1 // Copyright (c) 2012 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
2 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
3 // found in the LICENSE file.
5 // Weak pointers are pointers to an object that do not affect its lifetime,
6 // and which may be invalidated (i.e. reset to NULL) by the object, or its
7 // owner, at any time, most commonly when the object is about to be deleted.
9 // Weak pointers are useful when an object needs to be accessed safely by one
10 // or more objects other than its owner, and those callers can cope with the
11 // object vanishing and e.g. tasks posted to it being silently dropped.
12 // Reference-counting such an object would complicate the ownership graph and
13 // make it harder to reason about the object's lifetime.
19 // void SpawnWorker() { Worker::StartNew(weak_factory_.GetWeakPtr()); }
20 // void WorkComplete(const Result& result) { ... }
22 // // Member variables should appear before the WeakPtrFactory, to ensure
23 // // that any WeakPtrs to Controller are invalidated before its members
24 // // variable's destructors are executed, rendering them invalid.
25 // WeakPtrFactory<Controller> weak_factory_;
30 // static void StartNew(const WeakPtr<Controller>& controller) {
31 // Worker* worker = new Worker(controller);
32 // // Kick off asynchronous processing...
35 // Worker(const WeakPtr<Controller>& controller)
36 // : controller_(controller) {}
37 // void DidCompleteAsynchronousProcessing(const Result& result) {
39 // controller_->WorkComplete(result);
41 // WeakPtr<Controller> controller_;
44 // With this implementation a caller may use SpawnWorker() to dispatch multiple
45 // Workers and subsequently delete the Controller, without waiting for all
46 // Workers to have completed.
48 // ------------------------- IMPORTANT: Thread-safety -------------------------
50 // Weak pointers may be passed safely between threads, but must always be
51 // dereferenced and invalidated on the same thread otherwise checking the
52 // pointer would be racey.
54 // To ensure correct use, the first time a WeakPtr issued by a WeakPtrFactory
55 // is dereferenced, the factory and its WeakPtrs become bound to the calling
56 // thread, and cannot be dereferenced or invalidated on any other thread. Bound
57 // WeakPtrs can still be handed off to other threads, e.g. to use to post tasks
58 // back to object on the bound thread.
60 // Invalidating the factory's WeakPtrs un-binds it from the thread, allowing it
61 // to be passed for a different thread to use or delete it.
63 #ifndef BASE_MEMORY_WEAK_PTR_H_
64 #define BASE_MEMORY_WEAK_PTR_H_
66 #include "base/basictypes.h"
67 #include "base/base_export.h"
68 #include "base/logging.h"
69 #include "base/memory/ref_counted.h"
70 #include "base/sequence_checker.h"
71 #include "base/template_util.h"
75 template <typename T> class SupportsWeakPtr;
76 template <typename T> class WeakPtr;
79 // These classes are part of the WeakPtr implementation.
80 // DO NOT USE THESE CLASSES DIRECTLY YOURSELF.
82 class BASE_EXPORT WeakReference {
84 // Although Flag is bound to a specific thread, it may be deleted from another
85 // via base::WeakPtr::~WeakPtr().
86 class Flag : public RefCountedThreadSafe<Flag> {
94 friend class base::RefCountedThreadSafe<Flag>;
98 SequenceChecker sequence_checker_;
103 explicit WeakReference(const Flag* flag);
106 bool is_valid() const;
109 scoped_refptr<const Flag> flag_;
112 class BASE_EXPORT WeakReferenceOwner {
114 WeakReferenceOwner();
115 ~WeakReferenceOwner();
117 WeakReference GetRef() const;
119 bool HasRefs() const {
120 return flag_.get() && !flag_->HasOneRef();
126 mutable scoped_refptr<WeakReference::Flag> flag_;
129 // This class simplifies the implementation of WeakPtr's type conversion
130 // constructor by avoiding the need for a public accessor for ref_. A
131 // WeakPtr<T> cannot access the private members of WeakPtr<U>, so this
132 // base class gives us a way to access ref_ in a protected fashion.
133 class BASE_EXPORT WeakPtrBase {
139 explicit WeakPtrBase(const WeakReference& ref);
144 // This class provides a common implementation of common functions that would
145 // otherwise get instantiated separately for each distinct instantiation of
146 // SupportsWeakPtr<>.
147 class SupportsWeakPtrBase {
149 // A safe static downcast of a WeakPtr<Base> to WeakPtr<Derived>. This
150 // conversion will only compile if there is exists a Base which inherits
151 // from SupportsWeakPtr<Base>. See base::AsWeakPtr() below for a helper
152 // function that makes calling this easier.
153 template<typename Derived>
154 static WeakPtr<Derived> StaticAsWeakPtr(Derived* t) {
156 is_convertible<Derived, internal::SupportsWeakPtrBase&> convertible;
157 COMPILE_ASSERT(convertible::value,
158 AsWeakPtr_argument_inherits_from_SupportsWeakPtr);
159 return AsWeakPtrImpl<Derived>(t, *t);
163 // This template function uses type inference to find a Base of Derived
164 // which is an instance of SupportsWeakPtr<Base>. We can then safely
165 // static_cast the Base* to a Derived*.
