Pointing to a function that is a class member - glfw setKeycallback

Question

I\'m writing a glfw app, in which I\'ve wrapped the function callse into a simple class. Im having trouble setting the key callback. My class is defined as:

Answer 1

This is a useful discussion of possible solutions that helped me with the same problem, and I'm adding my solution in case it proves useful.

Problem Statement

My scenario is more general than the ones addressed by BIC, L.Senionis, and N0vember. In particular, my use case requires:

• Generally, instance's data must be accessible to the callback
• Many applications can be created using a common set of response handlers
• In an application, any number of windows may be created
• The set of callbacks attached to each window should be mixed and matched from a certain library of possible responders.

Proposed Solution Usage

The simple singleton design no longer solves the problem. Instead, I provide a GLFWResponder superclass that handles all of the setup complexity. In order to use the class and attach response to a window, here is what is required.

// Implement custom responder
class MyResponder : public GLFWResponder {
  public:
    virtual void cursor_position_callback(GLFWwindow* w, double x, double y) {...}
    ... override relevant callbacks ...
 };

// in main ************************************************

// Assuming initialized GLFWwindow* my_window and my_other_window

MyResponder resp;
MyResponder resp2;  // Can be another subclass of GLFWResponder

// Two responders can respond to same window
resp.respond_to(my_window, GLFWResponder::CURSOR_POSITION);
resp2.respond_to(my_window, GLFWResponder::CURSOR_POSITION);

// One responder can respond to multiple windows
resp2.respond_to(my_other_window, GLFWResponder::CURSOR_POSITION);

// One window can have different handlers for different events
resp.respond_to(my_other_window, GLFWResponder::CURSOR_ENTER);

Proposed Solution Implementation

Here is the sketch of the GLFWResponder implementation, fully functional, but with some TODO's. There may be some implications on performance, which I have not yet investigated.

// GLFWResponder.h ************************************************
/**
 * Responder superclass that allows subclasses to handle events from multiple
 * GLFW windows (which have only C API for callbacks).
 * Callbacks are automatically cleaned up when responder goes out of scope.
 */
class GLFWResponder {
 public:
  virtual ~GLFWResponder();

  // Interface -----------------------------------
  enum GLFWEventType {
    CURSOR_POSITION = 0,
    CURSOR_ENTER = 1
    // TODO: add support for other callbacks
  };

  void respond_to(GLFWwindow* window, GLFWEventType event);

  bool does_respond_to(GLFWwindow* window, GLFWEventType event) const;

  // Subclasses implement ------------------------
  virtual void cursor_position_callback(GLFWwindow* window, double xpos, double ypos);

  virtual void cursor_enter_callback(GLFWwindow* window, int entered);

  // TODO: add support for other callbacks


  // Under the hood ------------------------------
  static std::set getResponders(GLFWwindow* windo, GLFWEventType event);

 private:
  // Windows and events that this instance responds to
  std::set > enabled_events_;

  // Global responders keyed by events they respond to
  // (each responder knows which windows it responds to)
  static std::map > responders_;
}; 

// GLFWResponder.cpp **************************************************
namespace {

void cursor_position_callback_private(GLFWwindow* window, double xpos, double ypos) {
  for (GLFWResponder* r : GLFWResponder::getResponders(window, GLFWResponder::CURSOR_POSITION)) {
    r->cursor_position_callback(window, xpos, ypos);
  }
}

void cursor_enter_callback_private(GLFWwindow* window, int entered) {
  for (GLFWResponder* r : GLFWResponder::getResponders(window, GLFWResponder::CURSOR_ENTER)) {
    r->cursor_enter_callback(window, entered);
  }
}

} // namespace

std::map > GLFWResponder::responders_;

GLFWResponder::~GLFWResponder() {
  for (auto& pr : responders_) {
    pr.second.erase(this);
  }
  // TODO: also clean up window's callbacks
}

void GLFWResponder::respond_to(GLFWwindow* window, GLFWResponder::GLFWEventType event) {
  enabled_events_.insert(std::make_pair(window, event));
  responders_[event].insert(this);
  if (event == CURSOR_POSITION) {
    glfwSetCursorPosCallback(window, cursor_position_callback_private);
  } else if (event == CURSOR_ENTER) {
    glfwSetCursorEnterCallback(window, cursor_enter_callback_private);
  } else {
    // TODO: add support for other callbacks
    LOG(FATAL) << "Unknown GLFWResponder event: " << event;
  }
}

bool GLFWResponder::does_respond_to(GLFWwindow* window, GLFWEventType event) const {
  return enabled_events_.find(std::make_pair(window, event)) != enabled_events_.end();
}

std::set GLFWResponder::getResponders(
    GLFWwindow* window, GLFWEventType event) {
  std::set result;
  auto it = responders_.find(event);
  if (it != responders_.end()) {
    for (GLFWResponder* resp : it->second) {
      if (resp->does_respond_to(window, event)) {
        result.insert(resp);
      }
    }
  }
  return result;
}

void GLFWResponder::cursor_position_callback(
    GLFWwindow* window, double xpos, double ypos) {
  // TODO: fail with message "GLFWResponder::do_respond called on a subclass that does not implement a handler for that event"
}

void GLFWResponder::cursor_enter_callback(GLFWwindow* window, int entered) {
  // TODO: fail with message "GLFWResponder::do_respond called on a subclass that does not implement a handler for that event"
}