STL map - insert or update

Question

I have a map of objects and I want to update the object mapped to a key, or create a new object and insert into the map. The update is done by a different function that takes a pointer to the object (void update(MyClass *obj))

What is the best way to "insert or update" an element in a map?

Answer 1

The [] operator

Answer 2

something like:

map<int,MyClass*> mymap;
map<int,MyClass*>::iterator it;

MyClass* dummy = new MyClass();
mymap.insert(pair<int,MyClass*>(2,dummy));

it = mymap.find(2);
update(it.second);

here a nice reference link

Answer 3

With something like the following snippet:

std::map<Key, Value>::iterator i = amap.find(key);

if (i == amap.end())
    amap.insert(std::make_pair(key, CreateFunction()));
else
    UpdateFunction(&(i->second));

If you want to measure something that might improve performance you might want to use .lower_bound() to find where an entry and use that as a hint to insert in the case where you need to insert a new object.

std::map<Key, Value>::iterator i = amap.lower_bound(key);

if (i == amap.end() || i->first != key)
    amap.insert(i, std::make_pair(key, CreateFunction()));
                                       // Might need to check and decrement i.
                                       // Only guaranteed to be amortized constant
                                       // time if insertion is immediately after
                                       // the hint position.
else
    UpdateFunction(&(i->second));

Answer 4

The operator[] already does, what you want. See the reference for details.