How to copy boost::property_map?

Question

I would like to obtain two sets of shortest paths (one-to-all) derived from one graph, defined as adjacency_list with internal properties (as opposed to bundles)

In theory I could run dijkstra_shortest_paths on two reference nodes, n1 and n2. If I create two property_maps and pass them in sequence to dijkstra_... I get what looks like two views of the same map. Both point to the result of the last run of dijkstra_shortest_paths, so that the older result is gone. What should I do to achieve the desired result?

// Define some property maps
property_map<ugraph_t,edge_weight_t>::type Weight=get(edge_weight,G);
property_map<ugraph_t,vertex_distance_t>::type Dist1=get(vertex_distance,G);
// One line later, I expect this to be mapped to the SPs w.r.t n1
// Run SP on the first node
dijkstra_shortest_paths(G,n1,predecessor_map(Prev1).distance_map(Dist1).weight_map(Weight));
// New property maps
property_map<ugraph_t,vertex_distance_t>::type Dist2(Dist1); // And now to the second set
property_map<ugraph_t,vertex_predecessor_t>::type Prev2(Prev1); //  But no two sets will result... 
// Run SP on the second node
// This will run fine, but I will lose the first SP set (with or without a copy constructor above)
dijkstra_shortest_paths(G,n2,predecessor_map(Prev2).distance_map(Dist2).weight_map(Weight));

CONCLUSION: If I am not mistaken, a property_map can be thought of as an interface with an iterator so that copying property_maps makes no sense. The solution is to pass a custom container, constructed on the fly. That solution is detailed in the answer by @sehe below for which my many thanks!

NOTE: This only works if the vertex container type is vecS. With listS one has to "manually" copy vertex-by-vertex.

Answer 1

The distance map is not supposed to be an interior property. Same goes for the predecessor map.

They are not logically properties of the graph. They are the result of a query. As such they're property of a combination of query parameters, including the graph, starting node etc.

If you want to save the value of an interior property, just save it in any way you normally would:

std::vector<double> saved_distances(num_vertices(G));
BGL_FORALL_VERTICES(v, G, ugraph_t)
    saved_distances.push_back(Dist1[v]);

Workaround

The workaround with copying the maps:

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#include <boost/graph/adjacency_list.hpp>
#include <boost/graph/properties.hpp>
#include <boost/graph/dijkstra_shortest_paths.hpp>
#include <boost/graph/iteration_macros.hpp>

using namespace boost;

using ugraph_traits = graph_traits<adjacency_list<vecS, vecS, directedS> >;
using ugraph_t = adjacency_list<
      vecS, vecS, directedS, 
      property<vertex_distance_t, double, 
        property<vertex_predecessor_t, ugraph_traits::vertex_descriptor>
      >,
      property<edge_weight_t, double>
    >;

int main() {
    ugraph_t G(10);
    ugraph_t::vertex_descriptor n1 = 0, n2 = 1, v;
    (void) n1;
    (void) n2;
    // ...

    property_map<ugraph_t, edge_weight_t>::type Weight       = get(edge_weight,G);
    property_map<ugraph_t, vertex_distance_t>::type Dist1    = get(vertex_distance,G);
    property_map<ugraph_t, vertex_predecessor_t>::type Prev1 = get(vertex_predecessor,G);

    dijkstra_shortest_paths(G, n1,
             predecessor_map(Prev1)
            .distance_map(Dist1)
            .weight_map(Weight)
        );

    std::vector<double>                      saved_distances(num_vertices(G));
    std::vector<ugraph_t::vertex_descriptor> saved_predecessors(num_vertices(G));

    BGL_FORALL_VERTICES(v, G, ugraph_t) { 
        saved_distances.push_back(Dist1[v]);
        saved_predecessors.push_back(Prev1[v]);
    }

    /*
     * // C++11 style
     * for(auto v : make_iterator_range(vertices(G)))
     *     saved_distances[v] = Dist1[v];
     */

    // Run SP on the second node
    dijkstra_shortest_paths(G,n2,predecessor_map(Prev1).distance_map(Dist1).weight_map(Weight));
}

Suggested

I'd suggest making the result maps separate containers, leaving only the edge weight interior:

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Better Yet: refactor to remove duplicated code

So it just becomes

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#include <boost/graph/adjacency_list.hpp>
#include <boost/graph/dijkstra_shortest_paths.hpp>

using namespace boost;

using ugraph_t = adjacency_list<vecS, vecS, directedS, no_property, property<edge_weight_t, double> >;
using Vertex   = ugraph_t::vertex_descriptor;

struct ShortestPaths {
    ShortestPaths(size_t num_vertices);
    std::vector<double> distances;
    std::vector<Vertex> predecessors;
};

ShortestPaths GetShortestPaths(ugraph_t const& G, Vertex start);

int main() {
    ugraph_t G(10);
    Vertex n1 = 0, n2 = 1;

    ShortestPaths sp1 = GetShortestPaths(G, n1);
    ShortestPaths sp2 = GetShortestPaths(G, n2);
}

// some other cpp file...:
ShortestPaths::ShortestPaths(size_t num_vertices)
    : distances(num_vertices), predecessors(num_vertices)
{ }

ShortestPaths GetShortestPaths(ugraph_t const& G, Vertex start) {
    ShortestPaths result(num_vertices(G));

    dijkstra_shortest_paths(G, start,
             predecessor_map(make_container_vertex_map(result.predecessors, G))
            .distance_map   (make_container_vertex_map(result.distances, G))
            .weight_map     (get(edge_weight, G))
        );

    return result;
}

Note there is no more need to copy the results. In fact, you don't even need to keep the graph around to keep the result of your query.