The use of boost::preprocessor makes possible an elegant solution like the following:
Step 1: include the header file:
#include "EnumUtilities.h"
Step 2: declare the enumeration object with the following syntax:
MakeEnum( TestData,
(x)
(y)
(z)
);
Step 3: use your data:
Getting the number of elements:
td::cout << "Number of Elements: " << TestDataCount << std::endl;
Getting the associated string:
std::cout << "Value of " << TestData2String(x) << " is " << x << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of " << TestData2String(y) << " is " << y << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of " << TestData2String(z) << " is " << z << std::endl;
Getting the enum value from the associated string:
std::cout << "Value of x is " << TestData2Enum("x") << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of y is " << TestData2Enum("y") << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of z is " << TestData2Enum("z") << std::endl;
This looks clean and compact, with no extra files to include.
The code I wrote within EnumUtilities.h is the following:
#include <boost/preprocessor/seq/for_each.hpp>
#include <string>
#define REALLY_MAKE_STRING(x) #x
#define MAKE_STRING(x) REALLY_MAKE_STRING(x)
#define MACRO1(r, data, elem) elem,
#define MACRO1_STRING(r, data, elem) case elem: return REALLY_MAKE_STRING(elem);
#define MACRO1_ENUM(r, data, elem) if (REALLY_MAKE_STRING(elem) == eStrEl) return elem;
#define MakeEnum(eName, SEQ) \
enum eName { BOOST_PP_SEQ_FOR_EACH(MACRO1, , SEQ) \
last_##eName##_enum}; \
const int eName##Count = BOOST_PP_SEQ_SIZE(SEQ); \
static std::string eName##2String(const enum eName eel) \
{ \
switch (eel) \
{ \
BOOST_PP_SEQ_FOR_EACH(MACRO1_STRING, , SEQ) \
default: return "Unknown enumerator value."; \
}; \
}; \
static enum eName eName##2Enum(const std::string eStrEl) \
{ \
BOOST_PP_SEQ_FOR_EACH(MACRO1_ENUM, , SEQ) \
return (enum eName)0; \
};
There are some limitation, i.e. the ones of boost::preprocessor. In this case, the list of constants cannot be larger than 64 elements.
Following the same logic, you could also think to create sparse enum:
#define EnumName(Tuple) BOOST_PP_TUPLE_ELEM(2, 0, Tuple)
#define EnumValue(Tuple) BOOST_PP_TUPLE_ELEM(2, 1, Tuple)
#define MACRO2(r, data, elem) EnumName(elem) EnumValue(elem),
#define MACRO2_STRING(r, data, elem) case EnumName(elem): return BOOST_PP_STRINGIZE(EnumName(elem));
#define MakeEnumEx(eName, SEQ) \
enum eName { \
BOOST_PP_SEQ_FOR_EACH(MACRO2, _, SEQ) \
last_##eName##_enum }; \
const int eName##Count = BOOST_PP_SEQ_SIZE(SEQ); \
static std::string eName##2String(const enum eName eel) \
{ \
switch (eel) \
{ \
BOOST_PP_SEQ_FOR_EACH(MACRO2_STRING, _, SEQ) \
default: return "Unknown enumerator value."; \
}; \
};
In this case, the syntax is:
MakeEnumEx(TestEnum,
((x,))
((y,=1000))
((z,))
);
Usage is similar as above (minus the eName##2Enum function, that you could try to extrapolate from the previous syntax).
I tested it on mac and linux, but be aware that boost::preprocessor may not be fully portable.
