[boost] interest in properties library

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