xref: /haiku/docs/user/support/List.dox (revision 820dca4df6c7bf955c46e8f6521b9408f50b2900)
1/*
2 * Copyright 2007 Haiku, Inc. All rights reserved.
3 * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
4 *
5 * Authors:
6 *		Niels Sascha Reedijk, niels.reedijk@gmail.com
7 *
8 * Proofreading:
9 *		David Weizades, ddewbofh@hotmail.com
10 *		Thom Holwerda, slakje@quicknet.nl
11 *		John Drinkwater, jdrinkwater@gmail.com
12 *
13 * Corresponds to:
14 *		headers/os/support/List.h	rev 19972
15 *		src/kits/support/List.cpp	rev 18649
16 */
17
18
19/*!
20	\file List.h
21	\ingroup support
22	\ingroup libbe
23	\brief Defines the BList class.
24*/
25
26
27/*!
28	\class BList
29	\ingroup support
30	\ingroup libbe
31	\brief An ordered container that is designed to hold generic \c void*
32		objects.
33
34	This class is designed to be used for a variety of tasks. Unlike similar
35	implementations in other libraries, this class is not based on templates
36	and as such is inherently not typed. So it will be the job of the programmer
37	to make sure proper data is entered since the compiler cannot check this by
38	itself.
39
40	BList contains a list of items that will grow and shrink depending on how
41	many items are in it. So you will not have to do any of the memory
42	management nor any ordering. These properties makes it useful in a whole
43	range of situations such as the interface kit within the BListView class.
44
45	A note on the ownership of the objects might come in handy. BList never
46	assumes ownership of the objects. As such, removing items from the list will
47	only remove the entries from the list; it will not delete the items
48	themselves. Similarly, you should also make sure that before you might
49	delete an object that is in a list, you will have to remove it from the list
50	first.
51
52	\warning This class is not thread-safe.
53
54	The class implements methods to add, remove, reorder, retrieve, and query
55	items as well as some advanced methods which let you perform a task on all
56	the items in the list.
57*/
58
59/*!
60	\fn BList::BList(int32 count = 20)
61	\brief Create a new list with a number of empty slots.
62
63	The memory management of this class allocates new memory per block. The
64	\c count parameter can be tweaked to determine the size of these blocks.
65	In general, if you know your list is only going to contain a certain number
66	of items at most, you can pass that value. If you expect your list to have
67	very few items, it is safe to choose a low number. This is to prevent the
68	list from taking up unneeded memory. If you expect the list to contain a
69	large number of items, choose a higher value. Every time the memory is full,
70	all the items have to be copied into a new piece of allocated memory, which
71	is an expensive operation.
72
73	If you are unsure, you do not have to worry too much. Just make sure you do
74	not use a lot of lists, and as long as the list is not used in one of the
75	performance critical parts of the code, you are safe to go with the default
76	values.
77
78	\param count The size of the blocks allocated in memory.
79*/
80
81/*!
82	\fn BList::BList(const BList& anotherList)
83	\brief Copy constructor. Copy a complete list into this one.
84*/
85
86/*!
87	\fn BList::~BList()
88	\brief Destroy the list.
89
90	Please note that as BList does not assume ownership of the objects,
91	only the list will be freed, not the objects that are held in it.
92*/
93
94/*!
95	\fn BList& BList::operator=(const BList &list)
96	\brief Copy another list into this object.
97*/
98
99/*!
100	\name Adding and Removing Items
101*/
102
103//! @{
104
105/*!
106	\fn bool BList::AddItem(void *item, int32 index)
107	\brief Add an item at a certain position.
108
109	\param item The item to add.
110	\param index The place in the list.
111	\retval true The item was added.
112	\retval false Item was not added. Either the index is negative or invalid,
113		or resizing the list failed.
114	\see AddItem(void *item)
115*/
116
117/*!
118	\fn bool BList::AddItem(void *item)
119	\brief Append an item to the list.
120
121	\param item The item to add.
122	\retval true The item was appended.
123	\retval false Item was not appended, since resizing the list failed.
124	\see AddItem(void *item, int32 index)
125*/
126
127/*!
128	\fn bool BList::AddList(const BList *list, int32 index)
129	\brief Add items from another list to this list at a certain position.
130
131	Note that the \a list parameter is \c const, so the original list will not
132	be altered.
133
134	\param list The list to be added.
135	\param index The position in the current list where the new item(s) should
136		be put.
137	\retval true The list was added.
138	\retval false Failed to insert the list, due to the fact that resizing our
139		list failed.
140	\see AddList(const BList *list)
141*/
142
143/*!
144	\fn bool BList::AddList(const BList *list)
145	\brief Append a list to this list.
146
147	Note that the \a list parameter is a \c const, so the original list will not
148	be altered.
149
150	\param list The list to be appended.
151	\retval true The list was appended.
152	\retval false Failed to append the list, due to the fact that resizing of
153		our list failed.
154	\see AddList(const BList *list, int32 index)
155*/
156
157/*!
158	\fn bool BList::RemoveItem(void *item)
159	\brief Remove an item from the list.
160
161	\param item The item that should be removed.
162	\retval true The item was found and removed.
163	\retval false The item was not in this list and thus not removed.
164	\see RemoveItem(int32 index)
165*/
166
167/*!
168	\fn void * BList::RemoveItem(int32 index)
169	\brief Remove the item at \a index from the list.
170
171	\param index The item that should be removed.
172	\return The pointer to the item that was removed, or \c NULL in case the
173		index was invalid.
174	\see RemoveItem(void *item)
175*/
176
177/*!
