// Copyright (c) 2012 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved. // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be // found in the LICENSE file. // Weak pointers are pointers to an object that do not affect its lifetime, // and which may be invalidated (i.e. reset to NULL) by the object, or its // owner, at any time, most commonly when the object is about to be deleted. // Weak pointers are useful when an object needs to be accessed safely by one // or more objects other than its owner, and those callers can cope with the // object vanishing and e.g. tasks posted to it being silently dropped. // Reference-counting such an object would complicate the ownership graph and // make it harder to reason about the object's lifetime. // EXAMPLE: // // class Controller { // public: // void SpawnWorker() { Worker::StartNew(weak_factory_.GetWeakPtr()); } // void WorkComplete(const Result& result) { ... } // private: // // Member variables should appear before the WeakPtrFactory, to ensure // // that any WeakPtrs to Controller are invalidated before its members // // variable's destructors are executed, rendering them invalid. // WeakPtrFactory weak_factory_; // }; // // class Worker { // public: // static void StartNew(const WeakPtr& controller) { // Worker* worker = new Worker(controller); // // Kick off asynchronous processing... // } // private: // Worker(const WeakPtr& controller) // : controller_(controller) {} // void DidCompleteAsynchronousProcessing(const Result& result) { // if (controller_) // controller_->WorkComplete(result); // } // WeakPtr controller_; // }; // // With this implementation a caller may use SpawnWorker() to dispatch multiple // Workers and subsequently delete the Controller, without waiting for all // Workers to have completed. // ------------------------- IMPORTANT: Thread-safety ------------------------- // Weak pointers may be passed safely between threads, but must always be // dereferenced and invalidated on the same thread otherwise checking the // pointer would be racey. // // To ensure correct use, the first time a WeakPtr issued by a WeakPtrFactory // is dereferenced, the factory and its WeakPtrs become bound to the calling // thread, and cannot be dereferenced or invalidated on any other thread. Bound // WeakPtrs can still be handed off to other threads, e.g. to use to post tasks // back to object on the bound thread. // // Invalidating the factory's WeakPtrs un-binds it from the thread, allowing it // to be passed for a different thread to use or delete it. #ifndef BASE_MEMORY_WEAK_PTR_H_ #define BASE_MEMORY_WEAK_PTR_H_ #include "base/basictypes.h" #include "base/base_export.h" #include "base/logging.h" #include "base/memory/ref_counted.h" #include "base/sequence_checker.h" #include "base/template_util.h" namespace base { template class SupportsWeakPtr; template class WeakPtr; namespace internal { // These classes are part of the WeakPtr implementation. // DO NOT USE THESE CLASSES DIRECTLY YOURSELF. class BASE_EXPORT WeakReference { public: // Although Flag is bound to a specific thread, it may be deleted from another // via base::WeakPtr::~WeakPtr(). class Flag : public RefCountedThreadSafe { public: Flag(); void Invalidate(); bool IsValid() const; private: friend class base::RefCountedThreadSafe; ~Flag(); SequenceChecker sequence_checker_; bool is_valid_; }; WeakReference(); explicit WeakReference(const Flag* flag); ~WeakReference(); bool is_valid() const; private: scoped_refptr flag_; }; class BASE_EXPORT WeakReferenceOwner { public: WeakReferenceOwner(); ~WeakReferenceOwner(); WeakReference GetRef() const; bool HasRefs() const { return flag_.get() && !flag_->HasOneRef(); } void Invalidate(); private: mutable scoped_refptr flag_; }; // This class simplifies the implementation of WeakPtr's type conversion // constructor by avoiding the need for a public accessor for ref_. A // WeakPtr cannot access the private members of WeakPtr, so this // base class gives us a way to access ref_ in a protected fashion. class BASE_EXPORT WeakPtrBase { public: WeakPtrBase(); ~WeakPtrBase(); protected: explicit WeakPtrBase(const WeakReference& ref); WeakReference ref_; }; // This class provides a common implementation of common functions that would // otherwise get instantiated separately for each distinct instantiation of // SupportsWeakPtr<>. class SupportsWeakPtrBase { public: // A safe static downcast of a WeakPtr to WeakPtr. This // conversion will only compile if there is exists a Base which inherits // from SupportsWeakPtr. See base::AsWeakPtr() below for a helper // function that makes calling this easier. template static WeakPtr StaticAsWeakPtr(Derived* t) { typedef is_convertible convertible; COMPILE_ASSERT(convertible::value, AsWeakPtr_argument_inherits_from_SupportsWeakPtr); return