Re: [boost] [extension] load_single_library() - silent failure?

From: Robert Dailey (rcdailey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-07-03 20:53:16

On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 7:15 PM, Jeremy Pack <rostovpack_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Robert,
>
> The load_single_library method is a convenience method for a common case. In
> general, I recommend using a shared_library object instead. I believe this
> case is detailed in the latest documentation.
>
> However, you are probably right that I need to change the
> load_single_library function to either return a bool or throw an exception.
>
> Thanks for the heads up, and sorry about the time lost debugging.
>
> Jeremy
>
> On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 4:15 PM, Robert Dailey <rcdailey_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
>> When calling load_single_library(), if the 3rd parameter, which is the
>> name of the export factory function, is incorrect,
>> load_single_library() will silently fail and return as if nothing went
>> wrong. However, since the name of that function was mistyped (in my
>> case), I had to debug into the boost.extensions library to figure out
>> the actual source of the problem. I think this should have thrown an
>> exception.
>>
>> For example, I called the function like below:
>>
>> factory_map fm;
>> load_single_library( fm, "my_library.dll", "my_export_method_typo" );
>>
>> And my function, as defined in the DLL source, is as follows:
>>
>> extern "C" void BOOST_EXTENSION_EXPORT_DECL
>> my_export_method( boost::extensions::factory_map& fm )
>> {
>> }
>>
>> As you can see, the string (in the first code example) is clearly
>> mistyped/misnamed. This results in silent failure. Opinions on this
>> would be useful.
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I've been reading the documentation online, which I found out later on
was out of date, since some of the source examples would not compile.
Is there a nightly version of your documentation online? I've been
having to shift through files in the boost svn repository to look at
the tutorial source. If you have this it would be helpful.

No worries on the loss of time debugging, that didn't really bother me
at all. I'm just offering my opinions on things as I move along to see
if they could possibly help the library grow and improve. Debugging it
is actually a very good learning experience, since I've been spending
today learning about Boost.Extensions. So far I am very impressed with
the library and it's made what I'm working on incredibly easy! Great
work!