how do you make a heterogeneous boost::map?

Question

I want to have a map that has a homogeneous key type but heterogeneous data types.

I want to be able to do something like (pseudo-code):

boost::map<std::string, magic_goes_here> m;
m.add<int>("a", 2);
m.add<std::string>("b", "black sheep");

int i = m.get<int>("a");
int j = m.get<int>("b"); // error!

I could have a pointer to a base class as the data type but would rather not.

I've never used boost before but have looked at the fusion library but can't figure out what I need to do.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

How can I build a <favorite container> of objects of different types?

Answer 2

Would boost::any do the trick for you?

Answer 3

If you want a limited set of types to be supported, Boost.Variant should do the trick.

Answer 4

#include <map>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/any.hpp>

int main()
{
    try
    {
        std::map<std::string, boost::any> m;
        m["a"]  = 2;
        m["b"]  = static_cast<char const *>("black sheep");

        int i = boost::any_cast<int>(m["a"]);
        std::cout << "I(" << i << ")\n";

        int j = boost::any_cast<int>(m["b"]); // throws exception
        std::cout << "J(" << j << ")\n";
    }
    catch(...)
    {
        std::cout << "Exception\n";
    }

}

Answer 5

Thank you David, that was what I needed. Here's the working solution.

#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;

#include <map>
#include <boost/any.hpp>

using boost::any_cast;
typedef std::map<std::string, boost::any> t_map;


int main(int argc, char **argv)
{

  t_map map;
  char *pc = "boo yeah!";

  map["a"] = 2.1;
  map["b"] = pc;

  cout << "map contents" << endl;
  cout << any_cast<double>(map["a"]) << endl;
  cout << any_cast<char*>(map["b"]) << endl;

  return 0;
}