Iterating over non-incremental Enum

Question

Before you ask, I\'ve looked and looked for this on SO, and cannot find a solid answer.

I need to be able to dynamically iterate over an enum that has non-incre

Answer 1

the beginnings of a solution involving no macros and (almost) no runtime overhead:

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

template using has_value = std::integral_constant;

template
struct better_enum
{
    static constexpr size_t size = sizeof...(EnumValues);
    using value_array = int[size];
    static const value_array& values() {
        static const value_array _values = { EnumValues::value... };
        return _values;
    }
    using name_array = const char*[size];
    static const name_array& names() {
        static const name_array _names = { EnumValues::name()... };
        return _names;
    }


    using enum_values = boost::mpl::vector;

    struct iterator {
        explicit iterator(size_t i) : index(i) {}

        const char* name() const {
            return names()[index];
        }
        int value() const {
            return values()[index];
        }
        operator int() const {
            return value();
        }

        void operator++() {
            ++index;
        }
        bool operator==(const iterator& it) const {
            return index == it.index;
        }
        bool operator!=(const iterator& it) const {
            return index != it.index;
        }
        const iterator& operator*() const {
            return *this;
        }
    private:
        size_t index;
    };
    friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const iterator& iter)
    {
        os << "{ " << iter.name() << ", " << iter.value() << " }";
        return os;
    }

    template
    static iterator find() {
        using iter = typename boost::mpl::find::type;
        static_assert(iter::pos::value < size, "attempt to find a value which is not part of this enum");
        return iterator { iter::pos::value };
    }

    static iterator begin() {
        return iterator { 0 };
    }

    static iterator end() {
        return iterator { size };
    }

};

struct Pig : has_value<0> { static const char* name() { return "Pig";} };
struct Dog : has_value<7> { static const char* name() { return "Dog";} };
struct Cat : has_value<100> { static const char* name() { return "Cat";} };
struct Horse : has_value<90> { static const char* name() { return "Horse";} };

struct Monkey : has_value<1000> { static const char* name() { return "Monkey";} };

using animals = better_enum<
Pig,
Dog,
Cat,
Horse
>;

using namespace std;

auto main() -> int
{
    cout << "size : " << animals::size << endl;
    for (auto v : animals::values())
    cout << v << endl;

    for (auto v : animals::names())
    cout << v << endl;

    cout << "full iteration:" << endl;
    for (const auto& i : animals())
    {
        cout << i << endl;
    }

    cout << "individials" << endl;
    auto animal = animals::find();
    cout << "found : " << animal << endl;
    while (animal != animals::find()) {
        cout << animal << endl;
        ++animal;
    }

// will trigger the static_assert    auto xx = animals::find();

    return 0;
}

output:

size : 4
0
7
100
90
Pig
Dog
Cat
Horse
full iteration:
{ Pig, 0 }
{ Dog, 7 }
{ Cat, 100 }
{ Horse, 90 }
individials
found : { Dog, 7 }
{ Dog, 7 }
{ Cat, 100 }