[Xotcl] Re: [Xotcl] Re: [Xotcl] problem: filter disappears if instproc redefined

From: <seva_at_design.kiev.ua>
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 19:13:37 +0200 (EET)

On Thu, 28 Dec 2000, Uwe Zdun wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Tue, 26 Dec 2000 seva_at_design.kiev.ua wrote:
> >
> > I split my application in several source files. Each of files
> > implements one of fsm's or helper functions, and when I need to change logic
> > of work, i simply source all files.
> >
> > There are several problems with this:
> > 1) when I execute command Class Some, previous instance of this
> > class deleted, and all objects move to ::Object class.
>
> this behavior is intended: from a "programming language point of view" you
> can not predict whether a destroyed class is going to be redefined or not.
> There could be another class with the same name, but with different
> semantics.

Ok, I agree with that point :)) (But does'nt like it too much :)) )

> In cases like your application, that require a class redefinition, there
> are several ways to tell the language to behave like this:
>
> - you can use the filter, as you have done to overload create.
> - you can use a subclass or a mixin to change create bahavior
> - or you use introspection to find out which instances are currently
> there and re-class these instances after sourcing to the new classes
> (same-named) classes
>
> Probably a combination would work here, like a instmixin on object that
> checks whether a class-to-be-created exists. If yes all instances are
> stored in a variable. After create, the instances are re-classed back
> to the old class.
>
> Or you build an instmixin tht simply does not execute the "create" on
> certain existing classes?

Yes, it is a solution which I use now. But probably I switch to
instmixin with create overloaded.

> It depends on your application case which solution is the best here ...
>
> > This problem I solve by using filter for create command on ::Object (idea
> > stolen from recoverypoint class :)) ). But with that second problem
> > arrives:
> > 2) when some instproc used as a filter, and redefined, it's filter become
> > inactive. (so first problem arrives again, when I source recover.tcl which
> > has recoverfilter definition)
> > after setting filter again, all works as expected
> >
>
> for the same reason as we have to re-class exisiting instances, we have to
> set the filters to an empty list, when the method is redefined (the same
> is done for mixins, when the class is redefined). E.g., we can
> not say that in any case with "Object instproc filter" the same method is
> defined. But again you can easily change this behavior for certain cases
> with a filter or instmixin or a subclass of Object, by redefining "mixin",
> "instmixin", "filter", etc. so that they check whether a certain filter,
> mixin, or instmixin is still there. A filter on Object is probably not the
> best solution here, because it performs the check on every call in the
> system. This is a heavy performance overhead. Presumably a mixin solution
> is more well-suited, because it only checks for certain methods and can be
> used object-specifically.
>
> In your example code a "mixin" on "Class", that just checks the
> Class->create method could be sufficient.

Ok, I tried another test case. Class A with two filters f1 and f2

   Class A

   A instproc f1 {args} {
        puts ">> filter f1"
        next
   }

   A instproc f2 {args} {
        puts ">> filter f2"
        next
   }

   A filter {f1 f2}

Instance of this class

   A a

anything works ok:
   a set b 1

>> filter f1
>> filter f2

redefine f2:

   A instproc f2 {args} {
        puts ">> new filter f2"
        next
   }

still 2 filters:
   A info filter
f1 f2

test:
   a set b 1

>> filter f1
interesting:
   A info filter
f1

seems like ok, but when I put it in file and execute it, I get:
a set b 1
>> filter f1
>> filter f2
A filters: f1 f2
a set b 1
>> filter f1
>> filter f2
redefine f2
a set b 1
>> filter f1

    while executing
"a set b 1"
    (file "./a.tcl" line 35)
>> filter f1

Contents of file:
===================================================
#!/usr/local/bin/tclsh8.2

package require XOTcl

Class A

A instproc f1 {args} {
        puts ">> filter f1"
        next
}

A instproc f2 {args} {
        puts ">> filter f2"
        next
}

A a
A filter {f1 f2}

puts "a set b 1"
a set b 1

puts "A filters: [A info filter]"

puts "a set b 1"
a set b 1
puts "redefine f2"

A instproc f2 {args} {
        puts ">> new filter f2"
        next
}

puts "a set b 1"
a set b 1
puts "A filters: [A info filter]"
puts "a set b 1"
a set b 1
puts "A filters: [A info filter]"

=============================================
seems that first execution of a filter after redefining leads to error