RefTarget< T > Class Template Reference

#include <Reference.h>

Public Member Functions
	RefTarget ()=default
	Constructor.
	RefTarget (const RefTarget &)
	~RefTarget ()
	assert no one is referencing us
void	SetEmbedded () const
RefTarget &	operator= (const RefTarget &)
	Assignment operator.
uint32	GetRefCount () const
	Get current refcount of this object.
void	AddRef () const
	Add or release a reference to this object.
void	Release () const

Static Public Member Functions
static int	sInternalGetRefCountOffset ()
	INTERNAL HELPER FUNCTION USED BY SERIALIZATION.

Protected Attributes
atomic< uint32 >	mRefCount = 0
	Current reference count.

Static Protected Attributes
static constexpr uint32	cEmbedded = 0x0ebedded
	A large value that gets added to the refcount to mark the object as embedded.

Detailed Description

template<class T>
class RefTarget< T >

Simple class to facilitate reference counting / releasing Derive your class from RefTarget and you can reference it by using Ref<classname> or RefConst<classname>

Reference counting classes keep an integer which indicates how many references to the object are active. Reference counting objects are derived from RefTarget and staT & their life with a reference count of zero. They can then be assigned to equivalents of pointers (Ref) which will increase the reference count immediately. If the destructor of Ref is called or another object is assigned to the reference counting pointer it will decrease the reference count of the object again. If this reference count becomes zero, the object is destroyed.

This provides a very powerful mechanism to prevent memory leaks, but also gives some responsibility to the programmer. The most notable point is that you cannot have one object reference another and have the other reference the first one back, because this way the reference count of both objects will never become lower than 1, resulting in a memory leak. By carefully designing your classes (and particularly identifying who owns who in the class hierarchy) you can avoid these problems.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

RefTarget() [1/2]

template<class T >

RefTarget< T >::RefTarget ( )

inlinedefault

Constructor.

RefTarget() [2/2]

template<class T >

RefTarget< T >::RefTarget ( const RefTarget< T > &  )

inline

~RefTarget()

template<class T >

RefTarget< T >::~RefTarget ( )

inline

assert no one is referencing us

Member Function Documentation

AddRef()

template<class T >

void RefTarget< T >::AddRef ( ) const

inline

Add or release a reference to this object.

GetRefCount()

template<class T >

uint32 RefTarget< T >::GetRefCount ( ) const

inline

Get current refcount of this object.

operator=()

template<class T >

RefTarget & RefTarget< T >::operator= ( const RefTarget< T > &  )

inline

Assignment operator.

Release()

template<class T >

void RefTarget< T >::Release ( ) const

inline

SetEmbedded()

template<class T >

void RefTarget< T >::SetEmbedded ( ) const

inline

Mark this class as embedded, this means the type can be used in a compound or constructed on the stack. The Release function will never destruct the object, it is assumed the destructor will be called by whoever allocated the object and at that point in time it is checked that no references are left to the structure.

sInternalGetRefCountOffset()

template<class T >

static int RefTarget< T >::sInternalGetRefCountOffset ( )

inlinestatic

INTERNAL HELPER FUNCTION USED BY SERIALIZATION.

Member Data Documentation

cEmbedded

template<class T >

constexpr uint32 RefTarget< T >::cEmbedded = 0x0ebedded

staticconstexprprotected

A large value that gets added to the refcount to mark the object as embedded.

mRefCount

template<class T >

atomic<uint32> RefTarget< T >::mRefCount = 0

mutableprotected

Current reference count.

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The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

• Jolt/Core/Reference.h