface ICommonLeaf extends ILeaf, ISomething {
function get id() : String;
}
As soon as the dispose method is invoked on an instance which implements the ICommonComponent interface, the compiler fails with an ambiguous reference error because ISomething has a method called dispose and ILeaf also has a dispose method, both living in different interfaces (IComponent, ISomething) within the inheritace tree of ICommonComponent.
I wonder how to deal with the situation if
the IComponent, the ILeaf and the ISomething can't change.
the composite structure must also work for for the ICommonLeaf & ICommonComponent
implementations and the ICommonLeaf & ICommonComponent must conform to the ISomething type.
this might be an actionscript-3 specific issue. i haven't tested how other languages (for instance java) handle stuff like this.
You are searching for a solution to the Diamond Problem. C# has an approach to this but basically I would factor the method "dispose" out of your interfaces and create a new "IDisposable".
If the same name like "id" is used twice, it looks like a problem in your code with an ambiguous name. We started to add prefixes to properties and methods. Imagine you have a property "name" that belongs to two different things. Like the "displayName" and the "uniqueName".
This also helps with auto completion. If a DisplayObject is an ILayoutObject and yout type displayObject.layout you get everything layout releated.
It seems casting solves the ambiguity even though it's far from neat.
class SomeComponent implements ICommonComponent {}
var c : ICommonComponent = new SomeComponent();
trace(ISomething(c).dispose()); //compiles
trace(IComponent(c).dispose()); //compiles
trace(c.dispose()); //fails
As far as I'm aware, there's no neat way to deal with this problem in Actionscript.
The only thing I can think of is refactoring your interfaces to avoid name clashes, which, admitedly, it's not always possible.
Don't know about Java, but C# has a way to handle this through explicit interface implementation.