AsWeakPtrImpl(t, *t); } private: // This template function uses type inference to find a Base of Derived // which is an instance of SupportsWeakPtr. We can then safely // static_cast the Base* to a Derived*. template static WeakPtr AsWeakPtrImpl( Derived* t, const SupportsWeakPtr&) { WeakPtr ptr = t->Base::AsWeakPtr(); return WeakPtr(ptr.ref_, static_cast(ptr.ptr_)); } }; } // namespace internal template class WeakPtrFactory; // The WeakPtr class holds a weak reference to |T*|. // // This class is designed to be used like a normal pointer. You should always // null-test an object of this class before using it or invoking a method that // may result in the underlying object being destroyed. // // EXAMPLE: // // class Foo { ... }; // WeakPtr foo; // if (foo) // foo->method(); // template class WeakPtr : public internal::WeakPtrBase { public: WeakPtr() : ptr_(NULL) { } // Allow conversion from U to T provided U "is a" T. Note that this // is separate from the (implicit) copy constructor. template WeakPtr(const WeakPtr& other) : WeakPtrBase(other), ptr_(other.ptr_) { } T* get() const { return ref_.is_valid() ? ptr_ : NULL; } T& operator*() const { DCHECK(get() != NULL); return *get(); } T* operator->() const { DCHECK(get() != NULL); return get(); } // Allow WeakPtr to be used in boolean expressions, but not // implicitly convertible to a real bool (which is dangerous). // // Note that this trick is only safe when the == and != operators // are declared explicitly, as otherwise "weak_ptr1 == weak_ptr2" // will compile but do the wrong thing (i.e., convert to Testable // and then do the comparison). private: typedef T* WeakPtr::*Testable; public: operator Testable() const { return get() ? &WeakPtr::ptr_ : NULL; } void reset() { ref_ = internal::WeakReference(); ptr_ = NULL; } private: // Explicitly declare comparison operators as required by the bool // trick, but keep them private. template bool operator==(WeakPtr const&) const; template bool operator!=(WeakPtr const&) const; friend class internal::SupportsWeakPtrBase; template friend class WeakPtr; friend class SupportsWeakPtr; friend class WeakPtrFactory; WeakPtr(const internal::WeakReference& ref, T* ptr) : WeakPtrBase(ref), ptr_(ptr) { } // This pointer is only valid when ref_.is_valid() is true. Otherwise, its // value is undefined (as opposed to NULL). T* ptr_; }; // A class may be composed of a WeakPtrFactory and thereby // control how it exposes weak pointers to itself. This is helpful if you only // need weak pointers within the implementation of a class. This class is also // useful when working with primitive types. For example, you could have a // WeakPtrFactory that is used to pass around a weak reference to a bool. template class WeakPtrFactory { public: explicit WeakPtrFactory(T* ptr) : ptr_(ptr) { } ~WeakPtrFactory() { ptr_ = NULL; } WeakPtr GetWeakPtr() { DCHECK(ptr_); return WeakPtr(weak_reference_owner_.GetRef(), ptr_); } // Call this method to invalidate all existing weak pointers. void InvalidateWeakPtrs() { DCHECK(ptr_); weak_reference_owner_.Invalidate(); } // Call this method to determine if any weak pointers exist. bool HasWeakPtrs() const { DCHECK(ptr_); return weak_reference_owner_.HasRefs(); } private: internal::WeakReferenceOwner weak_reference_owner_; T* ptr_; DISALLOW_IMPLICIT_CONSTRUCTORS(WeakPtrFactory); }; // A class may extend from SupportsWeakPtr to let others take weak pointers to // it. This avoids the class itself implementing boilerplate to dispense weak // pointers. However, since SupportsWeakPtr's destructor won't invalidate // weak pointers to the class until after the derived class' members have been // destroyed, its use can lead to subtle use-after-destroy issues. template class SupportsWeakPtr : public internal::SupportsWeakPtrBase { public: SupportsWeakPtr() {} WeakPtr AsWeakPtr() { return WeakPtr(weak_reference_owner_.GetRef(), static_cast(this)); } protected: ~SupportsWeakPtr() {} private: internal::WeakReferenceOwner weak_reference_owner_; DISALLOW_COPY_AND_ASSIGN(SupportsWeakPtr); }; // Helper function that uses type deduction to safely return a WeakPtr // when Derived doesn't directly extend SupportsWeakPtr, instead it // extends a Base that extends SupportsWeakPtr. // // EXAMPLE: // class Base : public base::SupportsWeakPtr {}; // class Derived : public Base {}; // // Derived derived; // base::WeakPtr ptr = base::AsWeakPtr(&derived); // // Note that the following doesn't work (invalid type conversion) since // Derived::AsWeakPtr() is WeakPtr SupportsWeakPtr::AsWeakPtr(), // and there's no way to safely cast WeakPtr to WeakPtr at // the caller. // // base::WeakPtr ptr = derived.AsWeakPtr(); // Fails. template WeakPtr AsWeakPtr(Derived* t) { return internal::SupportsWeakPtrBase::StaticAsWeakPtr(t); } } // namespace base #endif // BASE_MEMORY_WEAK_PTR_H_