166 template <typename Derived, typename Base>
167 static WeakPtr<Derived> AsWeakPtrImpl(
168 Derived* t, const SupportsWeakPtr<Base>&) {
169 WeakPtr<Base> ptr = t->Base::AsWeakPtr();
170 return WeakPtr<Derived>(ptr.ref_, static_cast<Derived*>(ptr.ptr_));
174 } // namespace internal
176 template <typename T> class WeakPtrFactory;
178 // The WeakPtr class holds a weak reference to |T*|.
180 // This class is designed to be used like a normal pointer. You should always
181 // null-test an object of this class before using it or invoking a method that
182 // may result in the underlying object being destroyed.
186 // class Foo { ... };
191 template <typename T>
192 class WeakPtr : public internal::WeakPtrBase {
194 WeakPtr() : ptr_(NULL) {
197 // Allow conversion from U to T provided U "is a" T. Note that this
198 // is separate from the (implicit) copy constructor.
199 template <typename U>
200 WeakPtr(const WeakPtr<U>& other) : WeakPtrBase(other), ptr_(other.ptr_) {
203 T* get() const { return ref_.is_valid() ? ptr_ : NULL; }
205 T& operator*() const {
206 DCHECK(get() != NULL);
209 T* operator->() const {
210 DCHECK(get() != NULL);
214 // Allow WeakPtr<element_type> to be used in boolean expressions, but not
215 // implicitly convertible to a real bool (which is dangerous).
217 // Note that this trick is only safe when the == and != operators
218 // are declared explicitly, as otherwise "weak_ptr1 == weak_ptr2"
219 // will compile but do the wrong thing (i.e., convert to Testable
220 // and then do the comparison).
222 typedef T* WeakPtr::*Testable;
225 operator Testable() const { return get() ? &WeakPtr::ptr_ : NULL; }
228 ref_ = internal::WeakReference();
233 // Explicitly declare comparison operators as required by the bool
234 // trick, but keep them private.
235 template <class U> bool operator==(WeakPtr<U> const&) const;
236 template <class U> bool operator!=(WeakPtr<U> const&) const;
238 friend class internal::SupportsWeakPtrBase;
239 template <typename U> friend class WeakPtr;
240 friend class SupportsWeakPtr<T>;
241 friend class WeakPtrFactory<T>;
243 WeakPtr(const internal::WeakReference& ref, T* ptr)
248 // This pointer is only valid when ref_.is_valid() is true. Otherwise, its
249 // value is undefined (as opposed to NULL).
253 // A class may be composed of a WeakPtrFactory and thereby
254 // control how it exposes weak pointers to itself. This is helpful if you only
255 // need weak pointers within the implementation of a class. This class is also
256 // useful when working with primitive types. For example, you could have a
257 // WeakPtrFactory<bool> that is used to pass around a weak reference to a bool.
259 class WeakPtrFactory {
261 explicit WeakPtrFactory(T* ptr) : ptr_(ptr) {
268 WeakPtr<T> GetWeakPtr() {
270 return WeakPtr<T>(weak_reference_owner_.GetRef(), ptr_);
273 // Call this method to invalidate all existing weak pointers.
274 void InvalidateWeakPtrs() {
276 weak_reference_owner_.Invalidate();
279 // Call this method to determine if any weak pointers exist.
280 bool HasWeakPtrs() const {
282 return weak_reference_owner_.HasRefs();
286 internal::WeakReferenceOwner weak_reference_owner_;
288 DISALLOW_IMPLICIT_CONSTRUCTORS(WeakPtrFactory);
291 // A class may extend from SupportsWeakPtr to let others take weak pointers to
292 // it. This avoids the class itself implementing boilerplate to dispense weak
293 // pointers. However, since SupportsWeakPtr's destructor won't invalidate
294 // weak pointers to the class until after the derived class' members have been
295 // destroyed, its use can lead to subtle use-after-destroy issues.
297 class SupportsWeakPtr : public internal::SupportsWeakPtrBase {
301 WeakPtr<T> AsWeakPtr() {
302 return WeakPtr<T>(weak_reference_owner_.GetRef(), static_cast<T*>(this));
306 ~SupportsWeakPtr() {}
309 internal::WeakReferenceOwner weak_reference_owner_;
310 DISALLOW_COPY_AND_ASSIGN(SupportsWeakPtr);
313 // Helper function that uses type deduction to safely return a WeakPtr<Derived>
314 // when Derived doesn't directly extend SupportsWeakPtr<Derived>, instead it
315 // extends a Base that extends SupportsWeakPtr<Base>.
318 // class Base : public base::SupportsWeakPtr<Producer> {};
319 // class Derived : public Base {};
322 // base::WeakPtr<Derived> ptr = base::AsWeakPtr(&derived);
324 // Note that the following doesn't work (invalid type conversion) since
325 // Derived::AsWeakPtr() is WeakPtr<Base> SupportsWeakPtr<Base>::AsWeakPtr(),
326 // and there's no way to safely cast WeakPtr<Base> to WeakPtr<Derived> at
329 // base::WeakPtr<Derived> ptr = derived.AsWeakPtr(); // Fails.
331 template <typename Derived>
332 WeakPtr<Derived> AsWeakPtr(Derived* t) {
333 return internal::SupportsWeakPtrBase::StaticAsWeakPtr<Derived>(t);
338 #endif // BASE_MEMORY_WEAK_PTR_H_