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| 1 | +# proxy-enum |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +Emulate dynamic dispatch and ["sealed classes"](https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/sealed-classes.html) using a proxy enum, which defers all method calls to its variants. |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +## Introduction |
| 6 | +In rust, dynamic dispatch is done using trait objects (`dyn Trait`). |
| 7 | +They enable us to have runtime polymorphism, a way of expressing that a type implements a |
| 8 | +certain trait while ignoring its concrete implementation. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +``` |
| 11 | +let animal: &dyn Animal = random_animal(); |
| 12 | +animal.feed(); // may print "mew", "growl" or "squeak" |
| 13 | +``` |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +Trait objects come with a downside though: |
| 16 | +getting a concrete implementation back from a trait object (downcasting) is painfull. |
| 17 | +(see [std::any::Any]) |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +If you know there are only a finite number of implentations to work with, an `enum` might be |
| 20 | +better at expressing such a relationship: |
| 21 | +``` |
| 22 | +enum Animal { |
| 23 | + Cat(Cat), |
| 24 | + Lion(Lion), |
| 25 | + Mouse(Mouse) |
| 26 | +} |
| 27 | +
|
| 28 | +match random_animal() { |
| 29 | + Animal::Cat(cat) => cat.feed(), |
| 30 | + Animal::Lion(lion) => lion.feed(), |
| 31 | + Animal::Mouse(mouse) => mouse.feed() |
| 32 | +} |
| 33 | +``` |
| 34 | +Some languages have special support for such types, like Kotlin with so called "sealed classes". |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +Rust, however, does *not*. |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +`proxy-enum` simplifies working with such types using procedural macros. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +## Usage |
| 41 | +``` |
| 42 | +#[proxy_enum::proxy(Animal)] |
| 43 | +mod proxy { |
| 44 | + enum Animal { |
| 45 | + Cat(Cat), |
| 46 | + Lion(Lion), |
| 47 | + Mouse(Mouse) |
| 48 | + } |
| 49 | +
|
| 50 | + impl Animal { |
| 51 | + #[implement] |
| 52 | + fn feed(&self) {} |
| 53 | + } |
| 54 | +} |
| 55 | +``` |
| 56 | +This will expand to: |
| 57 | +``` |
| 58 | +mod proxy { |
| 59 | + enum Animal { |
| 60 | + Cat(Cat), |
| 61 | + Lion(Lion), |
| 62 | + Mouse(Mouse) |
| 63 | + } |
| 64 | +
|
| 65 | + impl Animal { |
| 66 | + fn feed(&self) { |
| 67 | + match self { |
| 68 | + Animal::Cat(cat) => cat.feed(), |
| 69 | + Animal::Lion(lion) => lion.feed(), |
| 70 | + Animal::Mouse(mouse) => mouse.feed() |
| 71 | + } |
| 72 | + } |
| 73 | + } |
| 74 | +} |
| 75 | +``` |
| 76 | +This, however, will only compile if `Cat`, `Lion` and `Mouse` all have a method called `feed`. |
| 77 | +Since rust has traits to express common functionality, trait implentations can be generated too: |
| 78 | +``` |
| 79 | +#[proxy_enum::proxy(Animal)] |
| 80 | +mod proxy { |
| 81 | + enum Animal { |
| 82 | + Cat(Cat), |
| 83 | + Lion(Lion), |
| 84 | + Mouse(Mouse) |
| 85 | + } |
| 86 | +
|
| 87 | + trait Eat { |
| 88 | + fn feed(&self); |
| 89 | + } |
| 90 | +
|
| 91 | + #[implement] |
| 92 | + impl Eat for Animal {} |
| 93 | +} |
| 94 | +``` |
| 95 | +Since the macro has to know which methods the trait contains, it has to be defined within the |
| 96 | +module. However, implementations for external traits can be generated too: |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +``` |
| 99 | +#[proxy_enum::proxy(Animal)] |
| 100 | +mod proxy { |
| 101 | + enum Animal { |
| 102 | + Cat(Cat), |
| 103 | + Lion(Lion), |
| 104 | + Mouse(Mouse) |
| 105 | + } |
| 106 | +
|
| 107 | + #[external(std::string::ToString)] |
| 108 | + trait ToString { |
| 109 | + fn to_string(&self) -> String; |
| 110 | + } |
| 111 | +
|
| 112 | + #[implement] |
| 113 | + impl std::string::ToString for Animal {} |
| 114 | +} |
| 115 | +``` |
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