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Abstract

Boost LEAF is a lightweight error handling library for C++11. Features:

  • Portable single-header format, no dependencies.

  • Tiny code size when configured for embedded development.

  • No dynamic memory allocations, even with very large payloads.

  • Deterministic unbiased efficiency on the "happy" path and the "sad" path.

  • Error objects are handled in constant time, independent of call stack depth.

  • Can be used with or without exception handling.

Tutorial | Synopsis | Whitepaper | Benchmark

Reference: Functions | Types | Predicates | Traits | Macros

Support

Distribution

LEAF is distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.

There are three distribution channels:

  • LEAF is included in official Boost releases (starting with Boost 1.75), and therefore available via most package managers.

  • The source code is hosted on GitHub.

  • For maximum portability, the latest LEAF release is also available in single-header format: leaf.hpp (direct download link).

LEAF does not depend on Boost or other libraries.

Tutorial

What is a failure? It is simply the inability of a function to return a valid result, instead producing an error object describing the reason for the failure.

A typical design is to return a variant type, e.g. result<T, E>. Internally, such variant types must store a discriminant (in this case a boolean) to indicate whether the object holds a T or an E.

The design of LEAF is informed by the observation that the immediate caller must have access to the discriminant in order to determine the availability of a valid T, but otherwise it rarely needs to access the E. The error object is only needed once an error handling scope is reached.

Therefore what would have been a result<T, E> becomes result<T>, which stores the discriminant and (optionally) a T, while the E is communicated directly to the error handling scope where it is needed.

The benefit of this decomposition is that result<T> becomes extremely lightweight, as it is not coupled with error types; further, error objects are communicated in constant time (independent of the call stack depth). Even very large objects are handled efficiently without dynamic memory allocation.

Reporting Errors

A function that reports an error:

enum class err1 { e1, e2, e3 };

leaf::result<T> f()
{
  ....
  if( error_detected )
    return leaf::new_error( err1::e1 ); // Pass an error object of any type

  // Produce and return a T.
}

result | new_error

Checking for Errors

Checking for errors communicated by a leaf::result<T> works as expected:

leaf::result<U> g()
{
  leaf::result<T> r = f();
  if( !r )
    return r.error();

  T const & v = r.value();
  // Use v to produce a valid U
}

result

The the result of r.error() is compatible with any instance of the leaf::result template. In the example above, note that g returns a leaf::result<U>, while r is of type leaf::result<T>.

The boilerplate if statement can be avoided using BOOST_LEAF_AUTO:

leaf::result<U> g()
{
  BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v, f()); // Bail out on error

  // Use v to produce a valid U
}

BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

BOOST_LEAF_AUTO can not be used with void results; in that case, to avoid the boilerplate if statement, use BOOST_LEAF_CHECK:

leaf::result<void> f();

leaf::result<int> g()
{
  BOOST_LEAF_CHECK(f()); // Bail out on error
  return 42;
}

BOOST_LEAF_CHECK

On implementations that define __GNUC__ (e.g. GCC/clang), the BOOST_LEAF_CHECK macro definition takes advantage of GNU C statement expressions. In this case, in addition to its portable usage with result<void>, BOOST_LEAF_CHECK can be used in expressions with non-void result types:

leaf::result<int> f();

float g(int x);

leaf::result<float> t()
{
  return g( BOOST_LEAF_CHECK(f()) );
}

The following is the portable alternative:

leaf::result<float> t()
{
  BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(x, f());
  return g(x);
}

Error Handling

Error handling scopes must use a special syntax to indicate that they need to access error objects. The following excerpt attempts several operations and handles errors of type err1:

leaf::result<U> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v1, f1());
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v2, f2());

    return g(v1, v2);
  },

  []( err1 e ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    if( e == err1::e1 )
      .... // Handle err1::e1
    else
      .... // Handle any other err1 value
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

The first lambda passed to try_handle_some is executed first; it attempts to produce a result<U>, but it may fail.

The second lambda is an error handler: it will be called iff the first lambda fails and an error object of type err1 was communicated to LEAF. That object is stored on the stack, local to the try_handle_some function (LEAF knows to allocate this storage because we gave it an error handler that takes an err1). Error handlers passed to leaf::try_handle_some can return a valid leaf::result<U> but are allowed to fail.

It is possible for an error handler to specify that it can only deal with some values of a given error type:

leaf::result<U> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v1, f1());
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v2, f2());

    return g(v1. v2);
  },

  []( leaf::match<err1, err1::e1, err1::e3> ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    // Handle err::e1 or err1::e3
  },

  []( err1 e ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    // Handle any other err1 value
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO | match

LEAF considers the provided error handlers in order, and calls the first one for which it is able to supply arguments, based on the error objects currently being communicated. Above:

  • The first error handler will be called iff an error object of type err1 is available, and its value is either err1::e1 or err1::e3.

  • Otherwise the second error handler will be called iff an error object of type err1 is available, regardless of its value.

  • Otherwise leaf::try_handle_some fails.

It is possible for an error handler to conditionally leave the current failure unhandled:

leaf::result<U> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v1, f1());
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v2, f2());

    return g(v1. v2);
  },

  []( err1 e, leaf::error_info const & ei ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    if( <<condition>> )
      return valid_U;
    else
      return ei.error();
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO | error_info

Any error handler can take an argument of type leaf::error_info const & to get access to generic information about the error being handled; in this case we use the error member function, which returns the unique error_id of the current error; we use it to initialize the returned leaf::result, effectively propagating the current error out of try_handle_some.

If we wanted to signal a new error (rather than propagating the current error), in the return statement we would invoke the leaf::new_error function.

If we want to ensure that all possible failures are handled, we use leaf::try_handle_all instead of leaf::try_handle_some:

U r = leaf::try_handle_all(

  []() -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v1, f1());
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v2, f2());

    return g(v1. v2);
  },

  []( leaf::match<err1, err1::e1> ) -> U
  {
    // Handle err::e1
  },

  []( err1 e ) -> U
  {
    // Handle any other err1 value
  },

  []() -> U
  {
    // Handle any other failure
  } );

try_handle_all

The leaf::try_handle_all function enforces at compile time that at least one of the supplied error handlers takes no arguments (and therefore is able to handle any failure). In addition, all error handlers are forced to return a valid U, rather than a leaf::result<U>, so that leaf::try_handle_all is guaranteed to succeed, always.

Working with Different Error Types

It is of course possible to provide different handlers for different error types:

enum class err1 { e1, e2, e3 };
enum class err2 { e1, e2 };

....

leaf::result<U> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v1, f1());
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v2, f2());

    return g(v1, v2);
  },

  []( err1 e ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    // Handle errors of type `err1`.
  },

  []( err2 e ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    // Handle errors of type `err2`.
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

Error handlers are always considered in order:

  • The first error handler will be used if an error object of type err1 is available;

  • otherwise, the second error handler will be used if an error object of type err2 is available;

  • otherwise, leaf::try_handle_some fails.

Working with Multiple Error Objects

The leaf::new_error function can be invoked with multiple error objects, for example to communicate an error code and the relevant file name:

enum class io_error { open_error, read_error, write_error };

struct e_file_name { std::string value; }

leaf::result<File> open_file( char const * name )
{
  ....
  if( open_failed )
    return leaf::new_error(io_error::open_error, e_file_name {name});
  ....
}

result | new_error

Similarly, error handlers may take multiple error objects as arguments:

leaf::result<U> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(f, open_file(fn));
    ....
  },

  []( io_error ec, e_file_name fn ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    // Handle I/O errors when a file name is available.
  },

  []( io_error ec ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    // Handle I/O errors when no file name is available.
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

Once again, error handlers are considered in order:

  • The first error handler will be used if an error object of type io_error and and error_object of type e_file_name are available;

  • otherwise, the second error handler will be used if an error object of type io_error is avaliable;

  • otherwise, leaf_try_handle_some fails.

An alternative way to write the above is to provide a single error handler that takes the e_file_name argument as a pointer:

leaf::result<U> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(f, open_file(fn));
    ....
  },

  []( io_error ec, e_file_name const * fn ) -> leaf::result<U>
  {
    if( fn )
      .... // Handle I/O errors when a file name is available.
    else
      .... // Handle I/O errors when no file name is available.
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

An error handler is never dropped for lack of error objects of types which the handler takes as pointers; in this case LEAF simply passes nullptr for these arguments.

When an error handler takes arguments by mutable reference or pointer, changes to their state are preserved when the error is communicated to the caller.

Augmenting Errors

Let’s say we have a function parse_line which could fail due to an io_error or a parse_error:

enum class io_error { open_error, read_error, write_error };

enum class parse_error { bad_syntax, bad_range };

leaf::result<int> parse_line( FILE * f );

The leaf::on_error function can be used to automatically associate additional error objects with any failure that is "in flight":

struct e_line { int value; };

leaf::result<void> process_file( FILE * f )
{
  for( int current_line = 1; current_line != 10; ++current_line )
  {
    auto load = leaf::on_error( e_line {current_line} );

    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v, parse_line(f));

    // use v
  }
}

on_error | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

Because process_file does not handle errors, it remains neutral to failures, except to attach the current_line if something goes wrong. The object returned by on_error holds a copy of the current_line wrapped in struct e_line. If parse_line succeeds, the e_line object is simply discarded; if it fails, the e_line object will be automatically "attached" to the failure.

