Are there any compiler / preprocesser tricks to debug print an enum's name?

Question

I often find myself writing helper debugger methods that return a printable string, given some enum value. The reason for this is when you typically log an enum, all you get is a number really. I hate having to go back to my source to figure out what that enum is. So I would do something like

typedef enum
{
   kOne = 1,
   kTwo,
   kThree,
}
MyEnum;

NSString *debugStringForEnum(MyEnum e)
{
    switch ( e )
        case kOne:
            return @"One";
        case kTwo:
            return @"Two";
        ....
}

....
NSLog(@"My debug log: %@", debugStringForEnum(someVariable));

So my question is, is there any way to avoid writing all this helper code, just to see the label value of enum?

Thanks

Answer 1

If you're willing to write "naughty" code that makes other developers cry, then yes. Try this:

#define ENUM(name, ...) typedef enum { M_FOR_EACH(ENUM_IDENTITY, __VA_ARGS__) } name; \
char * name ## _DEBUGSTRINGS [] = { M_FOR_EACH(ENUM_STRINGIZE, __VA_ARGS__) };

#define ENUM_IDENTITY(A) A,
#define ENUM_STRINGIZE(A) #A,

ENUM(MyEnum,
        foo, bar, baz, boo
        )

You obviously need a for-each macro to make this work. Here's a simple one:

#define M_NARGS(...) M_NARGS_(__VA_ARGS__, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0)
#define M_NARGS_(_10, _9, _8, _7, _6, _5, _4, _3, _2, _1, N, ...) N

#define M_CONC(A, B) M_CONC_(A, B)
#define M_CONC_(A, B) A##B

#define M_FOR_EACH(ACTN, ...) M_CONC(M_FOR_EACH_, M_NARGS(__VA_ARGS__)) (ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)

#define M_FOR_EACH_0(ACTN, E) E
#define M_FOR_EACH_1(ACTN, E) ACTN(E)
#define M_FOR_EACH_2(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_1(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_3(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_2(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_4(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_3(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_5(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_4(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_6(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_5(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_7(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_6(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_8(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_7(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_9(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_8(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)
#define M_FOR_EACH_10(ACTN, E, ...) ACTN(E) M_FOR_EACH_9(ACTN, __VA_ARGS__)

It should be obvious how to extend that loop to have a longer upper limit, but... space considerations for this answer. The loop can potentially be as long as you're willing to copy-and-paste extra iterations into this bit.

For the non-debug build, have an #ifdef choose a version of ENUM without the second line.

---

EDIT: To steal the designated initialisers idea from teppic, here's an even more horrific version that also works with non-ordered initialiser values:

#define ENUM(name, ...) typedef enum { M_FOR_EACH(ENUM_ENAME, __VA_ARGS__) } name; \
char * name ## _DEBUGSTRINGS [] = { M_FOR_EACH(ENUM_ELEM, __VA_ARGS__) };

#define ENUM_ENAME(A) M_IF(M_2ITEMS(M_ID A), (M_FIRST A = M_SECOND A), (A)),
#define ENUM_ELEM(A) M_IF(M_2ITEMS(M_ID A), ([M_FIRST A] = M_STR(M_FIRST A)), ([A] = M_STR(A))),

#define M_STR(A) M_STR_(A)
#define M_STR_(A) #A
#define M_IF(P, T, E) M_CONC(M_IF_, P)(T, E)
#define M_IF_0(T, E) M_ID E
#define M_IF_1(T, E) M_ID T
#define M_2ITEMS(...) M_2I_(__VA_ARGS__, 1, 0)
#define M_2I_(_2, _1, N, ...) N
#define M_FIRST(A, ...) A
#define M_SECOND(A, B, ...) B
#define M_ID(...) __VA_ARGS__

ENUM(MyEnum,
        foo, bar, baz, boo
        )

ENUM(NotherEnum,
        A, B, (C, 12), D, (E, 8)
        )

I cannot guarantee your personal safety if you use this kind of thing in code someone else has to maintain.