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<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="spirit.abstracts.attributes.more_compound_attributes"></a><a class="link" href="more_compound_attributes.html" title="More About Attributes of Compound Components">
More About Attributes of Compound Components</a>
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<p>
While parsing input or generating output it is often desirable to combine
some constant elements with variable parts. For instance, let us look at
the example of parsing or formatting a complex number, which is written
as <code class="computeroutput"><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">real</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">imag</span><span class="special">)</span></code>, where <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">real</span></code>
and <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">imag</span> </code> are the variables
representing the real and imaginary parts of our complex number. This can
be achieved by writing:
</p>
<div class="informaltable"><table class="table">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead><tr>
<th>
<p>
Library
</p>
</th>
<th>
<p>
Sequence expression
</p>
</th>
</tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>
Qi
</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="char">'('</span> <span class="special">>></span>
<span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special">>></span>
<span class="string">", "</span> <span class="special">>></span>
<span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special">>></span>
<span class="char">')'</span></code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>
Karma
</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="char">'('</span> <span class="special"><<</span>
<span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special"><<</span>
<span class="string">", "</span> <span class="special"><<</span>
<span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special"><<</span>
<span class="char">')'</span></code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
<p>
Fortunately, literals (such as <code class="computeroutput"><span class="char">'('</span></code>
and <code class="computeroutput"><span class="string">", "</span></code>) do <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span>
expose any attribute (well actually, they do expose the special type <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">unused_type</span></code>, but in this context <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">unused_type</span></code> is interpreted as if the
component does not expose any attribute at all). It is very important to
understand that the literals don't consume any of the elements of a fusion
sequence passed to this component sequence. As said, they just don't expose
any attribute and don't produce (consume) any data. The following example
shows this:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="comment">// the following parses "(1.0, 2.0)" into a pair of double
</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span> <span class="identifier">input</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="string">"(1.0, 2.0)"</span><span class="special">);</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">iterator</span> <span class="identifier">strbegin</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">input</span><span class="special">.</span><span class="identifier">begin</span><span class="special">();</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">pair</span><span class="special"><</span><span class="keyword">double</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="keyword">double</span><span class="special">></span> <span class="identifier">p</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">qi</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">parse</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">strbegin</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">input</span><span class="special">.</span><span class="identifier">end</span><span class="special">(),</span>
<span class="char">'('</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="identifier">qi</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="string">", "</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="identifier">qi</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="char">')'</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="comment">// parser grammar
</span> <span class="identifier">p</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// attribute to fill while parsing
</span></pre>
<p>
and here is the equivalent <span class="emphasis"><em>Spirit.Karma</em></span> code snippet:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="comment">// the following generates: (1.0, 2.0)
</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span> <span class="identifier">str</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">back_insert_iterator</span><span class="special"><</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">string</span><span class="special">></span> <span class="identifier">out</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">str</span><span class="special">);</span>
<span class="identifier">generate</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">out</span><span class="special">,</span>
<span class="char">'('</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="identifier">karma</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="string">", "</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="identifier">karma</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="char">')'</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="comment">// generator grammar (format description)
</span> <span class="identifier">p</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// data to use as the attribute
</span></pre>
<p>
where the first element of the pair passed in as the data to generate is
still associated with the first <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">double_</span></code>,
and the second element is associated with the second <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">double_</span></code>
generator.
</p>
<p>
This behavior should be familiar as it conforms to the way other input
and output formatting libraries such as <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">scanf</span></code>,
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">printf</span></code> or <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">format</span></code> are handling their variable parts.
In this context you can think about <span class="emphasis"><em>Spirit.Qi</em></span>'s and
<span class="emphasis"><em>Spirit.Karma</em></span>'s primitive components (such as the
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">double_</span></code> above) as of being
typesafe placeholders for the attribute values.
</p>
<div class="tip"><table border="0" summary="Tip">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Tip]" src="../../../images/tip.png"></td>
<th align="left">Tip</th>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">
<p>
Similarly to the tip provided above, this example could be rewritten
using <span class="emphasis"><em>Spirit's</em></span> multi-attribute API function:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="keyword">double</span> <span class="identifier">d1</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="number">0.0</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">d2</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="number">0.0</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">qi</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">parse</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">begin</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">end</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="char">'('</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="identifier">qi</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="string">", "</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="identifier">qi</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special">>></span> <span class="char">')'</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">d1</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">d2</span><span class="special">);</span>
<span class="identifier">karma</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">generate</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">out</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="char">'('</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="identifier">karma</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="string">", "</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="identifier">karma</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">double_</span> <span class="special"><<</span> <span class="char">')'</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">d1</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">d2</span><span class="special">);</span>
</pre>
<p>
which provides a clear and comfortable syntax, more similar to the placeholder
based syntax as exposed by <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">printf</span></code>
or <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">format</span></code>.
</p>
</td></tr>
</table></div>
<p>
Let's take a look at this from a more formal perspective. The sequence
attribute propagation rules define a special behavior if generators exposing
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">unused_type</span></code> as their attribute
are involved (see <a class="link" href="../../karma/quick_reference/compound_attribute_rules.html" title="Compound Attribute Rules">Generator
Compound Attribute Rules</a>):
</p>
<div class="informaltable"><table class="table">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead><tr>
<th>
<p>
Library
</p>
</th>
<th>
<p>
Sequence attribute propagation rule
</p>
</th>
</tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>
Qi
</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">a</span><span class="special">:</span>
<span class="identifier">A</span><span class="special">,</span>
<span class="identifier">b</span><span class="special">:</span>
<span class="identifier">Unused</span> <span class="special">--></span>
<span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">a</span>
<span class="special">>></span> <span class="identifier">b</span><span class="special">):</span> <span class="identifier">A</span></code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>
Karma
</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">a</span><span class="special">:</span>
<span class="identifier">A</span><span class="special">,</span>
<span class="identifier">b</span><span class="special">:</span>
<span class="identifier">Unused</span> <span class="special">--></span>
<span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">a</span>
<span class="special"><<</span> <span class="identifier">b</span><span class="special">):</span> <span class="identifier">A</span></code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
<p>
which reads as:
</p>
<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>
Given <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">a</span></code> and <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">b</span></code> are parsers (generators), and <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">A</span></code> is the attribute type of <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">a</span></code>, and <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">unused_type</span></code>
is the attribute type of <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">b</span></code>,
then the attribute type of <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">a</span>
<span class="special">>></span> <span class="identifier">b</span></code>
(<code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">a</span> <span class="special"><<</span>
<span class="identifier">b</span></code>) will be <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">A</span></code>
as well. This rule applies regardless of the position the element exposing
the <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">unused_type</span></code> is at.
</p></blockquote></div>
<p>
This rule is the key to the understanding of the attribute handling in
sequences as soon as literals are involved. It is as if elements with
<code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">unused_type</span></code> attributes
'disappeared' during attribute propagation. Notably, this is not only true
for sequences but for any compound components. For instance, for alternative
componets the corresponding rule is:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="identifier">a</span><span class="special">:</span> <span class="identifier">A</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">b</span><span class="special">:</span> <span class="identifier">Unused</span> <span class="special">--></span> <span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">a</span> <span class="special">|</span> <span class="identifier">b</span><span class="special">):</span> <span class="identifier">A</span>
</pre>
<p>
again, allowing to simplify the overall attribute type of an expression.
</p>
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<td align="right"><div class="copyright-footer">Copyright © 2001-2010 Joel de Guzman, Hartmut Kaiser<p>
Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
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