Class member function as callback using boost::bind and boost::function

Question

Hey all -

I'm working through setting up a member function as a callback for a C-library that I'm using. The C-library sets up callbacks like this:

typedef int (*functionPointer_t)(myType1_t*, myType2_t*, myType3_t*);

setCallback(param1, param2, functionPointer, param4)

I would like to use boost::bind (if possible) to pass in the function pointer. I would prefer that the function being pointed to was a member of the instantiated class, not a static member. E.g.

Class A {
 public: 
  A();
 protected:
  int myCallback(myType1_t*, myType2_t*, myType3_t*); //aka functionPointer_t
}

Can this be done using boost::bind and boost::function? Per http://stackoverflow.com/questions/400257/how-can-i-pass-a-class-member-function-as-a-callback (the 3rd answer) it appears that I could declare the following (somewhere, or as a typedef):

boost::function<int (A*, myType1_t*, myType2_t*, myType3*> myCallbackFunction

And then somewhere in A (the ctor) call boost::bind on that type, and pass it into the C-library call.

Is this possible, or am I off base? Thanks much.

Answer 1

The problem with member functions is that they automatically receive a pointer to object instance as the first parameter - "this" pointer. That's why you can't use member functions a C callback functions. You must have the object AND the function pointer together in order to use a member function.

Answer 2

No. Functor types like boost::function don't convert to function pointers for use with C callback mechanisms.

However, most C callback mechanisms have some kind of token mechanism, so your callback function (which is static) has some kind of context information. You can use this to write a wrapper class which maps these tokens to functor objects, and passes execution along to the right one:

class CallbackManager {
public:
    typedef boost::function<int (type1*, type2*, type3*)> callback;

    static void setCallback(CallbackManager::callback cb)
    {
        void *token = ::setCallback(staticCallback);
        callbacks[token] = callback_I;
    }

    static void staticCallback(void* token, type1* a, type2* b, type3* c)
    { return mcallbacks[token](a, b, c); }

private:
    static std::map<void*, callback > callbacks;
};