How to handle 'this' pointer in constructor?

Question

I have objects which create other child objects within their constructors, passing 'this' so the child can save a pointer back to its parent. I use boost::shared_ptr extensively in my programming as a safer alternative to std::auto_ptr or raw pointers. So the child would have code such as shared_ptr<Parent>, and boost provides the shared_from_this() method which the parent can give to the child.

My problem is that shared_from_this() cannot be used in a constructor, which isn't really a crime because 'this' should not be used in a constructor anyways unless you know what you're doing and don't mind the limitations.

Google's C++ Style Guide states that constructors should merely set member variables to their initial values. Any complex initialization should go in an explicit Init() method. This solves the 'this-in-constructor' problem as well as a few others as well.

What bothers me is that people using your code now must remember to call Init() every time they construct one of your objects. The only way I can think of to enforce this is by having an assertion that Init() has already been called at the top of every member function, but this is tedious to write and cumbersome to execute.

Are there any idioms out there that solve this problem at any step along the way?

Answer 1

Use a factory method to 2-phase construct & initialize your class, and then make the ctor & Init() function private. Then there's no way to create your object incorrectly. Just remember to keep the destructor public and to use a smart pointer:

#include <memory>

class BigObject
{
public:
    static std::tr1::shared_ptr<BigObject> Create(int someParam)
    {
        std::tr1::shared_ptr<BigObject> ret(new BigObject(someParam));
        ret->Init();
        return ret;
    }

private:
    bool Init()
    {
        // do something to init
        return true;
    }

    BigObject(int para)
    {
    }

    BigObject() {}

};


int main()
{
    std::tr1::shared_ptr<BigObject> obj = BigObject::Create(42);
    return 0;
}

EDIT:

If you want to object to live on the stack, you can use a variant of the above pattern. As written this will create a temporary and use the copy ctor:

#include <memory>

class StackObject
{
public:
    StackObject(const StackObject& rhs)
        : n_(rhs.n_)
    {
    }

    static StackObject Create(int val)
    {
        StackObject ret(val);
        ret.Init();
        return ret;
    }
private:
    int n_;
    StackObject(int n = 0) : n_(n) {};
    bool Init() { return true; }
};

int main()
{
    StackObject sObj = StackObject::Create(42);
    return 0;
}

Answer 2

Google's C++ programming guidelines have been criticized here and elsewhere again and again. And rightly so.

I use two-phase initialization only ever if it's hidden behind a wrapping class. If manually calling initialization functions would work, we'd still be programming in C and C++ with its constructors would never have been invented.