Such failures can then be handled like so:

leaf::result<void> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  [&]() -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_CHECK( process_file(f) );
  },

  []( parse_error e, e_line current_line  )
  {
    std::cerr << "Parse error at line " << current_line.value << std::endl;
  },

  []( io_error e, e_line current_line )
  {
    std::cerr << "I/O error at line " << current_line.value << std::endl;
  },

  []( io_error e )
  {
    std::cerr << "I/O error" << std::endl;
  } );

try_handle_some | BOOST_LEAF_CHECK

The following is equivalent, and perhaps simpler:

leaf::result<void> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_CHECK( process_file(f) );
  },

  []( parse_error e, e_line current_line )
  {
    std::cerr << "Parse error at line " << current_line.value << std::endl;
  },

  []( io_error e, e_line const * current_line )
  {
    std::cerr << "Parse error";
    if( current_line )
      std::cerr << " at line " << current_line->value;
    std::cerr << std::endl;
  } );

Exception Handling

What happens if an operation throws an exception? Both try_handle_some and try_handle_all catch exceptions and are able to pass them to any compatible error handler:

leaf::result<void> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_CHECK( process_file(f) );
  },

  []( std::bad_alloc const & )
  {
    std::cerr << "Out of memory!" << std::endl;
  },

  []( parse_error e, e_line l )
  {
    std::cerr << "Parse error at line " << l.value << std::endl;
  },

  []( io_error e, e_line const * l )
  {
    std::cerr << "Parse error";
    if( l )
      std::cerr << " at line " << l.value;
    std::cerr << std::endl;
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_CHECK

Above, we have simply added an error handler that takes a std::bad_alloc, and everything "just works" as expected: LEAF will dispatch error handlers correctly no matter if failures are communicated via leaf::result or by an exception.

Of course, if we use exception handling exclusively, we do not need leaf::result at all. In this case we use leaf::try_catch:

leaf::try_catch(

  []
  {
    process_file(f);
  },

  []( std::bad_alloc const & )
  {
    std::cerr << "Out of memory!" << std::endl;
  },

  []( parse_error e, e_line l )
  {
    std::cerr << "Parse error at line " << l.value << std::endl;
  },

  []( io_error e, e_line const * l )
  {
    std::cerr << "Parse error";
    if( l )
      std::cerr << " at line " << l.value;
    std::cerr << std::endl;
  } );

try_catch

We did not have to change the error handlers! But how does this work? What kind of exceptions does process_file throw?

LEAF enables a novel exception handling technique, which does not require an exception type hierarchy to classify failures and does not carry data in exception objects. Recall that when failures are communicated via leaf::result, we call leaf::new_error in a return statement, passing any number of error objects which are sent directly to the correct error handling scope:

enum class err1 { e1, e2, e3 };
enum class err2 { e1, e2 };

....

leaf::result<T> f()
{
  ....
  if( error_detected )
    return leaf::new_error(err1::e1, err2::e2);

  // Produce and return a T.
}

result | new_error

When using exception handling this becomes:

enum class err1 { e1, e2, e3 };
enum class err2 { e1, e2 };

T f()
{
  if( error_detected )
    leaf::throw_exception(err1::e1, err2::e2);

  // Produce and return a T.
}

throw_exception

The leaf::throw_exception function handles the passed error objects just like leaf::new_error does, and then throws an object of a type that derives from std::exception. Using this technique, the exception type is not important: leaf::try_catch catches all exceptions, then goes through the usual LEAF error handler selection routine.

If instead we want to use the legacy convention of throwing different types to indicate different failures, we simply pass an exception object (that is, an object of a type that derives from std::exception) as the first argument to leaf::throw_exception:

leaf::throw_exception(std::runtime_error("Error!"), err1::e1, err2::e2);

In this case the returned object will be of type that derives from std::runtime_error, rather than from std::exception.

Finally, leaf::on_error "just works" as well. Here is our process_file function rewritten to work with exceptions, rather than return a leaf::result (see Augmenting Errors):

int parse_line( FILE * f ); // Throws

struct e_line { int value; };

void process_file( FILE * f )
{
  for( int current_line = 1; current_line != 10; ++current_line )
  {
    auto load = leaf::on_error( e_line {current_line} );
    int v = parse_line(f);

    // use v
  }
}

on_error

Using External result Types

Static type checking creates difficulties in error handling interoperability in any non-trivial project. Using exception handling alleviates this problem somewhat because in that case error types are not burned into function signatures, so errors easily punch through multiple layers of APIs; but this doesn’t help C++ in general because the community is fractured on the issue of exception handling. That debate notwithstanding, the reality is that C++ programs need to handle errors communicated through multiple layers of APIs via a plethora of error codes, result types and exceptions.

LEAF enables application developers to shake error objects out of each individual library’s result type and send them to error handling scopes verbatim. Here is an example:

lib1::result<int, lib1::error_code> foo();
lib2::result<int, lib2::error_code> bar();

int g( int a, int b );

leaf::result<int> f()
{
  auto a = foo();
  if( !a )
    return leaf::new_error( a.error() );

  auto b = bar();
  if( !b )
    return leaf::new_error( b.error() );

  return g( a.value(), b.value() );
}

result | new_error

Later we simply call leaf::try_handle_some passing an error handler for each type:

leaf::result<int> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<int>
  {
    return f();
  },

  []( lib1::error_code ec ) -> leaf::result<int>
  {
    // Handle lib1::error_code
  },

  []( lib2::error_code ec ) -> leaf::result<int>
  {
    // Handle lib2::error_code
  } );
}

try_handle_some | result

A possible complication is that we might not have the option to return leaf::result<int> from f: a third party API may impose a specific signature on it, forcing it to return a library-specific result type. This would be the case when f is intended to be used as a callback:

void register_callback( std::function<lib3::result<int>()> const & callback );

Can we use LEAF in this case? Actually we can, as long as lib3::result is able to communicate a std::error_code. We just have to let LEAF know, by specializing the is_result_type template:

namespace boost { namespace leaf {

template <class T>
struct is_result_type<lib3::result<T>>: std::true_type;

} }

is_result_type

With this in place, f works as before, even though lib3::result isn’t capable of transporting lib1 errors or lib2 errors:

lib1::result<int, lib1::error_type> foo();
lib2::result<int, lib2::error_type> bar();

int g( int a, int b );

lib3::result<int> f()
{
  auto a = foo();
  if( !a )
    return leaf::new_error( a.error() );

  auto b = bar();
  if( !b )
    return leaf::new_error( b.error() );

  return g( a.value(), b.value() );
}

new_error

The object returned by leaf::new_error converts implicitly to std::error_code, using a LEAF-specific error_category, which makes lib3::result compatible with leaf::try_handle_some (and with leaf::try_handle_all):

lib3::result<int> r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> lib3::result<int>
  {
    return f();
  },

  []( lib1::error_code ec ) -> lib3::result<int>
  {
    // Handle lib1::error_code
  },

  []( lib2::error_code ec ) -> lib3::result<int>
  {
    // Handle lib2::error_code
  } );
}

try_handle_some

Interoperability

Ideally, when an error is detected, a program using LEAF would always call new_error, ensuring that each encountered failure is definitely assigned a unique error_id, which then is reliably delivered, by an exception or by a result<T> object, to the appropriate error handling scope.

Alas, this is not always possible.

For example, the error may need to be communicated through uncooperative 3rd-party interfaces. To facilitate this transmission, a error ID may be encoded in a std::error_code. As long as a 3rd-party interface is able to transport a std::error_code, it should be compatible with LEAF.

Further, it is sometimes necessary to communicate errors through an interface that does not even use std::error_code. An example of this is when an external lower-level library throws an exception, which is unlikely to be able to carry an error_id.

To support this tricky use case, LEAF provides the function current_error, which returns the error ID returned by the most recent call (from this thread) to new_error. One possible approach to solving the problem is to use the following logic (implemented by the error_monitor type):

  1. Before calling the uncooperative API, call current_error and cache the returned value.

  2. Call the API, then call current_error again:

    1. If this returns the same value as before, pass the error objects to new_error to associate them with a new error_id;

    2. else, associate the error objects with the error_id value returned by the second call to current_error.

Note that if the above logic is nested (e.g. one function calling another), new_error will be called only by the inner-most function, because that call guarantees that all calling functions will hit the else branch.

For a detailed tutorial see Using error_monitor to Report Arbitrary Errors from C-callbacks.

Loading of Error Objects

To load an error object is to move it into an active context object, usually contained within a try_handle_some, a try_handle_all or a try_catch scope in the calling thread, where it becomes uniquely associated with a specific error_id — or discarded if storage is not available.

