Wrapping C create and destroy functions using a smart pointer

Question

I have some C API that handles object creation and destruction, it provides: createObject(...) and destroy(...). I want to wrap it into some more modern construction/destruction mechanisms and use them with smart pointers. I am afraid that at some point I will forget to destroy the object, or some exception will occur.

I am aware of custom deleter function for shared_ptr, but I can't explicitly call new, because createOjbect function handles initialization.

Can I use STL smart pointers in this situation? Do I have to, from scratch, implement a class with initialization in constructor, destruction in destructor and reference counting in this situation?

Answer 1

The std::shared_ptr is fully capable to create and delete an object with cutstom creator and deleter, but instead of new you have to use the creator function.

Let's consider, we have the following creator and deleter:

typedef struct {
    int m_int;
    double m_double;
} Foo;

Foo* createObject(int i_val, double d_val) {
    Foo* output = (Foo*)malloc(sizeof(Foo));

    output->m_int = i_val;
    output->m_double = d_val;

    puts("Foo created.");
    return output;
}

void destroy(Foo* obj) {
    free(obj);
    puts("Foo destroyed.");        
}

To manage an instance of Foo created by functions above, simply do the following:

std::shared_ptr<Foo> foo(createObject(32, 3.14), destroy);

---

Using the std::shared_ptr is an overhead if you don't wish to share the object's ownership. In this case the std::unique_ptr is much better but for this type you have to define a custom deleter functor with which it can delete the managed Foo instance:

struct FooDeleter {
    void operator()(Foo* p) const {
        destroy(p);
    }
};
using FooWrapper = std::unique_ptr<Foo, FooDeleter>;

/* ... */

FooWrapper foo(createObject(32, 3.14));