How to create map in c++ and be able to search for function and call it?

Question

I\'m trying to create a map of string and method in C++, but I don\'t know how to do it. I would like to do something like that (pseudocode):

map

        

Answer 1

This is indeed possible in C++, thanks to function pointers. Here's a simple example:

  std::string foo() { return "Foo"; }
  std::string bar() { return "Bar"; }

  int main()
  {
      std::map<std::string, std::string (*)()> m;

      // Map the functions to the names
      m["foo"] = &foo;
      m["bar"] = &bar;

      // Display all of the mapped functions
      std::map<std::string, std::string (*)()>::const_iterator it = m.begin();
      std::map<std::string, std::string (*)()>::const_iterator end = m.end();

      while ( it != end ) {
          std::cout<< it->first <<"\t\""
              << (it->second)() <<"\"\n";
          ++it;
      }
  }

This gets more tricky when dealing with functions with different return types and arguments. Also, if you are including non-static member functions, you should use Boost.Function.