Various LEAF functions take a list of error objects to load. As an example, if a function copy_file that takes the name of the input file and the name of the output file as its arguments detects a failure, it could communicate an error code ec, plus the two relevant file names using new_error:

return leaf::new_error(ec, e_input_name{n1}, e_output_name{n2});

Alternatively, error objects may be loaded using a result<T> that is already communicating an error. This way they become associated with that error, rather than with a new error:

leaf::result<int> f() noexcept;

leaf::result<void> g( char const * fn ) noexcept
{
  if( leaf::result<int> r = f() )
  { (1)
    ....;
    return { };
  }
  else
  {
    return r.load( e_file_name{fn} ); (2)
  }
}

result | load

1 Success! Use r.value().
2 f() has failed; here we associate an additional e_file_name with the error. However, this association occurs iff in the call stack leading to g there are error handlers that take an e_file_name argument. Otherwise, the object passed to load is discarded. In other words, the passed objects are loaded iff the program actually uses them to handle errors.

Besides error objects, load can take function arguments:

  • If we pass a function that takes no arguments, it is invoked, and the returned error object is loaded.

    Consider that if we pass to load an error object that is not needed by any error handler, it will be discarded. If the object is expensive to compute, it would be better if the computation can be skipped as well. Passing a function with no arguments to load is an excellent way to achieve this behavior:

    struct info { .... };

info compute_info() noexcept;

leaf::result<void> operation( char const * file_name ) noexcept
{
  if( leaf::result<int> r = try_something() )
  { (1)
    ....
    return { };
  }
  else
  {
    return r.load( (2)
      [&]
      {
        return compute_info();
      } );
  }
}

    result | load

    1 Success! Use r.value().
    2 try_something has failed; compute_info will only be called if an error handler exists which takes a info argument.

  • If we pass a function that takes a single argument of type E &, LEAF calls the function with the object of type E currently loaded in an active context, associated with the error. If no such object is available, a new one is default-initialized and then passed to the function.

    For example, if an operation that involves many different files fails, a program may provide for collecting all relevant file names in a e_relevant_file_names object:

    struct e_relevant_file_names
{
  std::vector<std::string> value;
};

leaf::result<void> operation( char const * file_name ) noexcept
{
  if( leaf::result<int> r = try_something() )
  { (1)
    ....
    return { };
  }
  else
  {
    return r.load( (2)
      [&](e_relevant_file_names & e)
      {
        e.value.push_back(file_name);
      } );
  }
}

    result | load

    1 Success! Use r.value().
    2 try_something has failed — add file_name to the e_relevant_file_names object, associated with the error_id communicated in r. Note, however, that the passed function will only be called iff in the call stack there are error handlers that take an e_relevant_file_names object.

Using on_error

It is not typical for an error reporting function to be able to supply all of the data needed by a suitable error handling function in order to recover from the failure. For example, a function that reports FILE failures may not have access to the file name, yet an error handling function needs it in order to print a useful error message.

The file name is typically readily available in the call stack leading to the failed FILE operation. Below, while parse_info can’t report the file name, parse_file can and does:

leaf::result<info> parse_info( FILE * f ) noexcept; (1)

leaf::result<info> parse_file( char const * file_name ) noexcept
{
  auto load = leaf::on_error(leaf::e_file_name{file_name}); (2)

  if( FILE * f = fopen(file_name,"r") )
  {
    auto r = parse_info(f);
    fclose(f);
    return r;
  }
  else
    return leaf::new_error( error_enum::file_open_error );
}

result | on_error | new_error

1 parse_info parses f, communicating errors using leaf::result.
2 Using on_error ensures that the file name is included with any error reported out of parse_file. When the load object expires, if an error is being reported, the passed e_file_name value will be automatically associated with it.
on_error —  like new_error — can be passed any number of arguments.

When we invoke on_error, we can pass three kinds of arguments:

  1. Actual error objects (like in the example above);

  2. Functions that take no arguments and return an error object;

  3. Functions that take a single error object by mutable reference.

For example, if we want to use on_error to capture errno, we can’t just pass e_errno to it, because at that time it hasn’t been set (yet). Instead, we’d pass a function that returns it:

void read_file(FILE * f) {

  auto load = leaf::on_error([]{ return e_errno{errno}; });

  ....
  size_t nr1=fread(buf1,1,count1,f);
  if( ferror(f) )
    leaf::throw_exception();

  size_t nr2=fread(buf2,1,count2,f);
  if( ferror(f) )
    leaf::throw_exception();

  size_t nr3=fread(buf3,1,count3,f);
  if( ferror(f) )
    leaf::throw_exception();
  ....
}

Above, if an exception is thrown, LEAF will invoke the function passed to on_error and associate the returned e_errno object with the exception.

Finally, if on_error is passed a function that takes a single error object by mutable reference, the behavior is similar to how such functions are used by load; see Loading of Error Objects.

Using Predicates to Handle Errors

Usually, the compatibility between error handlers and the available error objects is determined based on the type of the arguments they take. When an error handler takes a predicate type as an argument, the handler selection procedure is able to also take into account the value of the available error objects.

Consider this error code enum:

enum class my_error
{
  e1=1,
  e2,
  e3
};

We could handle my_error errors like so:

return leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( my_error e )
  { (1)
    switch(e)
    {
      case my_error::e1:
        ....; (2)
        break;
      case my_error::e2:
      case my_error::e3:
        ....; (3)
        break;
      default:
        ....; (4)
        break;
  } );
1 This handler will be selected if we’ve got a my_error object.
2 Handle e1 errors.
3 Handle e2 and e3 errors.
4 Handle bad my_error values.

If my_error object is available, LEAF will call our error handler. If not, the failure will be forwarded to our caller.

This can be rewritten using the match predicate to organize the different cases in different error handlers. The following is equivalent:

return leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match<my_error, my_error::e1> m )
  { (1)
    assert(m.matched == my_error::e1);
    ....;
  },

  []( leaf::match<my_error, my_error::e2, my_error::e3> m )
  { (2)
    assert(m.matched == my_error::e2 || m.matched == my_error::e3);
    ....;
  },

  []( my_error e )
  { (3)
    ....;
  } );
1 We’ve got a my_error object that compares equal to e1.
2 We`ve got a my_error object that compares equal to either e2 or e3.
3 Handle bad my_error values.

The first argument to the match template generally specifies the type E of the error object e that must be available for the error handler to be considered at all. Typically, the rest of the arguments are values. The error handler is dropped if e does not compare equal to any of them.

In particular, match works great with std::error_code. The following handler is designed to handle ENOENT errors:

[]( leaf::match<std::error_code, std::errc::no_such_file_or_directory> )
{
}

This, however, requires C++17 or newer, because it is impossible to infer the type of the error enum (in this case, std::errc) from the specified type std::error_code, and C++11 does not allow auto template arguments. LEAF provides the following workaround, compatible with C++11:

[]( leaf::match<leaf::condition<std::errc>, std::errc::no_such_file_or_directory> )
{
}

In addition, it is possible to select a handler based on std::error_category. The following handler will match any std::error_code of the std::generic_category (requires C++17 or newer):

[]( std::error_code, leaf::category<std::errc>> )
{
}
See match for more examples.

The following predicates are available:

  • match: as described above.

  • match_value: where match<E, V…​> compares the object e of type E with the values V…​, match_value<E, V…​> compare e.value with the values V…​.

  • match_member: similar to match_value, but takes a pointer to the data member to compare; that is, match_member<&E::value, V…​> is equvialent to match_value<E, V…​>. Note, however, that match_member requires C++17 or newer, while match_value does not.

  • catch_<Ex…​>: Similar to match, but checks whether the caught std::exception object can be dynamic_cast to any of the Ex types.

  • if_not is a special predicate that takes any other predicate Pred and requires that an error object of type E is available and that Pred evaluates to false. For example, if_not<match<E, V…​>> requires that an object e of type E is available, and that it does not compare equal to any of the specified V…​.

Finally, the predicate system is easily extensible, see Predicates.

See also Working with std::error_code, std::error_condition.

Reusing Common Error Handlers

Consider this snippet:

leaf::try_handle_all(

  [&]
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  [](my_error_enum x)
  {
    ...
  },

  [](read_file_error_enum y, e_file_name const & fn)
  {
    ...
  },

  []
  {
    ...
  });

try_handle_all | e_file_name

Looks pretty simple, but what if we need to attempt a different set of operations yet use the same handlers? We could repeat the same thing with a different function passed as TryBlock for try_handle_all:

leaf::try_handle_all(

  [&]
  {
    return g(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  [](my_error_enum x)
  {
    ...
  },

  [](read_file_error_enum y, e_file_name const & fn)
  {
    ...
  },

  []
  {
    ...
  });

That works, but it may be better to bind the error handlers in a std::tuple:

auto error_handlers = std::make_tuple(

  [](my_error_enum x)
  {
    ...
  },

  [](read_file_error_enum y, e_file_name const & fn)
  {
    ...
  },

  []
  {
    ...
  });

The error_handlers tuple can later be used with any error handling function:

leaf::try_handle_all(

  [&]
  {
    // Operations which may fail (1)
  },

  error_handlers );

leaf::try_handle_all(

  [&]
  {
    // Different operations which may fail (2)
  },

  error_handlers ); (3)

try_handle_all | error_info

1 One set of operations which may fail…​
2 A different set of operations which may fail…​
3 …​ both using the same error_handlers.

Error handling functions accept a std::tuple of error handlers in place of any error handler. The behavior is as if the tuple is unwrapped in-place.

