drwnSmartPointer< T > Class Template Reference

Implements a shared pointer interface to avoid the need to deep copy constant (shared) objects. More...

Public Member Functions
	drwnSmartPointer ()
	default constructor (NULL smart pointer)
	drwnSmartPointer (T *obj, bool bOwner=true)
	create a smart pointer of type T to obj
	drwnSmartPointer (const drwnSmartPointer< T > &p)
	copy constructor
drwnSmartPointer< T > &	operator= (const drwnSmartPointer< T > &p)
	assignment operator
bool	operator== (const drwnSmartPointer< T > &p)
	compare two smart pointers for equality
bool	operator!= (const drwnSmartPointer< T > &p)
	compare two smart pointers for inequality
bool	operator== (const T *o)
	compare smart pointers with object pointer for equality
bool	operator!= (const T *o)
	compare smart pointers with object pointer for inequality
T *	operator-> ()
	de-reference the smart pointer
const T *	operator-> () const
	de-reference the smart pointer
	operator T * ()
	de-reference the smart pointer
	operator const T * () const
	de-reference the smart pointer

Protected Attributes
T *	_objPtr
	pointer to the shared object
unsigned *	_refCount
	number of drwnSmartPointer objects that share _objPtr
bool	_bOwner
	true if drwnSmartPointer is responsible for destroying _objPtr

Detailed Description

template<typename T>
class drwnSmartPointer< T >

Implements a shared pointer interface to avoid the need to deep copy constant (shared) objects.

Example use:

drwnSmartPointer<TImage> A(new TImage());
drwnSmartPointer<TImage> B(A);
drwnSmartPointer<TImage> C = A;
DRWN_ASSERT((C == A) && (B == A));
C->showImage();

Unlike the STL's auto_ptr, it is safe to use smart pointers in STL containers.

By default the smart pointer takes ownership of the object (and will delete it when the reference count reaches zero). However, the smart pointer can also be configured to access statically allocated objects (e.g. on the stack). In this case the object is not deleted, but care must be taken to ensure that the object does not go out of scope before all smart pointers have been destroyed. Here's an example:

TImage I;
drwnSmartPointer<TImage> A(&I, false);

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

• drwnSmartPointer.h