05-05-09 - AutoReflect

I wrote before about autogenerating prefs for C++ . Well, I went and did it.

It's almost exactly what was discussed before. There's a code generator "AutoReflect" that makes a little include file. You mark variables with //$ to get them processed.

Here's an actual example from Galaxy4 :

class DriverTestPref : public Prefs
{
public :

    AUTO_REFLECT_FULL(DriverTestPref);

    float m_sharedConvergeTime; //$ = 2.2f;
    float m_cubicMaxAccelScale; //$ = 1.75f;
    float m_pdTimeScale; //$ = 2.f;
    float m_pdDamping; //$ = 1.f;
    float m_pdMinVel; //$ = 0.005f;
    float m_interceptConfidence; //$ = 0.5f;
    
    //float m_test; //$ = 1.f;
};

#include "gApp_DriverTest.aup"

To integrate this with VC 2003, I made AutoReflect just run as a global pre build step. It recurses directories and looks for all the ".aup" files. It checks their modtime against the corresponding .cpp and only runs if the cpp is newer. Even then, it's quite common that the cpp was changed but not in a way that affects the AutoReflect, so I generate the new aup file to a temp name, diff it against the current aup file, and don't touch it if it's the same.

That way I don't have to worry about adding custom build steps to lots of files or anything, it's one global pre-build you put in your project once. There are a few minor disadvantages with that :

1. You have to make an "aup" file manually once to get it started. You can do this just by creating the file by hand, or you can run "AutoReflect -f" for "full process" in which case it changes the enumeration to look for all "cpp" files instead of looking forb all "aup" files.

2. Fucking MSDev Pre/Post Build Events don't use the machine %PATH% to look for executables !?!?! URG WTF. It means I can't just put "AutoReflect" in there and have it work on various systems, I have to hard code the full path, or put it in one of the MSDev "Executable Directories" paths.

I gather than in VC 2008 the custom build capabilities are much enhanced so maybe there's a better way there, but this is mostly working very nicely. One good thing about doing it as a pre-build is that it doesn't interfere with the normal Make incremental build at all. That is, when the cpp is modified, first I make a new aup, then the cpp is compiled (which includes the new aup). There's no funny business where the cpp gets compiled twice, or it gets compiled before the aup is made or any of those kinds of problems.

ADDENDUM : actually I just realized there is a problem with this method. Because the "pre build" is only run for an F7 "build" and not for a ctrl-F7 "compile" you can compile your file and it doesn't get the new AUP. That's not a disaster, but it mildly sucks, I'd like it to AutoReflect before the compile when I hit ctrl-F7.

For the example above, the actual "aup" generated is :

template <class T>
void DriverTestPref::Auto_Reflection(T & functor)
{
    REFLECT(m_sharedConvergeTime);
    REFLECT(m_cubicMaxAccelScale);
    REFLECT(m_pdTimeScale);
    REFLECT(m_pdDamping);
    REFLECT(m_pdMinVel);
    REFLECT(m_interceptConfidence);
}

void DriverTestPref::Auto_SetDefaults()
{
    m_sharedConvergeTime = 2.2f;
    m_cubicMaxAccelScale = 1.75f;
    m_pdTimeScale = 2.f;
    m_pdDamping = 1.f;
    m_pdMinVel = 0.005f;
    m_interceptConfidence = 0.5f;
}

While I was at it I also put my Prefs & TweakVars into a "DirChangeWatcher" so that I get automatic hot reloads and made that all happen by default in Galaxy4. Pleasing.

I plan to not check in the aups to source control. Since they are generated each time you build, I'll treat them like obj's. Again the only problem with this is when someone syncs and doesn't have the aups yet - I can't do my incremental build method until they exist. What I would really like is for the MSDev "Full Rebuild" or "Clean" to run my "AutoReflect -f" for me that would generate the aups.

There's one stupid thing that's still not done in this, which is handling .h vs .cpp ; since you can have autoreflected classes in xxx.h and xxx.cpp , both would generate xxx.aup and I'd have to merge them or something. I could make it generate two seperates aups, "xxx.h.aup" and "xxx.cpp.aup" , not sure if that's the right thing to do. (ADDENDUM : yeah, I just did that, I think it's the way to go, it also makes it work with .c or whatever, because for any .aup file I can find the source file by just cutting off the .aup ; it removes all assumptions about the source file extension).

Of course I talk about AutoReflect mainly in terms of "prefs", but it's useful for other things. It basically gives you reflection in C++. One thing I'd like to use it for is to bring back the "IOZ" automatic IO system we did at Oddworld (basically a templated visitor IO that let's you stream things in and out trivially).

Unofficial early releases :

AutoReflect.zip (zip 62k)

cblib.zip (zip 500k)

galaxy4.zip (zip 1.5M)

Also in galaxy4 :

Now on Dx9. Now shares math/core code with cblib so it's not duped. New OBB & Hull code as written about earlier (in gApp_HullTest). New SmoothDriver and test app (gApp_DriverTest) (cubic & pd controller stuff written about long ago). Some other random shit, like new gFont,