Transporting Error Objects Between Threads

Like exceptions, error objects are local to a thread. When using concurrency, sometimes we need to collect error objects in one thread, then use them to handle the error in another thread.

LEAF offers two interfaces for this purpose, one using result<T>, and another using exception handling.

Using result<T>

Let’s assume we have a task that we want to launch asynchronously, which produces a task_result but could also fail:

leaf::result<task_result> task();

Because the task will run asynchronously, in case of a failure we need it to capture the relevant error objects but not handle errors. To this end, in the main thread we bind our error handlers in a std::tuple, which we will later use to handle errors from each completed asynchronous task (see Reusing Common Error Handlers):

auto error_handlers = std::make_tuple(

  [](E1 e1, E2 e2)
  {
    //Deal with E1, E2
    ....
    return { };
  },

  [](E3 e3)
  {
    //Deal with E3
    ....
    return { };
  } );

Why did we start with this step? Because we need to create a context object to collect the error objects we need. We could just instantiate the context template with E1, E2 and E3, but that would be prone to errors, since it could get out of sync with the handlers we use. Thankfully LEAF can deduce the types we need automatically, we just need to show it our error_handlers:

std::shared_ptr<leaf::polymorphic_context> ctx = leaf::make_shared_context(error_handlers);

The polymorphic_context type is an abstract base class that has the same members as any instance of the context class template, allowing us to erase its exact type. In this case what we’re holding in ctx is a context<E1, E2, E3>, where E1, E2 and E3 were deduced automatically from the error_handlers tuple we passed to make_shared_context.

We’re now ready to launch our asynchronous task:

std::future<leaf::result<task_result>> launch_task() noexcept
{
  return std::async(
    std::launch::async,
    [&]
    {
      std::shared_ptr<leaf::polymorphic_context> ctx = leaf::make_shared_context(error_handlers);
      return leaf::capture(ctx, &task);
    } );
}

result | make_shared_context | capture

That’s it! Later when we get the std::future, we can process the returned result<task_result> in a call to try_handle_some, using the error_handlers tuple we created earlier:

//std::future<leaf::result<task_result>> fut;
fut.wait();

return leaf::try_handle_some(

  [&]() -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(r, fut.get());
    //Success!
    return { }
  },

  error_handlers );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

Follow this link to see a complete example program: capture_in_result.cpp.

Using Exception Handling

Let’s assume we have an asynchronous task which produces a task_result but could also throw:

task_result task();

Just like we saw in Using result<T>, first we will bind our error handlers in a std::tuple:

auto handle_errors = std::make_tuple(

  [](E1 e1, E2 e2)
  {
    //Deal with E1, E2
    ....
    return { };
  },

  [](E3 e3)
  {
    //Deal with E3
    ....
    return { };
  } );

Launching the task looks the same as before, except that we don’t use result<T>:

std::future<task_result> launch_task()
{
  return std::async(
    std::launch::async,
    [&]
    {
      std::shared_ptr<leaf::polymorphic_context> ctx = leaf::make_shared_context(&handle_error);
      return leaf::capture(ctx, &task);
    } );
}

make_shared_context | capture

That’s it! Later when we get the std::future, we can process the returned task_result in a call to try_catch, using the error_handlers we saved earlier, as if it was generated locally:

//std::future<task_result> fut;
fut.wait();

return leaf::try_catch(

  [&]
  {
    task_result r = fut.get(); // Throws on error
    //Success!
  },

  error_handlers );

try_catch

Follow this link to see a complete example program: capture_in_exception.cpp.

Classification of Failures

It is common for an interface to define an enum that lists all possible error codes that the API reports. The benefit of this approach is that the list is complete and usually well documented:

enum error_code
{
  ....
  read_error,
  size_error,
  eof_error,
  ....
};

The disadvantage of such flat enums is that they do not support handling of a whole class of failures. Consider the following LEAF error handler:

....
[](leaf::match<error_code, size_error, read_error, eof_error>, leaf::e_file_name const & fn)
{
  std::cerr << "Failed to access " << fn.value << std::endl;
},
....

match | e_file_name

It will get called if the value of the error_code enum communicated with the failure is one of size_error, read_error or eof_error. In short, the idea is to handle any input error.

But what if later we add support for detecting and reporting a new type of input error, e.g. permissions_error? It is easy to add that to our error_code enum; but now our input error handler won’t recognize this new input error — and we have a bug.

If we can use exceptions, the situation is better because exception types can be organized in a hierarchy in order to classify failures:

struct input_error: std::exception { };
struct read_error: input_error { };
struct size_error: input_error { };
struct eof_error: input_error { };

In terms of LEAF, our input error exception handler now looks like this:

[](input_error &, leaf::e_file_name const & fn)
{
  std::cerr << "Failed to access " << fn.value << std::endl;
},

This is future-proof, but still not ideal, because it is not possible to refine the classification of the failure after the exception object has been thrown.

LEAF supports a novel style of error handling where the classification of failures does not use error code values or exception type hierarchies. Instead of our error_code enum, we could define:

....
struct input_error { };
struct read_error { };
struct size_error { };
struct eof_error { };
....

With this in place, we could define a function file_read:

leaf::result<void> file_read( FILE & f, void * buf, int size )
{
  int n = fread(buf, 1, size, &f);

  if( ferror(&f) )
    return leaf::new_error(input_error{}, read_error{}, leaf::e_errno{errno}); (1)

  if( n!=size )
    return leaf::new_error(input_error{}, eof_error{}); (2)

  return { };
}

result | new_error | e_errno

1 This error is classified as input_error and read_error.
2 This error is classified as input_error and eof_error.

Or, even better:

leaf::result<void> file_read( FILE & f, void * buf, int size )
{
  auto load = leaf::on_error(input_error{}); (1)

  int n = fread(buf, 1, size, &f);

  if( ferror(&f) )
    return leaf::new_error(read_error{}, leaf::e_errno{errno}); (2)

  if( n!=size )
    return leaf::new_error(eof_error{}); (3)

  return { };
}

result | on_error | new_error | e_errno

1 Any error escaping this scope will be classified as input_error
2 In addition, this error is classified as read_error.
3 In addition, this error is classified as eof_error.

This technique works just as well if we choose to use exception handling, we just call leaf::throw_exception instead of leaf::new_error:

void file_read( FILE & f, void * buf, int size )
{
  auto load = leaf::on_error(input_error{});

  int n = fread(buf, 1, size, &f);

  if( ferror(&f) )
    leaf::throw_exception(read_error{}, leaf::e_errno{errno});

  if( n!=size )
    leaf::throw_exception(eof_error{});
}

on_error | throw_exception | e_errno

If the type of the first argument passed to leaf::throw_exception derives from std::exception, it will be used to initialize the thrown exception object. Here this is not the case, so the function throws a default-initialized std::exception object, while the first (and any other) argument is associated with the failure.

Now we can write a future-proof handler for any input_error:

....
[](input_error, leaf::e_file_name const & fn)
{
  std::cerr << "Failed to access " << fn.value << std::endl;
},
....

Remarkably, because the classification of the failure does not depend on error codes or on exception types, this error handler can be used with try_catch if we use exception handling, or with try_handle_some/try_handle_all if we do not.

Converting Exceptions to result<T>

It is sometimes necessary to catch exceptions thrown by a lower-level library function, and report the error through different means, to a higher-level library which may not use exception handling.

Error handlers that take arguments of types that derive from std::exception work correctly — regardless of whether the error object itself is thrown as an exception, or loaded into a context. The technique described here is only needed when the exception must be communicated through functions which are not exception-safe, or are compiled with exception handling disabled.

Suppose we have an exception type hierarchy and a function compute_answer_throws:

class error_base: public std::exception { };
class error_a: public error_base { };
class error_b: public error_base { };
class error_c: public error_base { };

int compute_answer_throws()
{
  switch( rand()%4 )
  {
    default: return 42;
    case 1: throw error_a();
    case 2: throw error_b();
    case 3: throw error_c();
  }
}

We can write a simple wrapper using exception_to_result, which calls compute_answer_throws and switches to result<int> for error handling:

leaf::result<int> compute_answer() noexcept
{
  return leaf::exception_to_result<error_a, error_b>(
    []
    {
      return compute_answer_throws();
    } );
}

result | exception_to_result

The exception_to_result template takes any number of exception types. All exception types thrown by the passed function are caught, and an attempt is made to convert the exception object to each of the specified types. Each successfully-converted slice of the caught exception object, as well as the return value of std::current_exception, are copied and loaded, and in the end the exception is converted to a result<T> object.

(In our example, error_a and error_b slices as communicated as error objects, but error_c exceptions will still be captured by std::exception_ptr).

Here is a simple function which prints successfully computed answers, forwarding any error (originally reported by throwing an exception) to its caller:

leaf::result<void> print_answer() noexcept
{
  BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(answer, compute_answer());
  std::cout << "Answer: " << answer << std::endl;
  return { };
}

result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

Finally, here is the scope that handles the errors — it will work correctly regardless of whether error_a and error_b objects are thrown as exceptions or not.

leaf::try_handle_all(

  []() -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_CHECK(print_answer());
    return { };
  },

  [](error_a const & e)
  {
    std::cerr << "Error A!" << std::endl;
  },

  [](error_b const & e)
  {
    std::cerr << "Error B!" << std::endl;
  },

  []
  {
    std::cerr << "Unknown error!" << std::endl;
  } );

try_handle_all | result | BOOST_LEAF_CHECK

The complete program illustrating this technique is available here.

