Creating a string list and an enum list from a C++ macro

Question

In order to make my code shorter and easier to change I want to replace something like

enum{ E_AAA, E_BBB, E_CCC };
static const char *strings{\"AAA\", \"BBB         


        

Answer 1

You can do it with a bit of macro magic:

#define FRUITS \
    etype(Unknown), \
    etype(Apple),   \
    etype(Orange),  \
    etype(Banana),  \
    etype(Apricot), \
    etype(Mango)

#define etype(x) F_##x

typedef enum { FRUITS } Fruit;

#undef etype
#define etype(x) #x

static const char *strFruit[] = { FRUITS };

Here is a test program:

#include 
#include 
#include 

#define FRUITS \
    etype(Unknown), \
    etype(Apple),   \
    etype(Orange),  \
    etype(Banana),  \
    etype(Apricot), \
    etype(Mango)

#define etype(x) F_##x

typedef enum { FRUITS } Fruit;

#undef etype
#define etype(x) #x

static const char *strFruit[] = { FRUITS };

const char *enum2str (Fruit f)
{
    return strFruit[static_cast(f)];
}

Fruit str2enum (const char *f)
{
    const int n = sizeof(strFruit) / sizeof(strFruit[0]);
    for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
    {
        if (strcmp(strFruit[i], f) == 0)
            return (Fruit) i;
    }
    return F_Unknown;
}

int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
    std::cout << "I like " << enum2str(F_Mango) << std::endl;
    std::cout << "I do not like " << enum2str(F_Banana) << std::endl;
    std::vector v;
    v.push_back("Apple");
    v.push_back("Mango");
    v.push_back("Tomato");
    for (int i = 0; i < v.size(); ++i)
    {
        const Fruit f = str2enum(v[i]);
        if (f == F_Unknown)
            std::cout << "Is " << v[i] << " a fruit?" << std::endl;
        else
            std::cout << v[i] << " is a fruit" << std::endl;
    }
    return 0;
}

It outputs:

I like Mango
I do not like Banana
Apple is a fruit
Mango is a fruit
Is Tomato a fruit?