I have two classes, for instance, A and B. I would like to pass A as reference to B.
class I
{
public:
virtual void callback() = 0;
};
class B
{
public:
B(I* callback) : _callback(callback) {}
private:
I* _callback;
};
class A : public I
{
public:
A() : _b(new B(this)) {}
private:
B* _b;
};
And I would like to:
- get rid of naked pointers (for instance, with a help of std::shared_ptr and std::weak_ptr).
- avoid cyclic referencing.
But there are some problems:
- How do I create a weak pointer INSIDE a class A? First, I should be sure that an instance of A is managed by some shared_ptr. Even if I'm really sure, how can I find this shared_ptr instance?
- Generally, how can I ensure that I'm using instances of some class ONLY via shared pointers? I can try to create factory method and make constructor private, but it leads to error: make_shared demands a public contstructor.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT:
More detail explanation of problem: I have a class A. This class wants to pass some part of work to a class B. So I have a shared pointer to B inside A. And I would like B to do this asynchronously, and B should call A's callback when there is some progress or when the work is done. So B should have a reference to A.
class I
{
public:
virtual void isDone() = 0;
};
class B
{
public:
B(I* callback) : _callback(callback) //how do I take and store callback inside B???
{
//async invocation of run()
}
private:
weak_ptr<I> _callback;
void run()
{
if(_callback.get())
{
_callback->isDone();
}
}
};
class A : public I
{
public:
A() : _b(new B(this)) {} //how do I pass this to B???
private:
shared_ptr<B> _b;
virtual void isDone()
{
cout << "job is complete" << '\n';
}
};
So the question is: how do I pass A to B? I can try to do it via naked pointer or reference, but it's safety because B has no guarantees that this referenced object is still alive (common problem of all naked pointers). So I would like to pass a weak pointer, and my question was all about it.