Using error_monitor to Report Arbitrary Errors from C-callbacks

Communicating information pertaining to a failure detected in a C callback is tricky, because C callbacks are limited to a specific static signature, which may not use C++ types.

LEAF makes this easy. As an example, we’ll write a program that uses Lua and reports a failure from a C++ function registered as a C callback, called from a Lua program. The failure will be propagated from C++, through the Lua interpreter (written in C), back to the C++ function which called it.

C/C++ functions designed to be invoked from a Lua program must use the following signature:

int do_work( lua_State * L ) ;

Arguments are passed on the Lua stack (which is accessible through L). Results too are pushed onto the Lua stack.

First, let’s initialize the Lua interpreter and register a function, do_work, as a C callback available for Lua programs to call:

std::shared_ptr<lua_State> init_lua_state() noexcept
{
  std::shared_ptr<lua_State> L(lua_open(), &lua_close); (1)

  lua_register(&*L, "do_work", &do_work); (2)

  luaL_dostring(&*L, "\ (3)
\n      function call_do_work()\
\n          return do_work()\
\n      end");

  return L;
}
1 Create a new lua_State. We’ll use std::shared_ptr for automatic cleanup.
2 Register the do_work C++ function as a C callback, under the global name do_work. With this, calls from Lua programs to do_work will land in the do_work C++ function.
3 Pass some Lua code as a C string literal to Lua. This creates a global Lua function called call_do_work, which we will later ask Lua to execute.

Next, let’s define our enum used to communicate do_work failures:

enum do_work_error_code
{
  ec1=1,
  ec2
};

We’re now ready to define the do_work callback function:

int do_work( lua_State * L ) noexcept
{
  bool success = rand() % 2; (1)
  if( success )
  {
    lua_pushnumber(L, 42); (2)
    return 1;
  }
  else
  {
    (void) leaf::new_error(ec1); (3)
    return luaL_error(L, "do_work_error"); (4)
  }
}

new_error | load

1 "Sometimes" do_work fails.
2 In case of success, push the result on the Lua stack, return back to Lua.
3 Generate a new error_id and associate a do_work_error_code with it. Normally, we’d return this in a leaf::result<T>, but the do_work function signature (required by Lua) does not permit this.
4 Tell the Lua interpreter to abort the Lua program.

Now we’ll write the function that calls the Lua interpreter to execute the Lua function call_do_work, which in turn calls do_work. We’ll return result<int>, so that our caller can get the answer in case of success, or an error:

leaf::result<int> call_lua( lua_State * L )
{
  lua_getfield(L, LUA_GLOBALSINDEX, "call_do_work");

  error_monitor cur_err;
  if( int err = lua_pcall(L, 0, 1, 0) ) (1)
  {
    auto load = leaf::on_error(e_lua_error_message{lua_tostring(L,1)}); (2)
    lua_pop(L,1);

    return cur_err.assigned_error_id().load(e_lua_pcall_error{err}); (3)
  }
  else
  {
    int answer = lua_tonumber(L, -1); (4)
    lua_pop(L, 1);
    return answer;
  }
}

result | on_error | error_monitor

1 Ask the Lua interpreter to call the global Lua function call_do_work.
2 on_error works as usual.
3 load will use the error_id generated in our Lua callback. This is the same error_id the on_error uses as well.
4 Success! Just return the int answer.

Finally, here is the main function which exercises call_lua, each time handling any failure:

int main() noexcept
{
  std::shared_ptr<lua_State> L=init_lua_state();

  for( int i=0; i!=10; ++i )
  {
    leaf::try_handle_all(

      [&]() -> leaf::result<void>
      {
        BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(answer, call_lua(&*L));
        std::cout << "do_work succeeded, answer=" << answer << '\n'; (1)
        return { };
      },

      [](do_work_error_code e) (2)
      {
        std::cout << "Got do_work_error_code = " << e <<  "!\n";
      },

      [](e_lua_pcall_error const & err, e_lua_error_message const & msg) (3)
      {
        std::cout << "Got e_lua_pcall_error, Lua error code = " << err.value << ", " << msg.value << "\n";
      },

      [](leaf::error_info const & unmatched)
      {
        std::cerr <<
          "Unknown failure detected" << std::endl <<
          "Cryptic diagnostic information follows" << std::endl <<
          unmatched;
      } );
  }

try_handle_all | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO | error_info

1 If the call to call_lua succeeded, just print the answer.
2 Handle do_work failures.
3 Handle all other lua_pcall failures.
Follow this link to see the complete program: lua_callback_result.cpp.
When using Lua with C++, we need to protect the Lua interpreter from exceptions that may be thrown from C++ functions installed as lua_CFunction callbacks. Here is the program from this section rewritten to use a C++ exception (instead of leaf::result) to safely communicate errors out of the do_work function: lua_callback_eh.cpp.

Diagnostic Information

LEAF is able to automatically generate diagnostic messages that include information about all error objects available to error handlers:

enum class error_code
{
  read_error,
  write_error
};

....

leaf::try_handle_all(

  []() -> leaf::result<void> (1)
  {
    ...
    return leaf::new_error( error_code::write_error, leaf::e_file_name{ "file.txt" } );
  },

  []( leaf::match<error_code, error_code::read_error> ) (2)
  {
    std::cerr << "Read error!" << std::endl;
  },

  []( leaf::verbose_diagnostic_info const & info ) (3)
  {
    std::cerr << "Unrecognized error detected, cryptic diagnostic information follows.\n" << info;
  } );
1 We handle all failures that occur in this try block.
2 One or more error handlers that should handle all possible failures.
3 The "catch all" error handler is required by try_handle_all. It will be called if LEAF is unable to use another error handler.

The verbose_diagnostic_info output for the snippet above tells us that we got an error_code with value 1 (write_error), and an object of type e_file_name with "file.txt" stored in its .value:

Unrecognized error detected, cryptic diagnostic information follows.
leaf::verbose_diagnostic_info for Error ID = 1:
[with Name = error_code]: 1
Unhandled error objects:
[with Name = boost::leaf::e_file_name]: file.txt

To print each error object, LEAF attempts to bind an unqualified call to operator<<, passing a std::ostream and the error object. If that fails, it will also attempt to bind operator<< that takes the .value of the error type. If that also does not compile, the error object value will not appear in diagnostic messages, though LEAF will still print its type.

Even with error types that define a printable .value, the user may still want to overload operator<< for the enclosing struct, e.g.:

struct e_errno
{
  int value;

  friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, e_errno const & e )
  {
    return os << "errno = " << e.value << ", \"" << strerror(e.value) << '"';
  }
};

The e_errno type above is designed to hold errno values. The defined operator<< overload will automatically include the output from strerror when e_errno values are printed (LEAF defines e_errno in <boost/leaf/common.hpp>, together with other commonly-used error types).

Using verbose_diagnostic_info comes at a cost. Normally, when the program attempts to communicate error objects of types which are not used in any error handling scope in the current call stack, they are discarded, which saves cycles. However, if an error handler is provided that takes verbose_diagnostic_info argument, such objects are stored on the heap instead of being discarded. They appear under Unhandled error objects in the output from verbose_diagnostic_info.

If handling verbose_diagnostic_info is considered too costly, use diagnostic_info instead:

leaf::try_handle_all(

  []() -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    ...
    return leaf::new_error( error_code::write_error, leaf::e_file_name{ "file.txt" } );
  },

  []( leaf::match<error_code, error_code::read_error> )
  {
    std::cerr << "Read error!" << std::endl;
  },

  []( leaf::diagnostic_info const & info )
  {
    std::cerr << "Unrecognized error detected, cryptic diagnostic information follows.\n" << info;
  } );

In this case, the output may look like this:

Unrecognized error detected, cryptic diagnostic information follows.
leaf::diagnostic_info for Error ID = 1:
[with Name = error_code]: 1
Detected 1 attempt to communicate an unexpected error object of type [with Name = boost::leaf::e_file_name]

Notice how the diagnostic information for e_file_name changed: because it was discarded, LEAF is unable to print it, and so diagnostic_info can only inform about its type, but not its value.

The automatically-generated diagnostic messages are developer-friendly, but not user-friendly. Therefore, operator<< overloads for error types should only print technical information in English, and should not attempt to localize strings or to format a user-friendly message; this should be done in error handling functions specifically designed for that purpose.

Working with std::error_code, std::error_condition

Introduction

The relationship between std::error_code and std::error_condition is not easily understood from reading the standard specification. This section explains how they’re supposed to be used, and how LEAF interacts with them.

The idea behind std::error_code is to encode both an integer value representing an error code, as well as the domain of that value. The domain is represented by a std::error_category reference. Conceptually, a std::error_code is like a pair<std::error_category const &, int>.

