The Object Model

[thelink2012]

A step to the a high-level binding is to decide the object model to be used, each has pros and cons, mainly because of the C model used in IUP.

Note: The pros and cons lists are not exhaustive, please consider adding more if any comes to mind.

Terminology:

• string attributes: Using IupGetAttribute and IupSetAttribute which gets and sets a string instead of a well specified object type.
• function/methods for attributes: Using a function/method for each attribute, giving more type safety to it since each of those functions will set/get the correct type of the attribute instead of a string.

  Ihandle and Functions (using string attributes)

This is the current model in the library, all the IUP objects are described with a Ihandle structure and passed to functions as the first argument.

Pros:

• Simple model.
• Maps 1:1 to IUP documentation

Cons:

• Attributes aren't type-safe.
• Not possible to find out about attributes by using auto-completion.
• Annoying &mut handle on each function call.

  Ihandle and Functions (using functions for attributes)

Pros

• Simple model.
• Maps almost 1:1 to IUP documentation.
• Type-safe attributes.
• Possible to find out about attributes by using auto-completion.

Cons:

• Annoying &mut handle on each function call.

  Ihandle and Methods

Mirror Ihandle and Functions (using string attributes) and Ihandle and Functions (using functions for attributes) here by excluding the Annoying &mut handle on each function call cons.

Structs/Traits and Methods (using methods for attributes)

Pros:

• More Rusty
• Very type-safe.
• Possible to find out about attributes by using auto-completion + only the attributes and callbacks that applies to this object in question.

Cons:

• Complex model.
• Does not map 1:1 to IUP documentation.

Issues:

• How to deal with functions that returns a handle to any kind of object (e.g. IupGetHandle)?

[thelink2012]

Thoughts @dcampbell24?

EDIT: Oh, the callbacks system don't work very well either using the Ihandle methodology. For instance IupText action callback receives (Ihandle *ih, int c, char *new_value) meanwhile the button action callback receives (Ihandle* ih).

I was very neutral + a little bit inclined to the Ihandle model, but now I think the struct/trait model is the way to go.

[dcampbell24]

I like the struct / trait approach even though I think it will require more work to implement. Unfortunately, I am probably not going to have very much free time for a while to help with this.