std::enable_shared_from_this

Safe ownership management.

1. Introduction

std::enable_shared_from_this is a standard library utility in C++ that helps manage std::shared_ptr instances. It allows an object to create a shared pointer (std::shared_ptr) that shares ownership of the object. This can be particularly useful when you want to ensure that a class instance can generate shared pointers to itself without creating multiple std::shared_ptr instances that manage the same object.

Key Features

1. The class that wants to use this utility should inherit from std::enable_shared_from_this<T>.
2. This class provides a member function shared_from_this(), which returns a std::shared_ptr to the object.
3. It ensures that no multiple std::shared_ptr instances try to manage the same object, preventing potential undefined behavior.

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>

class A : public std::enable_shared_from_this<A> {
public:
    A() {
        std::cout << "A constructor" << std::endl;
    }

    ~A() {
        std::cout << "A destructor" << std::endl;
    }

    std::shared_ptr<A> getShared() {
        // Use shared_from_this() to create a shared_ptr that shares ownership with the existing shared_ptr
        return shared_from_this();
    }
};

int main() {
    // Create a shared_ptr to A
    std::shared_ptr<A> ptr1 = std::make_shared<A>();

    // Create another shared_ptr using shared_from_this()
    std::shared_ptr<A> ptr2 = ptr1->getShared();

    // Both ptr1 and ptr2 share ownership of the same object
    std::cout << "ptr1 use_count: " << ptr1.use_count() << std::endl; // Output: 2
    std::cout << "ptr2 use_count: " << ptr2.use_count() << std::endl; // Output: 2

    return 0;
}

A bad attempt to achieve the same thing without using std::enable_shared_from_this could be:

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>

struct B
{
    std::shared_ptr<B> getptr()
    {
        return std::shared_ptr<B>(this);
    }
    ~B() { std::cout << "B::~B() called\n"; }
};

int main() {
    // each shared_ptr thinks it's the only owner of the object
    std::shared_ptr<B> b1 = std::make_shared<B>();
    std::shared_ptr<B> b2 = b1->getptr();
    return 0;
}

double free or corruption (out)
Program terminated with signal: SIGSEGV

2. Example

In the observer pattern, we want observers to hold shared pointers to the same subject.

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <vector>

class Subject;

class Observer {
public:
    void observe(const std::shared_ptr<Subject>& subject) {
        subject_ = subject;
    }
    void notify() {
        if (auto spt = subject_.lock()) {
            std::cout << "Subject is still alive\n";
        } else {
            std::cout << "Subject has been destroyed\n";
        }
    }
private:
    std::weak_ptr<Subject> subject_;
};

class Subject : public std::enable_shared_from_this<Subject> {
public:
    void addObserver(const std::shared_ptr<Observer>& observer) {
        observers_.push_back(observer);
        observer->observe(shared_from_this());
    }
    void notifyObservers() {
        for (auto& observer : observers_) {
            observer->notify();
        }
    }
private:
    std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Observer>> observers_;
};

int main() {
    auto subject = std::make_shared<Subject>();
    auto observer1 = std::make_shared<Observer>();
    auto observer2 = std::make_shared<Observer>();

    subject->addObserver(observer1);
    subject->addObserver(observer2);

    subject->notifyObservers();  // Outputs: Subject is still alive

    subject.reset();  // Destroy the subject

    observer1->notify();  // Outputs: Subject has been destroyed
    observer2->notify();  // Outputs: Subject has been destroyed

    return 0;
}

Subject is still alive
Subject is still alive
Subject has been destroyed
Subject has been destroyed

References

• https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/memory/enable_shared_from_this