Let’s say we have this enum:

enum class libfoo_error
{
  e1 = 1,
  e2,
  e3
};

We want to be able to transport libfoo_error values in std::error_code objects. This erases their static type, which enables them to travel freely across API boundaries. To this end, we must define a std::error_category that represents our libfoo_error type:

std::error_category const & libfoo_error_category()
{
  struct category: std::error_category
  {
    char const * name() const noexcept override
    {
      return "libfoo";
    }

    std::string message(int code) const override
    {
      switch( libfoo_error(code) )
      {
        case libfoo_error::e1: return "e1";
        case libfoo_error::e2: return "e2";
        case libfoo_error::e3: return "e3";
        default: return "error";
      }
    }
  };

  static category c;
  return c;
}

We also need to inform the standard library that libfoo_error is compatible with std::error_code, and provide a factory function which can be used to make std::error_code objects out of libfoo_error values:

namespace std
{
  template <>
  struct is_error_code_enum<libfoo_error>: std::true_type
  {
  };
}

std::error_code make_error_code(libfoo_error e)
{
  return std::error_code(int(e), libfoo_error_category());
}

With this in place, if we receive a std::error_code, we can easily check if it represents some of the libfoo_error values we’re interested in:

std::error_code f();

....
auto ec = f();
if( ec == libfoo_error::e1 || ec == libfoo_error::e2 )
{
  // We got either a libfoo_error::e1 or a libfoo_error::e2
}

This works because the standard library detects that std::is_error_code_enum<libfoo_error>::value is true, and then uses make_error_code to create a std::error_code object it actually uses to compare to ec.

So far so good, but remember, the standard library defines another type also, std::error_condition. The first confusing thing is that in terms of its physical representation, std::error_condition is identical to std::error_code; that is, it is also like a pair of std::error_category reference and an int. Why do we need two different types which use identical physical representation?

The key to answering this question is to understand that std::error_code objects are designed to be returned from functions to indicate failures. In contrast, std::error_condition objects are never supposed to be communicated; their purpose is to interpret the std::error_code values being communicated. The idea is that in a given program there may be multiple different "physical" (maybe platform-specific) std::error_code values which all indicate the same "logical" std::error_condition.

This leads us to the second confusing thing about std::error_condition: it uses the same std::error_category type, but for a completely different purpose: to specify what std::error_code values are equivalent to what std::error_condition values.

Let’s say that in addition to libfoo, our program uses another library, libbar, which communicates failures in terms of std::error_code with a different error category. Perhaps libbar_error looks like this:

enum class libbar_error
{
  e1 = 1,
  e2,
  e3,
  e4
};

// Boilerplate omitted:
// - libbar_error_category()
// - specialization of std::is_error_code_enum
// - make_error_code factory function for libbar_error.

We can now use std::error_condition to define the logical error conditions represented by the std::error_code values communicated by libfoo and libbar:

enum class my_error_condition (1)
{
  c1 = 1,
  c2
};

std::error_category const & libfoo_error_category() (2)
{
  struct category: std::error_category
  {
    char const * name() const noexcept override
    {
      return "my_error_condition";
    }

    std::string message(int cond) const override
    {
      switch( my_error_condition(code) )
      {
        case my_error_condition::c1: return "c1";
        case my_error_condition::c2: return "c2";
        default: return "error";
      }
    }

    bool equivalent(std::error_code const & code, int cond) const noexcept
    {
      switch( my_error_condition(cond) )
      {
        case my_error_condition::c1: (3)
          return
            code == libfoo_error::e1 ||
            code == libbar_error::e3 ||
            code == libbar_error::e4;
        case my_error_condition::c2: (4)
          return
            code == libfoo_error::e2 ||
            code == libbar_error::e1 ||
            code == libbar_error::e2;
        default:
          return false;
      }
    }
  };

  static category c;
  return c;
}

namespace std
{
  template <> (5)
  class is_error_condition_enum<my_error_condition>: std::true_type
  {
  };
}

std::error_condition make_error_condition(my_error_condition e) (6)
{
  return std::error_condition(int(e), my_error_condition_error_category());
}
1 Enumeration of the two logical error conditions, c1 and c2.
2 Define the std::error_category for std::error_condition objects that represent a my_error_condition.
3 Here we specify that any of libfoo:error::e1, libbar_error::e3 and libbar_error::e4 are logically equivalent to my_error_condition::c1, and that…​
4 …​any of libfoo:error::e2, libbar_error::e1 and libbar_error::e2 are logically equivalent to my_error_condition::c2.
5 This specialization tells the standard library that the my_error_condition enum is designed to be used with std::error_condition.
6 The factory function to make std::error_condition objects out of my_error_condition values.

Phew!

Now, if we have a std::error_code object ec, we can easily check if it is equivalent to my_error_condition::c1 like so:

if( ec == my_error_condition::c1 )
{
  // We have a c1 in our hands
}

Again, remember that beyond defining the std::error_category for std::error_condition objects initialized with a my_error_condition value, we don’t need to interact with the actual std::error_condition instances: they’re created when needed to compare to a std::error_code, and that’s pretty much all they’re good for.

Support in LEAF

The match predicate can be used as an argument to a LEAF error handler to match a std::error_code with a given error condition. For example, to handle my_error_condition::c1 (see above), we could use:

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match<std::error_code, my_error_condition::c1> m )
  {
    assert(m.matched == my_error_condition::c1);
    ....
  } );

See match for more examples.

Boost Exception Integration

Instead of the boost::get_error_info API defined by Boost Exception, it is possible to use LEAF error handlers directly. Consider the following use of boost::get_error_info:

typedef boost::error_info<struct my_info_, int> my_info;

void f(); // Throws using boost::throw_exception

void g()
{
  try
  {
    f();
  },
  catch( boost::exception & e )
  {
    if( int const * x = boost::get_error_info<my_info>(e) )
      std::cerr << "Got my_info with value = " << *x;
  } );
}

We can rewrite g to access my_info using LEAF:

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>

void g()
{
  leaf::try_catch(

    []
    {
      f();
    },

    []( my_info x )
    {
      std::cerr << "Got my_info with value = " << x.value();
    } );
}

try_catch

Taking my_info means that the handler will only be selected if the caught exception object carries my_info (which LEAF accesses via boost::get_error_info).

The use of match is also supported:

void g()
{
  leaf::try_catch(

    []
    {
      f();
    },

    []( leaf::match_value<my_info, 42> )
    {
      std::cerr << "Got my_info with value = 42";
    } );
}

Above, the handler will be selected if the caught exception object carries my_info with .value() equal to 42.

Examples

See github.

Synopsis

This section lists each public header file in LEAF, documenting the definitions it provides.

LEAF headers are designed to minimize coupling:

  • Headers needed to report or forward but not handle errors are lighter than headers providing error handling functionality.

  • Headers that provide exception handling or throwing functionality are separate from headers that provide error handling or reporting but do not use exceptions.

A standalone single-header option is available; please see Distribution.

Error Reporting

error.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  class error_id
  {
  public:

    error_id() noexcept;

    template <class Enum>
    error_id( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

    error_id( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

    int value() const noexcept;
    explicit operator bool() const noexcept;

    std::error_code to_error_code() const noexept;

    friend bool operator==( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;
    friend bool operator!=( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;
    friend bool operator<( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;

    template <class... Item>
    error_id load( Item && ... item ) const noexcept;

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, error_id x );
  };

  bool is_error_id( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

  template <class... Item>
  error_id new_error( Item && ... item ) noexcept;

  error_id current_error() noexcept;

  //////////////////////////////////////////

  class polymorphic_context
  {
  protected:

    polymorphic_context() noexcept = default;
    ~polymorphic_context() noexcept = default;

  public:

    virtual void activate() noexcept = 0;
    virtual void deactivate() noexcept = 0;
    virtual bool is_active() const noexcept = 0;

    virtual void propagate( error_id ) noexcept = 0;

    virtual void print( std::ostream & ) const = 0;

    template <class CharT, class Traits>
    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::basic_ostream<CharT, Traits> & os, polymorphic_context const & ctx );
  };

  //////////////////////////////////////////

  template <class Ctx>
  class context_activator
  {
    context_activator( context_activator const & ) = delete;
    context_activator & operator=( context_activator const & ) = delete;

  public:

    explicit context_activator( Ctx & ctx ) noexcept;
    context_activator( context_activator && ) noexcept;
    ~context_activator() noexcept;
  };

  template <class Ctx>
  context_activator<Ctx> activate_context( Ctx & ctx ) noexcept;

  template <class R>
  struct is_result_type: std::false_type
  {
  };

  template <class R>
  struct is_result_type<R const>: is_result_type<R>
  {
  };

} }

#define BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN(v, r)\
  auto && <<temp>> = r;\
  if( !<<temp>> )\
    return <<temp>>.error();\
  v = std::forward<decltype(<<temp>>)>(<<temp>>).value()

#define BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v, r)\
  BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN(auto v, r)

#define BOOST_LEAF_CHECK(r)\
  auto && <<temp>> = r;\
  if( <<temp>> )\
    ;\
  else\
    return <<temp>>.error()

