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Ref Class Template Reference

A template class that maintains references counts. More...

#include <ref.h>

Inheritance diagram for Ref

[legend]Collaboration diagram for Ref:

[legend]List of all members.

Public Methods
	Ref ()
	Create a reference to a null object.
	Ref (T *a)
	Create a reference to the object a.
	Ref (const Ref< T > &a)
	Create a reference to the object referred to by a.
template<class A>	Ref (const Ref< A > &a)
	Create a reference to the object referred to by a.
	~Ref ()
	Delete this reference to the object. More...
T*	operator-> () const
	Returns the reference counted object. More...
T*	pointer () const
	Returns a pointer the reference counted object.
RefCount*	parentpointer () const
	Implements the parentpointer pure virtual in the base class.
	operator T * () const
T&	operator * () const
	Returns a C++ reference to the reference counted object. More...
int	null () const
	Return 1 if this is a reference to a null object. More...
int	nonnull () const
	Return !null().
template<class A> int	operator== (const Ref< A > &a) const
	A variety of ordering and equivalence operators are provided using the Identity class.
template<class A> int	operator>= (const Ref< A > &a) const
int	operator<= (const Ref< A > &a) const
template<class A> int	operator> (const Ref< A > &a) const
int	operator< (const Ref< A > &a) const
template<class A> int	operator!= (const Ref< A > &a) const
int	compare (const Ref< T > &a) const
	Compare two objects returning -1, 0, or 1. More...
void	clear ()
	Refer to the null object.
Ref<T>&	operator= (const Ref< T > &c)
	Assignment to c.
template<class A> Ref<T>&	operator= (const Ref< A > &c)
	Assignment to c.
Ref<T>&	operator<< (const RefBase &a)
	Assignment to the object that a references using dynamic_cast.
Ref<T>&	operator<< (RefCount *a)
	Assigns to the given base class pointer using dynamic_cast. More...
Ref<T>&	operator= (T *cr)
	Assignment to cr.
void	assign_pointer (T *cr)
	Assignment to cr.
void	check_pointer () const
	Check the validity of the pointer.
void	ref_info (std::ostream &os) const
	Print information about the reference to os.
void	warn (const char *s) const
	Print a warning concerning the reference.

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Detailed Description

template<class T> class Ref

A template class that maintains references counts.

Several of these operations can cause a reference to an object to be replaced by a reference to a different object. If a reference to a nonnull object is eliminated, the object's reference count is decremented and the object is deleted if the reference count becomes zero.

There also may be a to convert to T*, where T is the type of the object which Ref references. Some compilers have bugs that prevent the use of operator T *(). The pointer() member should be used instead.

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Constructor & Destructor Documentation

template<class T> Ref<T>::~Ref<T> ( ) [inline]

Delete this reference to the object. Decrement the object's reference count and delete the object if the count is zero.

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Member Function Documentation

template<class T> int Ref<T>::compare ( const Ref< T > & a ) const [inline]

Compare two objects returning -1, 0, or 1. Similar to the C library routine strcmp.

template<class T> int Ref<T>::null ( ) const [inline]

Return 1 if this is a reference to a null object. Otherwise return 0.

template<class T> T & Ref<T>::operator * ( ) const [inline]

Returns a C++ reference to the reference counted object. The behaviour is undefined if the object is null.

template<class T> T * Ref<T>::operator-> ( ) const [inline]

Returns the reference counted object. The behaviour is undefined if the object is null.

template<class T> Ref< T > & Ref<T>::operator<< ( RefCount * a ) [inline]

Assigns to the given base class pointer using dynamic_cast. If the dynamic_cast fails and the argument is nonnull and has a reference count of zero, then it is deleted. Reimplemented in RefSCDimension.

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

• ref.h

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