Public Member Functions

Ref ()
Create a reference to a null object. Ref (T *a)
Create a reference to the object a. Ref (const Ref< T > &a)
Create a reference to the object referred to by a. template<class A > Ref (const Ref< A > &a)
Create a reference to the object referred to by a. ~Ref ()
Delete this reference to the object. T * operator-> () const
Returns the reference counted object. T * pointer () const
Returns a pointer the reference counted object. RefCount * parentpointer () const
Implements the parentpointer pure virtual in the base class. operator T* () const
T & operator* () const
Returns a C++ reference to the reference counted object. int null () const
Return 1 if this is a reference to a null object. int nonnull () const
Return !null(). template<class A > int operator== (const Ref< A > &a) const
A variety of ordering and equivalence operators are provided using the Identity class. template<class A > int operator>= (const Ref< A > &a) const
template<class A > int operator<= (const Ref< A > &a) const
template<class A > int operator> (const Ref< A > &a) const
template<class A > int operator< (const Ref< A > &a) const
template<class A > int operator!= (const Ref< A > &a) const
int compare (const Ref< T > &a) const
Compare two objects returning -1, 0, or 1. void clear ()
Refer to the null object. Ref< T > & operator= (const Ref< T > &c)
Assignment to c. template<class A > Ref< T > & operator= (const Ref< A > &c)
Assignment to c. Ref< T > & operator<< (const RefBase &a)
Assignment to the object that a references using dynamic_cast. Ref< T > & operator<< (RefCount *a)
Assigns to the given base class pointer using dynamic_cast. Ref< T > & operator= (T *cr)
Assignment to cr. void assign_pointer (T *cr)
Assignment to cr. void check_pointer () const
Check the validity of the pointer. void ref_info (std::ostream &os) const
Print information about the reference to os. void warn (const char *s) const
Print a warning concerning the reference.

Additional Inherited Members

template<class T>

class sc::Ref< T >" A template class that maintains references counts.

Several of these operations can cause a reference to an object to be replaced by a reference to a different object. If a reference to a nonnull object is eliminated, the object's reference count is decremented and the object is deleted if the reference count becomes zero.

There also may be a to convert to T*, where T is the type of the object which Ref references. Some compilers have bugs that prevent the use of operator T*(). The pointer() member should be used instead.

template<class T > sc::Ref< T >::~Ref () [inline]

Delete this reference to the object. Decrement the object's reference count and delete the object if the count is zero.

template<class T > int sc::Ref< T >::compare (const Ref< T > & a) const [inline]

Compare two objects returning -1, 0, or 1. Similar to the C library routine strcmp.

template<class T > int sc::Ref< T >::null () const [inline]

Return 1 if this is a reference to a null object. Otherwise return 0.

template<class T > T& sc::Ref< T >::operator* () const [inline]

Returns a C++ reference to the reference counted object. The behaviour is undefined if the object is null.

template<class T > T* sc::Ref< T >::operator-> () const [inline]

Returns the reference counted object. The behaviour is undefined if the object is null.

template<class T > Ref<T>& sc::Ref< T >::operator<< (RefCount * a) [inline]

Assigns to the given base class pointer using dynamic_cast. If the dynamic_cast fails and the argument is nonnull and has a reference count of zero, then it is deleted.