#define BOOST_LEAF_NEW_ERROR <<exact-definition-unspecified>>

Reference: error_id | is_error_id | new_error | current_error | polymorphic_context | context_activator | activate_context | is_result_type | BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO | BOOST_LEAF_CHECK | BOOST_LEAF_NEW_ERROR

common.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/common.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  struct e_api_function { char const * value; };

  struct e_file_name { std::string value; };

  struct e_type_info_name { char const * value; };

  struct e_at_line { int value; };

  struct e_errno
  {
    int value;
    explicit e_errno(int value=errno);
    friend std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream &, e_errno const &);
  };

  namespace windows
  {
    struct e_LastError
    {
      unsigned value;

      explicit e_LastError(unsigned value);

#if BOOST_LEAF_CFG_WIN32
      e_LastError();
      friend std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream &, e_LastError const &);
#endif
    };
  }

} }

Reference: e_api_function | e_file_name | e_at_line | e_type_info_name | e_source_location | e_errno | e_LastError

result.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  class result
  {
  public:

    using value_type = T;

    result() noexcept;
    result( T && v ) noexcept;
    result( T const & v );

    template <class U>
    result( U && u, <<enabled_if_T_can_be_inited_with_U>> );

    result( error_id err ) noexcept;
    result( std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> && ctx ) noexcept;

    template <class Enum>
    result( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

    result( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

    result( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    result & operator=( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result & operator=( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    bool has_value() const noexcept;
    bool has_error() const noexcept;
    explicit operator bool() const noexcept;

    T const & value() const;
    T & value();

    T const * operator->() const noexcept;
    T * operator->() noexcept;

    T const & operator*() const noexcept;
    T & operator*() noexcept;

    <<unspecified-type>> error() noexcept;

    template <class... Item>
    error_id load( Item && ... item ) noexcept;

    template <class CharT, class Traits>
    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::basic_ostream<CharT, Traits> & os, result const & r );
  };

  template <>
  class result<void>
  {
  public:

    using value_type = void;

    result() noexcept;

    result( error_id err ) noexcept;
    result( std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> && ctx ) noexcept;

    template <class Enum>
    result( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

    result( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

    result( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    result & operator=( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result & operator=( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    explicit operator bool() const noexcept;

    void value() const;

    <<unspecified-type>> error() noexcept;

    template <class... Item>
    error_id load( Item && ... item ) noexcept;

    template <class CharT, class Traits>
    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::basic_ostream<CharT, Traits> & os, result const & r );
  };

  struct bad_result: std::exception { };

  template <class T>
  struct is_result_type<result<T>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }

Reference: result | is_result_type

on_error.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/on_error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... Item>
  <<unspecified-type>> on_error( Item && ... e ) noexcept;

  class error_monitor
  {
  public:

    error_monitor() noexcept;

    error_id check() const noexcept;
    error_id assigned_error_id() const noexcept;
  };

} }

Reference: on_error | error_monitor

exception.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/exception.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class Ex, class... E> (1)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( Ex &&, E && ... );

  template <class E1, class... E> (2)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( E1 &&, E && ... );

  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception();

  template <class Ex, class... E> (1)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( error_id id, Ex &&, E && ... );

  template <class E1, class... E> (2)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( error_id id, E1 &&, E && ... );

  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( error_id id );

  template <class... Ex, class F>
  <<result<T>-deduced>> exception_to_result( F && f ) noexcept;

} }

#define BOOST_LEAF_THROW_EXCEPTION <<exact-definition-unspecified>>

Reference: throw_exception | BOOST_LEAF_THROW_EXCEPTION

1 Only enabled if std::is_base_of<std::exception, Ex>::value.
2 Only enabled if !std::is_base_of<std::exception, E1>::value.

capture.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/capture.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class F, class... A>
  decltype(std::declval<F>()(std::forward<A>(std::declval<A>())...))
  capture(std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> && ctx, F && f, A... a);

} }

Reference: capture | exception_to_result

Error Handling

context.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  class context
  {
    context( context const & ) = delete;
    context & operator=( context const & ) = delete;

  public:

    context() noexcept;
    context( context && x ) noexcept;
    ~context() noexcept;

    void activate() noexcept;
    void deactivate() noexcept;
    bool is_active() const noexcept;

    void propagate( error_id ) noexcept;

    void print( std::ostream & os ) const;

    template <class CharT, class Traits>
    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::basic_ostream<CharT, Traits> & os, context const & ctx );

    template <class R, class... H>
    R handle_error( R &, H && ... ) const;
  };

  //////////////////////////////////////////

  template <class... H>
  using context_type_from_handlers = typename <<unspecified>>::type;

  template <class...  H>
  BOOST_LEAF_CONSTEXPR context_type_from_handlers<H...> make_context() noexcept;

  template <class...  H>
  BOOST_LEAF_CONSTEXPR context_type_from_handlers<H...> make_context( H && ... ) noexcept;

  template <class...  H>
  context_ptr make_shared_context() noexcept;

  template <class...  H>
  context_ptr make_shared_context( H && ... ) noexcept;

} }

Reference: context | context_type_from_handlers | make_context | make_shared_context

handle_errors.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class TryBlock, class... H>
  typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()().value())>::type
  try_handle_all( TryBlock && try_block, H && ... h );

  template <class TryBlock, class... H>
  typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()())>::type
  try_handle_some( TryBlock && try_block, H && ... h );

  template <class TryBlock, class... H>
  typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()())>::type
  try_catch( TryBlock && try_block, H && ... h );

  //////////////////////////////////////////

  class error_info
  {
    //No public constructors

  public:

    error_id error() const noexcept;

    bool exception_caught() const noexcept;
    std::exception const * exception() const noexcept;

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, error_info const & x );
  };

  class diagnostic_info: public error_info
  {
    //No public constructors

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, diagnostic_info const & x );
  };

  class verbose_diagnostic_info: public error_info
  {
    //No public constructors

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, diagnostic_info const & x );
  };

} }

Reference: try_handle_all | try_handle_some | try_catch | error_info | diagnostic_info | verbose_diagnostic_info

to_variant.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/to_variant.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  // Requires at least C++17
  template <class... E, class TryBlock>
  std::variant<
    typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()().value())>::type
    std::tuple<
      std::optional<E>...>>
  to_variant( TryBlock && try_block );

} }

Reference: to_variant

pred.hpp

#include <boost/leaf/pred.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  struct is_predicate: std::false_type
  {
  };

  template <class E, auto... V>
  struct match
  {
    E matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class E, auto... V>
  struct is_predicate<match<E, V...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

  template <class E, auto... V>
  struct match_value
  {
    E matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class E, auto... V>
  struct is_predicate<match_value<E, V...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

  template <auto, auto...>
  struct match_member;

  template <class E, class T, T E::* P, auto... V>
  struct member<P, V...>
  {
    E matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <auto P, auto... V>
  struct is_predicate<match_member<P, V...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

  template <class... Ex>
  struct catch_
  {
    std::exception const & matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class Ex>
  struct catch_<Ex>
  {
    Ex const & matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class... Ex>
  struct is_predicate<catch_<Ex...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

  template <class Pred>
  struct if_not
  {
    E matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class Pred>
  struct is_predicate<if_not<Pred>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

  template <class ErrorCodeEnum>
  bool category( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

  template <class Enum, class EnumType = Enum>
  struct condition;

} }

Reference: match | match_value | match_member | catch_ | if_not | category | condition

Reference: Functions

The contents of each Reference section are organized alphabetically.

activate_context

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class Ctx>
  context_activator<Ctx> activate_context( Ctx & ctx ) noexcept
  {
    return context_activator<Ctx>(ctx);
  }

} }

context_activator

Example:
leaf::context<E1, E2, E3> ctx;

{
  auto active_context = activate_context(ctx); (1)
} (2)
1 Activate ctx.
2 Automatically deactivate ctx.

capture

#include <boost/leaf/capture.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class F, class... A>
  decltype(std::declval<F>()(std::forward<A>(std::declval<A>())...))
  capture(std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> && ctx, F && f, A... a);

} }

polymorphic_context

This function can be used to capture error objects stored in a context in one thread and transport them to a different thread for handling, either in a result<T> object or in an exception.

Returns:

The same type returned by F.

Effects:

Uses an internal context_activator to activate *ctx, then invokes std::forward<F>(f)(std::forward<A>(a)…​). Then:

  • If the returned value r is not a result<T> type (see is_result_type), it is forwarded to the caller.

  • Otherwise:

    • If !r, the return value of capture is initialized with ctx;

      An object of type leaf::result<T> can be initialized with a std::shared_ptr<leaf::polymorphic_context>.

    • otherwise, it is initialized with r.

In case f throws, capture catches the exception in a std::exception_ptr, and throws a different exception of unspecified type that transports both the std::exception_ptr as well as ctx. This exception type is recognized by try_catch, which automatically unpacks the original exception and propagates the contents of *ctx (presumably, in a different thread).

See also Transporting Error Objects Between Threads from the Tutorial.

context_type_from_handlers

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... H>
  using context_type_from_handlers = typename <<unspecified>>::type;

} }
Example:
auto error_handlers = std::make_tuple(

  [](e_this const & a, e_that const & b)
  {
    ....
  },

  [](leaf::diagnostic_info const & info)
  {
    ....
  },
  .... );

leaf::context_type_from_handlers<decltype(error_handlers)> ctx; (1)
1 ctx will be of type context<e_this, e_that>, deduced automatically from the specified error handlers.
Alternatively, a suitable context may be created by calling make_context, or allocated dynamically by calling make_shared_context.

current_error

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  error_id current_error() noexcept;

} }
Returns:

The error_id value returned the last time new_error was invoked from the calling thread.

