Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
Flávio Etrusco wrote:
Graeme, I guess the OP didn't want to reintroduce the 'Create'
constructor with lower visibility, just implement a second constructor
with private visiblity.
It can be useful when implementing singletons and factories to avoid
some types of misuse by an unattentive coworker...
The problem is that a constructor (in this case Create) in still always
public. So that unattentive coworker can very easily use the default
public Create() constructor and by-pass all your custom code in your
private constructor.
So that pretty much makes your custom private constructor useless. Plus
if the class was instantiated with the default public Create(), there
could be many other side-effects due to the fact that it by-passed your
custom code.
And yes I know, such a feature would be very handy for Singleton
implementations, but alternative solutions are possible. The same could
be applied to the original poster's code, without creating private or
protected constructors.
A very quick and dirty solution would be to reimplement the public
Create() constructor and immediately raise an exception inside it,
explaining the problem. That way if any developer tries to use that
default constructor, they will get an error - instead of some silent
side-effect later on. Then implement a new public custom constructor
with your desired code.
eg:
TMyClass = class(TObject)
public
constructor Create;
constructor CreateCustom(param1: string);
end;
...
constructor TMyClass.Create;
begin
raise Exception.Create('Please use CreateCustom instead');
end;
constructor TMyClass.CreateCustom(param1: string);
begin
inherited Create; // - note inherited call to bypass Exception
FValue := param1;
end;
No private or protected constructors are used and you are guiding the
developer to only use the CreatCustom constructor, ensuring your custom
code is executed.
NOTE:
This is still not a perfect solution, but minimized the potential problems.
IIRC the last time this issue was raised you were on the side for
removing the warning - my opinion too ;-)
Maybe I learnt from my mistakes. ;-)
Regards,
- Graeme -
--
fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal
http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/
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Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
On Wednesday 11 November 2009 09:22:30 Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:
Flávio Etrusco wrote:
Graeme, I guess the OP didn't want to reintroduce the 'Create'
constructor with lower visibility, just implement a second constructor
with private visiblity.
It can be useful when implementing singletons and factories to avoid
some types of misuse by an unattentive coworker...
The problem is that a constructor (in this case Create) in still always
public. So that unattentive coworker can very easily use the default
public Create() constructor and by-pass all your custom code in your
private constructor.
Just a thought:
In FP, as with Delphi, TObject is the ultimate ancestor. Would it be possible
to add a modified version of TObject to the RTL where a default constructor
is not defined?
I know that TObject has a lot of functionality but would it be possible for a
user-defined class to be defined without having to inherit from anything? A
sort of user-defined TObject?
:=Nino
So that pretty much makes your custom private constructor useless. Plus
if the class was instantiated with the default public Create(), there
could be many other side-effects due to the fact that it by-passed your
custom code.
And yes I know, such a feature would be very handy for Singleton
implementations, but alternative solutions are possible. The same could
be applied to the original poster's code, without creating private or
protected constructors.
A very quick and dirty solution would be to reimplement the public
Create() constructor and immediately raise an exception inside it,
explaining the problem. That way if any developer tries to use that
default constructor, they will get an error - instead of some silent
side-effect later on. Then implement a new public custom constructor
with your desired code.
eg:
TMyClass = class(TObject)
public
constructor Create;
constructor CreateCustom(param1: string);
end;
...
constructor TMyClass.Create;
begin
raise Exception.Create('Please use CreateCustom instead');
end;
constructor TMyClass.CreateCustom(param1: string);
begin
inherited Create; // - note inherited call to bypass Exception
FValue := param1;
end;
No private or protected constructors are used and you are guiding the
developer to only use the CreatCustom constructor, ensuring your custom
code is executed.
NOTE:
This is still not a perfect solution, but minimized the potential problems.
IIRC the last time this issue was raised you were on the side for
removing the warning - my opinion too ;-)
Maybe I learnt from my mistakes. ;-)
Regards,
- Graeme -
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Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
Of course you can't hide methods previously exposed in an inherited
class. But this applies to every member type (fields, properties,
methods), not just constructors. The point of a constructor is not to
new up a class (NewInstance does that), but to execute a block of code
(with checks) before that new instance is returned. By allowing
developers to hide some constructors (private constructor
CreateFromLine for example), other developers are denied the access to
that block of code.
On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 2:22 AM, Graeme Geldenhuys
gra...@mastermaths.co.za wrote:
Flávio Etrusco wrote:
Graeme, I guess the OP didn't want to reintroduce the 'Create'
constructor with lower visibility, just implement a second constructor
with private visiblity.