178	\fn bool BList::RemoveItems(int32 index, int32 count)
179	\brief Remove a number of items starting at a certain position.
180
181	If the count parameter is larger than the number of items in the list,
182	all the items from the offset to the end will be removed.
183
184	\param index The offset in the list where removal should start.
185	\param count The number of items to remove.
186	\retval true Removal succeeded.
187	\retval false Failed to remove the items because the index was invalid.
188*/
189
190/*!
191	\fn bool BList::ReplaceItem(int32 index, void *newItem)
192	\brief Replace an item with another one.
193
194	\param index The offset in the list where to put the item.
195	\param newItem The new item to put in the list.
196	\retval true Item replaced.
197	\retval false The index was invalid.
198*/
199
200/*!
201	\fn void BList::MakeEmpty()
202	\brief Clear all the items from the list.
203
204	Please note that this does not free the items.
205*/
206
207//! @}
208
209/*!
210	\name Reordering Items
211*/
212
213//! @{
214
215/*!
216	\fn void BList::SortItems(int (*compareFunc)(const void *, const void *))
217	\brief Sort the items with the use of a supplied comparison function.
218
219	The function should take two \c const pointers as arguments and should
220	return an integer.
221
222	For an example, see the Compare(const BString *, const BString *) function.
223*/
224
225/*!
226	\fn bool BList::SwapItems(int32 indexA, int32 indexB)
227	\brief Swap two items.
228
229	\param indexA The first item.
230	\param indexB The second item.
231	\retval true Swap succeeded.
232	\retval false Swap failed because one of the indexes was invalid.
233*/
234
235/*!
236	\fn bool BList::MoveItem(int32 fromIndex, int32 toIndex)
237	\brief Move an item to a new place
238
239	This moves a list item from position A to position B, moving the appropriate
240	block of list elements to make up for the move. For example, in the array:
241	\verbatim
242A B C D E F G H I J
243	\endverbatim
244
245	Moving 1(B)->6(G) would result in this:
246	\verbatim
247A C D E F G B H I J
248	\endverbatim
249
250	\param fromIndex The original location.
251	\param toIndex The new location.
252	\retval true Move succeeded.
253	\retval false Move failed due to the indexes being invalid.
254*/
255
256//! @}
257
258/*!
259	\name Retrieving Items
260*/
261
262//! @{
263
264/*!
265	\fn void *BList::ItemAt(int32 index) const
266	\brief Get an item.
267
268	\param index The item to retrieve.
269	\return A pointer to the item in that position, or \c NULL if the index is
270	out of bounds.
271	\see ItemAtFast(int32 index) const
272*/
273
274/*!
275	\fn void *BList::FirstItem() const
276	\brief Get the first item.
277
278	\return A pointer to the first item or \c NULL if the list is empty.
279	\see LastItem() const
280*/
281
282/*!
283	\fn void *BList::ItemAtFast(int32 index) const
284	\brief Get an item.
285
286	This method does not perform any boundary checks when it retrieves an item.
287	Use this method in a performance critical area of your program where you are
288	sure you will not get an invalid item.
289
290	\return A pointer to the item.
291*/
292
293/*!
294	\fn void *BList::LastItem() const
295	\brief Get the last item.
296	\return A pointer to the last item or \c NULL if the list is empty.
297	\see FirstItem() const
298*/
299
300/*!
301	\fn void *BList::Items() const
302	\brief Return the internal list of objects.
303
304	This method will return a pointer to the internal pointer list. This means
305	that you should be careful what you are doing, since you are working with
306	the internals of the class directly.
307
308	It is not a good idea to make any changes to the list, since that will mess
309	up the internal consistency.
310
311	\warning If there is anything you want, for which you need the list of
312		objects, please realize that that probably means that what you want to
313		do is a bad idea to begin with and that you should avoid this method.
314		The list of objects does not belong to you. See also DoForEach() for an
315		alternate method.
316	\return The internal list of pointers.
317*/
318
319//! @}
320
321/*!
322	\name Querying for Items
323*/
324
325//! @{
326
327/*!
328	\fn bool BList::HasItem(void *item) const
329	\brief Check if an item is in the list.
330*/
331
332/*!
333	\fn int32 BList::IndexOf(void *item) const
334	\brief Get the index of an item.
335
336	\return The index of the item, or -1 when the item is not in the list.
337*/
338
339/*!
340	\fn int32 BList::CountItems() const
341	\brief Get the number of items in the list.
342*/
343
344/*!
345	\fn bool BList::IsEmpty() const
346	\brief Check if there are items in the list.
347*/
348
349//! @}
350
351/*!
352	\name Iterating over the List
353*/
354
355//! @{
356
357/*!
358	\fn void BList::DoForEach(bool (*func)(void* item))
359	\brief Perform an action on every item in the list.
360
361	If one of the actions on the items fails it means that the \a func function
362	returned \c false and the processing of the list will be stopped.
363
364	\param func A function that takes a \c void* argument and returns a
365		boolean.
366	\see DoForEach(bool (*func)(void* item, void* arg2), void *arg2)
367*/
368
369/*!
370	\fn void BList::DoForEach(bool (*func)(void* item, void* arg2), void *arg2)
371	\brief Perform an action on every item in the list with an argument.
372
373	If one of the actions on the items fails it means that the \a func function
374	returned \c false and the processing of the list will be stopped.
375
376	\param func A function with the first \c void* argument being the item
377		and the second \c void* being the argument that you supply. It should
378		return a boolean value on whether it succeeded or not.
379	\param arg2 An argument to supply to \a func.
380	\see DoForEach(bool (*func)(void* item))
381*/
382
383//! @}
384