Compile-time introspection failure

From:
Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
03 Dec 2010 13:17:17 GMT
Message-ID:
<4cf8eddd$0$14473$7b1e8fa0@news.nbl.fi>
  I was testing the usage (or "abuse") of SFINAE for compile-time
introspection. In this particular example, I use it to call the
'reserve()' function of an object if it has it, else nothing. The
program is as follows (sorry for the somewhat lengthy program, but
I don't know if this can be implemented more briefly; please tell
me if it's possible, because it would be interesting):

//--------------------------------------------------------------------
template<typename T>
struct has_reserve_func
{
    typedef char yes[1];
    typedef char no[2];

    template<typename size_type, void (T::*fptr)(size_type)>
    struct test_struct {};

    template<typename C>
    static yes& test(test_struct<typename C::size_type, &C::reserve>*);

    template<typename>
    static no& test(...);

    static const bool value = sizeof(test<T>(0)) == sizeof(yes);
};

#include <iostream>

template<bool>
struct CallReserve
{
    template<typename Cont_t>
    static void makeCall(Cont_t&, typename Cont_t::size_type)
    {
        std::cout << "Not calling reserve.\n";
    }
};

template<>
struct CallReserve<true>
{
    template<typename Cont_t>
    static void makeCall(Cont_t& container,
                         typename Cont_t::size_type amount)
    {
        std::cout << "Calling reserve.\n";
        container.reserve(amount);
    }
};

template<typename Cont_t>
void callReserve(Cont_t& container, typename Cont_t::size_type amount)
{
    CallReserve<has_reserve_func<Cont_t>::value>::makeCall
        (container, amount);
}
//--------------------------------------------------------------------

// Test
#include <vector>
#include <list>

class Test: public std::vector<int> {};

int main()
{
    std::cout << "vector: ";
    std::vector<int> v;
    callReserve(v, 123);

    std::cout << "list: ";
    std::list<int> l;
    callReserve(l, 123);
}
//--------------------------------------------------------------------

  When run, it prints the expected:

vector: Calling reserve.
list: Not calling reserve.

  However, the "introspection" fails if the 'reserve()' function is
in a base class instead of the derived class. For example if I do
this:

//--------------------------------------------------------------------
class Test: public std::vector<int> {};

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Test: ";
    Testi t;
    callReserve(t, 123);
}
//--------------------------------------------------------------------

it will not call the reserve function.

  What is the reason for this, and can it be made to work?

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