[Boost-users] Re: Q: boost::format : can formatting variablearguments lists be done ?

From: Dan Dimerman (dimerman_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-12-22 08:03:14

Richard Howells wrote:
> Vladimir is right.  
> 
> You've seen the problems and crashes that leaving type checking to the
> programmer causes.  You need the compiler to do the checking for you.
> 
> I suggest using the same kind of scheme as the iostreams library.  You might
/.../
> ...it will be (mostly) type safe - the type dangerous stuff is isolated to
> one place per output type - and you can extend it as you go.  You'll likely
> need extra formatting stuff and that's where boost::format may help you.
> 

I was thinking about something like:

MyLogger::print( const boost::format& f )

and since all format's operator %() return a boost::format, I could with 
this single function reap all the types handled by it at once.

I use a function rather than the operator << because they are actually 
template functions, with the parameter being the severity.
So for _DEBUG versions, the MyLogger::print< DBG >() function 
instantiates to a proper call to print, while in _RELEASE versions it 
instantiates to an empty function. I just didn't see a clean way to do 
this with operators.

Dan