Reference counter. More...

#include <ReferenceCounter.h>

Public Member Functions
	ReferenceCounter ()
	Constructor.
int	nRef () const
	Get the number of references to a shareable resource.
bool	hasRefs () const
	Does this counter have references (is nRef > 0)?

Detailed Description

Reference counter.

A ReferenceCounter may be associated with zero or more CountedReference objects. A class that owns a shareable resource such as a dynamically allocated array, known as a resource owner, may have a private ReferenceCounter member variable that it uses to keep track of the number of objects that currently have access to the resource. A class that can access a reference counted resource that it does not own, known as a resource user, may have a private CountedReference member variable to keep track of the relationship.

A ReferenceCounter has an integer counter that is equal of the number of associated CountedReference objects. The value of this counter is returned by the nRef() member function. A CountedReference has a pointer member that can hold the address of a single associated Referrence counter. The CountedReference class is a friend of the RefererenceCounter class. This allows a CountedReference to directly increment or decrement the integer counter maintained by an associated ReferenceCounter when the association is created or destroyed.

While nRef() returns a nonzero value, the parent resource owner class should attempt to prevent actions that de-allocate or otherwise invalidate a shared resource, and output a warning of such actions when they cannot be prevented (e.g., during destruction).

Definition at line 42 of file ReferenceCounter.h.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ ReferenceCounter()

Util::ReferenceCounter::ReferenceCounter ( )

Constructor.

Definition at line 15 of file ReferenceCounter.cpp.

Member Function Documentation

◆ nRef()

int Util::ReferenceCounter::nRef ( ) const

inline

Get the number of references to a shareable resource.

Definition at line 72 of file ReferenceCounter.h.

◆ hasRefs()

bool Util::ReferenceCounter::hasRefs ( ) const

inline

Does this counter have references (is nRef > 0)?

Definition at line 76 of file ReferenceCounter.h.