It can be useful when implementing singletons and factories to avoid
some types of misuse by an unattentive coworker...
The problem is that a constructor (in this case Create) in still always
public. So that unattentive coworker can very easily use the default
public Create() constructor and by-pass all your custom code in your
private constructor.
So that pretty much makes your custom private constructor useless. Plus
if the class was instantiated with the default public Create(), there
could be many other side-effects due to the fact that it by-passed your
custom code.
And yes I know, such a feature would be very handy for Singleton
implementations, but alternative solutions are possible. The same could
be applied to the original poster's code, without creating private or
protected constructors.
A very quick and dirty solution would be to reimplement the public
Create() constructor and immediately raise an exception inside it,
explaining the problem. That way if any developer tries to use that
default constructor, they will get an error - instead of some silent
side-effect later on. Then implement a new public custom constructor
with your desired code.
eg:
TMyClass = class(TObject)
public
constructor Create;
constructor CreateCustom(param1: string);
end;
...
constructor TMyClass.Create;
begin
raise Exception.Create('Please use CreateCustom instead');
end;
constructor TMyClass.CreateCustom(param1: string);
begin
inherited Create; // - note inherited call to bypass Exception
FValue := param1;
end;
No private or protected constructors are used and you are guiding the
developer to only use the CreatCustom constructor, ensuring your custom
code is executed.
NOTE:
This is still not a perfect solution, but minimized the potential problems.
IIRC the last time this issue was raised you were on the side for
removing the warning - my opinion too ;-)
Maybe I learnt from my mistakes. ;-)
Regards,
- Graeme -
--
fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal
http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/
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Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
Graeme Geldenhuys gra...@mastermaths.co.za: A very quick and dirty solution would be to reimplement the public Create() constructor and immediately raise an exception inside it, explaining the problem. That way if any developer tries to use that default constructor, they will get an error - instead of some silent side-effect later on. Then implement a new public custom constructor with your desired code. Why public then? Perhaps I don't *want* the user to create instances of this class in an uncontrolled way? Vinzent. -- Jetzt kostenlos herunterladen: Internet Explorer 8 und Mozilla Firefox 3.5 - sicherer, schneller und einfacher! http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/chbrowser ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
On 10 Nov 2009, at 14:35, Anthony Walter wrote: In my opinion the warning should be removed, or at least able to be suppress through a switch. FPC 2.4.0 will include the ability to suppress individual messages. Use -vq to show the messages numbers, and -vmxxx to suppress a particular message. You can download 2.4.0 release candidate 1 from the link on our website's home page (the call for testing was sent to the fpc-devel mailing list). Jonas ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
Anthony Walter wrote: In my opinion the warning should be removed, or at least able to be suppress through a switch. I beginning to make the transition to cross The compiler is 100% and I think it should actually raise an Error instead of a Warning. Your code is flawed. Object Pascal is quite clear regarding visibility rules. TObject has a Public constructor. You can only raise the visibility from there, not reduce visibility. Imagine how confusing it will be if you code was a library of some sorts and other developers had to use it. In a inherited class, you have public visibility to the constructor or some other method, and then suddenly in the descendant class the methods are hidden from the developer?? Not a good idea. You can try out the code and see what I mean. Even in Delphi you cannot reduce a methods visibility, only make it more visible. In your code you posted, you cannot hide the constructor (one of them will always be visible). And it will be like that for both Delphi and FPC no matter if you try and hide the constructor or not. The default TObject.Create constructor is *always* visible from Public onwards. But like Jonas said, in newer compiler versions you can hide compiler messages, but that doesn't change the flaw in your code. raise EAssertError.Create; is perfectly legal, and will by-pass whatever you intended in your CreateFromLine() constructor. Regards, - Graeme - -- fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/ ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
Your argument is flawed. Visibility rules apply to identifiers, not keywords. Create // identifier CreateFromLine // different identifier No visibility is being changed by introducing a *new* identifier raise EAssertError.Create(Msg); // still visible raise EAssertError.CreateFromLine(Msg, FileName, LineNumber); // not visible On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 8:56 AM, Graeme Geldenhuys gra...@mastermaths.co.za wrote: Anthony Walter wrote: In my opinion the warning should be removed, or at least able to be suppress through a switch. I beginning to make the transition to cross The compiler is 100% and I think it should actually raise an Error instead of a Warning. Your code is flawed. Object Pascal is quite clear regarding visibility rules. TObject has a Public constructor. You can only raise the visibility from there, not reduce visibility. ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
