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Subject: [boost] interest in properties library
From: Daniel Oberhoff (daniel.oberhoff_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-12-19 05:50:51


Hi,

I am thinking about submitting a library proposal and would like to
query wether there is any interest in such a library and chance of
success of such a proposal.

The basic idea is to implement the possibility to decorate a class
with named properties, such that given a pointer to an instance
properties can be accessed by name rather than using set/get methods.
Also the type of the instance should not need to be known at compile
time, other than that it derives from a suitable base class describing
the property mechanisms.

There is a rough implementation existing and used in a product
environment. Setting and getting is done using appropriate boost
functions. Type resolution is done using RTTI (especially dynamic
cast). Complex inheritance hierarchies are supported through virtual
inheritance from the base class, such that several classes along the
hierarchy can contribute property slots. CRTP and static
initialization is used to register properties. Convenient setter/
getter function generators are provided as is a mechanism to access
nested properties using dot notation.

I would very much like to put this work into the community as I think
it will only make it better, plus I want to give back to boost since
it has been a lot of help to me and still is.

Best

Daniel Oberhoff
Fraunhofer FIT
Schloss Birlinghoven
St. Augustin
Germany


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