C/C++ macro expanding to argument, argument as string

Question

I have many variables that are named the same as elements in an engineering specification document so the string version of the name is also useful.

I find myself using a macro like this a lot:

#define MACRO(a) a, #a

Typical usage is:

void someFunction(int a, const char *name);

someFunction(MACRO(meaningfully_named_variable));

My question is threefold:

• Is there a better way of doing this?
• Is a similar macro available in Boost or other libraries?
• If not, how could I refine and rename this to make it clear and useful?

Edit I should have said that the above is a minimal example. The function might have other parameters and the named entity might be a data member or perhaps even a function itself.

Another extension I'm considering for C++ is a class NamedRef that could receive the contents of the macro.

template <typename T>
struct NamedRef
{
    NamedRef(T *t, const char *name) : t(t), name(name) { }
    T *t;
    const char *name;
};

template <typename T>
NamedRef<T> namedRef(T &t, const char *name)
{
    return NamedRef<T>(&t, name);
}

#define WITH_NAME(a) a, #a

// more sophisticated usage example
void otherFunction(double, NamedRef<int>, bool);

otherFunction(0.0, namedRef(object.WITH_NAME(meaningful_member_name)), false);

Answer 1

You could take it a step further:

#define SOMEFUNCTION(a) somefunction(a, #a)

However, this is only useful if you call the same function alot. Otherwise, I don't think there is any better way than your example. Of course, you should change the name of the macro to something more meaningful though, like ARGUMENTS or something.