- Original Message - From: Anthony Walter sys...@gmail.com To: grae...@opensoft.homeip.net; FPC-Pascal users discussions fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 1:07 AM Subject: Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public Your argument is flawed. Visibility rules apply to identifiers, not keywords. Create // identifier CreateFromLine // different identifier No visibility is being changed by introducing a *new* identifier raise EAssertError.Create(Msg); // still visible raise EAssertError.CreateFromLine(Msg, FileName, LineNumber); // not visible SNIP Hi Anthony, Sorry, but you are incorrect; Create is a method, not an identifier, and like all methods, it is affected by visibility rules (public, private, protected). cheers, Paul ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
Sorry, Create is an identifier. constructor TSampleForm.Create(AOwner: TComponent); var Create: Integer; begin inherited; Create := Tag; Caption := IntToStr(Create); end; Aside from that, if you read you will see I used two identifiers ... one called Create and another called ... get this CreateFromLine. See that? It's a different identifier (it's not the same). Test it out yourself. if 'Create' = 'CreateFromLine' then ; // always evaluates to false As such, the compiler shouldn't issue a warning about constructors must be public. protected constructor CreateFromData(var Data); // there should not be a warning saying CreateFromData must be public It should however issue a waring when you try to alter the visbility of a method: private procedure FreeInstance; override; // warning or error here is expected On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 4:35 PM, Paul Nicholls paulfnicho...@gmail.com wrote: - Original Message - From: Anthony Walter sys...@gmail.com To: grae...@opensoft.homeip.net; FPC-Pascal users discussions fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 1:07 AM Subject: Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public Your argument is flawed. Visibility rules apply to identifiers, not keywords. Create // identifier CreateFromLine // different identifier No visibility is being changed by introducing a *new* identifier raise EAssertError.Create(Msg); // still visible raise EAssertError.CreateFromLine(Msg, FileName, LineNumber); // not visible SNIP Hi Anthony, Sorry, but you are incorrect; Create is a method, not an identifier, and like all methods, it is affected by visibility rules (public, private, protected). cheers, Paul ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pas...@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Graeme Geldenhuys gra...@mastermaths.co.za wrote: Anthony Walter wrote: In my opinion the warning should be removed, or at least able to be suppress through a switch. I beginning to make the transition to cross The compiler is 100% and I think it should actually raise an Error instead of a Warning. Your code is flawed. Object Pascal is quite clear regarding visibility rules. TObject has a Public constructor. You can only raise the visibility from there, not reduce visibility. (...) raise EAssertError.Create; is perfectly legal, and will by-pass whatever you intended in your CreateFromLine() constructor. Graeme, I guess the OP didn't want to reintroduce the 'Create' constructor with lower visibility, just implement a second constructor with private visiblity. It can be useful when implementing singletons and factories to avoid some types of misuse by an unattentive coworker... IIRC the last time this issue was raised you were on the side for removing the warning - my opinion too ;-) -Flávio ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
Re: [fpc-pascal] Compiler Warning: Constructor should be public
QFT, Flávio said: Graeme, I guess the OP didn't want to reintroduce the 'Create' constructor with lower visibility, just implement a second constructor (** with a different name **) with private visiblity. It can be useful when implementing singletons and factories to avoid some types of misuse by an unattentive coworker... IIRC the last time this issue was raised you were on the side for removing the warning - my opinion too ;-) Yes! And well put. *Thank you* 2009/11/10 Flávio Etrusco flavio.etru...@gmail.com: On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Graeme Geldenhuys gra...@mastermaths.co.za wrote: Anthony Walter wrote: In my opinion the warning should be removed, or at least able to be suppress through a switch. I beginning to make the transition to cross The compiler is 100% and I think it should actually raise an Error instead of a Warning. Your code is flawed. Object Pascal is quite clear regarding visibility rules. TObject has a Public constructor. You can only raise the visibility from there, not reduce visibility. (...) raise EAssertError.Create; is perfectly legal, and will by-pass whatever you intended in your CreateFromLine() constructor. Graeme, I guess the OP didn't want to reintroduce the 'Create' constructor with lower visibility, just implement a second constructor with private visiblity. It can be useful when implementing singletons and factories to avoid some types of misuse by an unattentive coworker... IIRC the last time this issue was raised you were on the side for removing the warning - my opinion too ;-) -Flávio ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pas...@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal ___ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
