Using Delphi 2010, let's say I've got a class declared like this:
TMyList = TList<TMyObject>
For this list Delphi kindly provides us with an enumerator, so we can write this:
var L:TMyList;
E:TMyObject;
begin
for E in L do ;
end;
The trouble is, I'd like to write this:
var L:TMyList;
E:TMyObject;
begin
for E in L.GetEnumerator('123') do ;
end;
That is, I want the ability to provide multiple enumerators for the same list, using some criteria. Unfortunately the implementation of for X in Z
requires the presence of a function Z.GetEnumerator
, with no parameters, that returns the given enumerator! To circumvent this problem I'm defining an interface that implements the "GetEnumerator" function, then I implement a class that implements the interface and finally I write a function on TMyList that returns the interface! And I'm returning an interface because I don't want to be bothered with manually freeing the very simple class... Any way, this requires a LOT of typing. Here's how this would look like:
TMyList = class(TList<TMyObject>)
protected
// Simple enumerator; Gets access to the "root" list
TSimpleEnumerator = class
protected
public
constructor Create(aList:TList<TMyObject>; FilterValue:Integer);
function MoveNext:Boolean; // This is where filtering happens
property Current:TTipElement;
end;
// Interface that will create the TSimpleEnumerator. Want this
// to be an interface so it will free itself.
ISimpleEnumeratorFactory = interface
function GetEnumerator:TSimpleEnumerator;
end;
// Class that implements the ISimpleEnumeratorFactory
TSimpleEnumeratorFactory = class(TInterfacedObject, ISimpleEnumeratorFactory)
function GetEnumerator:TSimpleEnumerator;
end;
public
function FilteredEnum(X:Integer):ISimpleEnumeratorFactory;
end;
Using this I can finally write:
var L:TMyList;
E:TMyObject;
begin
for E in L.FilteredEnum(7) do ;
end;
Do you know a better way of doing this? Maybe Delphi does support a way of calling GetEnumerator with a parameter directly?
Later Edit:
I decided to use Robert Love's idea of implementing the enumerator using anonymous methods and using gabr's "record" factory to save yet an other class. This allows me to create a brand new enumerator, complete with code, using just a few lines of code in a function, no new class declaration required.
Here's how my generic enumerator is declared, in a library unit:
TEnumGenericMoveNext<T> = reference to function: Boolean;
TEnumGenericCurrent<T> = reference to function: T;
TEnumGenericAnonim<T> = class
protected
FEnumGenericMoveNext:TEnumGenericMoveNext<T>;
FEnumGenericCurrent:TEnumGenericCurrent<T>;
function GetCurrent:T;
public
constructor Create(EnumGenericMoveNext:TEnumGenericMoveNext<T>; EnumGenericCurrent:TEnumGenericCurrent<T>);
function MoveNext:Boolean;
property Current:T read GetCurrent;
end;
TGenericAnonEnumFactory<T> = record
public
FEnumGenericMoveNext:TEnumGenericMoveNext<T>;
FEnumGenericCurrent:TEnumGenericCurrent<T>;
constructor Create(EnumGenericMoveNext:TEnumGenericMoveNext<T>; EnumGenericCurrent:TEnumGenericCurrent<T>);
function GetEnumerator:TEnumGenericAnonim<T>;
end;
And here's a way to use it. On any class I can add a function like this (and I'm intentionally creating an enumerator that doesn't use a List<T>
to show the power of this concept):
type Form1 = class(TForm)
protected
function Numbers(From, To:Integer):TGenericAnonEnumFactory<Integer>;
end;
// This is all that's needed to implement an enumerator!
function Form1.Numbers(From, To:Integer):TGenericAnonEnumFactory<Integer>;
var Current:Integer;
begin
Current := From - 1;
Result := TGenericAnonEnumFactory<Integer>.Create(
// This is the MoveNext implementation
function :Boolean
begin
Inc(Current);
Result := Current <= To;
end
,
// This is the GetCurrent implementation
function :Integer
begin
Result := Current;
end
);
end;
And here's how I'd use this new enumerator:
procedure Form1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var N:Integer;
begin
for N in Numbers(3,10) do
Memo1.Lines.Add(IntToStr(N));
end;
See DeHL ( http://code.google.com/p/delphilhlplib/ ). You can write code that looks like this:
for E in List.Where(...).Distinct.Reversed.Take(10).Select(...)... etc.
Just like you can do in .NET (no syntax linq of course).
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