See also on_error.

exception_to_result

#include <boost/leaf/exception.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... Ex, class F>
  <<result<T>-deduced>> exception_to_result( F && f ) noexcept;

} }

This function can be used to catch exceptions from a lower-level library and convert them to result<T>.

Returns:

Where f returns a type T, exception_to_result returns leaf::result<T>.

Effects:

  1. Catches all exceptions, then captures std::current_exception in a std::exception_ptr object, which is loaded with the returned result<T>.

  2. Attempts to convert the caught exception, using dynamic_cast, to each type Exi in Ex…​. If the cast to Exi succeeds, the Exi slice of the caught exception is loaded with the returned result<T>.

An error handler that takes an argument of an exception type (that is, of a type that derives from std::exception) will work correctly whether the object is thrown as an exception or communicated via new_error (or converted using exception_to_result).
Example:
int compute_answer_throws();

//Call compute_answer, convert exceptions to result<int>
leaf::result<int> compute_answer()
{
  return leaf::exception_to_result<ex_type1, ex_type2>(compute_answer_throws());
}

At a later time we can invoke try_handle_some / try_handle_all as usual, passing handlers that take ex_type1 or ex_type2, for example by reference:

return leaf::try_handle_some(

  [] -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(answer, compute_answer());
    //Use answer
    ....
    return { };
  },

  [](ex_type1 & ex1)
  {
    //Handle ex_type1
    ....
    return { };
  },

  [](ex_type2 & ex2)
  {
    //Handle ex_type2
    ....
    return { };
  },

  [](std::exception_ptr const & p)
  {
    //Handle any other exception from compute_answer.
    ....
    return { };
  } );

try_handle_some | result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

When a handler takes an argument of an exception type (that is, a type that derives from std::exception), if the object is thrown, the argument will be matched dynamically (using dynamic_cast); otherwise (e.g. after being converted by exception_to_result) it will be matched based on its static type only (which is the same behavior used for types that do not derive from std::exception).
See also Converting Exceptions to result<T> from the tutorial.

make_context

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class...  H>
  context_type_from_handlers<H...> make_context() noexcept
  {
    return { };
  }

  template <class...  H>
  context_type_from_handlers<H...> make_context( H && ... ) noexcept
  {
    return { };
  }

} }

context_type_from_handlers

Example:
auto ctx = leaf::make_context( (1)
  []( e_this ) { .... },
  []( e_that ) { .... } );
1 decltype(ctx) is leaf::context<e_this, e_that>.

make_shared_context

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class...  H>
  context_ptr make_shared_context() noexcept
  {
    return std::make_shared<leaf_detail::polymorphic_context_impl<context_type_from_handlers<H...>>>();
  }

  template <class...  H>
  context_ptr make_shared_context( H && ... ) noexcept
  {
    return std::make_shared<leaf_detail::polymorphic_context_impl<context_type_from_handlers<H...>>>();
  }

} }

context_type_from_handlers

See also Transporting Error Objects Between Threads from the tutorial.

new_error

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... Item>
  error_id new_error(Item && ... item) noexcept;

} }
Requires:

Each of the Item…​ types must be no-throw movable.

Effects:

As if:

error_id id = <<generate-new-unique-id>>;
return id.load(std::forward<Item>(item)...);
Returns:

A new error_id value, which is unique across the entire program.

Ensures:

id.value()!=0, where id is the returned error_id.

new_error discards error objects which are not used in any active error handling calling scope.
When loaded into a context, an error object of a type E will overwrite the previously loaded object of type E, if any.

on_error

#include <boost/leaf/on_error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... Item>
  <<unspecified-type>> on_error(Item && ... item) noexcept;

} }
Requires:

Each of the Item…​ types must be no-throw movable.

Effects:

All item…​ objects are forwarded and stored, together with the value returned from std::unhandled_exceptions, into the returned object of unspecified type, which should be captured by auto and kept alive in the calling scope. When that object is destroyed, if an error has occurred since on_error was invoked, LEAF will process the stored items to obtain error objects to be associated with the failure.

On error, LEAF first needs to deduce an error_id value err to associate error objects with. This is done using the following logic:

  • If new_error was invoked (by the calling thread) since the object returned by on_error was created, err is initialized with the value returned by current_error;

  • Otherwise, if std::unhandled_exceptions returns a greater value than it returned during initialization, err is initialized with the value returned by new_error;

  • Otherwise, the stored item…​ objects are discarded and no further action is taken (no error has occurred).

Next, LEAF proceeds similarly to:

err.load(std::forward<Item>(item)...);

The difference is that unlike load, on_error will not overwrite any error objects already associated with err.

See Using on_error from the Tutorial.

throw_exception

#include <boost/leaf/exception.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class Ex, class... E> (1)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( Ex && ex, E && ... e );

  template <class E1, class... E> (2)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( E1 && e1, E && ... e );

  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception(); (3)

  template <class Ex, class... E> (4)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( error_id id, Ex && ex, E && ... e );

  template <class E1, class... E> (5)
  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( error_id id, E1 && e1, E && ... e );

  [[noreturn]] void throw_exception( error_id id ); (6)

} }

The throw_exception function is overloaded: it can be invoked with no arguments, or else there are several alternatives, selected using std::enable_if based on the type of the passed arguments. All overloads throw an exception:

1 Selected if the first argument is not of type error_id and is an exception object, that is, iff Ex derives publicly from std::exception. In this case the thrown exception is of unspecified type which derives publicly from Ex and from class error_id, such that:

  • its Ex subobject is initialized by std::forward<Ex>(ex);

  • its error_id subobject is initialized by new_error(std::forward<E>(e)…​).
2 Selected if the first argument is not of type error_id and is not an exception object. In this case the thrown exception is of unspecified type which derives publicly from std::exception and from class error_id, such that:

  • its std::exception subobject is default-initialized;

  • its error_id subobject is initialized by new_error(std::forward<E1>(e1), std::forward<E>(e)…​).
3 If the fuction is invoked without arguments, the thrown exception is of unspecified type which derives publicly from std::exception and from class error_id, such that:

  • its std::exception subobject is default-initialized;

  • its error_id subobject is initialized by new_error().
4 Selected if the first argument is of type error_id and the second argument is an exception object, that is, iff Ex derives publicly from std::exception. In this case the thrown exception is of unspecified type which derives publicly from Ex and from class error_id, such that:

  • its Ex subobject is initialized by std::forward<Ex>(ex);

  • its error_id subobject is initialized by id.load(std::forward<E>(e)…​).
5 Selected if the first argument is of type error_id and the second argument is not an exception object. In this case the thrown exception is of unspecified type which derives publicly from std::exception and from class error_id, such that:

  • its std::exception subobject is default-initialized;

  • its error_id subobject is initialized by id.load(std::forward<E1>(e1), std::forward<E>(e)…​).
6 If exception is invoked with just an error_id object, the thrown exception is of unspecified type which derives publicly from std::exception and from class error_id, such that:

  • its std::exception subobject is default-initialized;

  • its error_id subobject is initialized by copying from id.
The first three overloads throw an exception object that is associated with a new error_id. The second three overloads throw an exception object that is associated with the specified error_id.
Example 1:
struct my_exception: std::exception { };

leaf::throw_exception(my_exception{}); (1)
1 Throws an exception of a type that derives from error_id and from my_exception (because my_exception derives from std::exception).
Example 2:
enum class my_error { e1=1, e2, e3 }; (1)

leaf::throw_exception(my_error::e1);
1 Throws an exception of a type that derives from error_id and from std::exception (because my_error does not derive from std::exception).
To automatically capture __FILE__, __LINE__ and __FUNCTION__ with the returned object, use BOOST_LEAF_THROW_EXCEPTION instead of leaf::throw_exception.

to_variant

#include <boost/leaf/to_variant.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E, class TryBlock>
  std::variant<
    typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()().value())>::type
    std::tuple<
      std::optional<E>...>>
  to_variant( TryBlock && try_block );

} }
Requires:

  • This function is only available under C++-17 or newer.

  • The try_block function may not take any arguments.

  • The type returned by the try_block function must be a result<T> type (see is_result_type). It is valid for the try_block to return leaf::result<T>, however this is not a requirement.

The to_variant function uses try_handle_all internally to invoke the try_block and capture the result in a std::variant. On success, the variant contains the T object from the produced result<T>. Otherwise, the variant contains a std::tuple where each std::optional element contains an object of type Ei from the user-supplied sequence E…​, or is empty if the failure did not produce an error object of that type.

Example:
enum class E1 { e11, e12, e13 };
enum class E2 { e21, e22, e23 };
enum class E3 { e31, e32, e33 };

....

auto v = leaf::to_variant<E1, E2, E3>(
  []() -> leaf::result<int>
  {
    return leaf::new_error( E1::e12, E3::e33 );
  } );

assert(v.index() == 1); (1)
auto t = std::get<1>(v); (2)

assert(std::get<0>(t).value() == E1::e12); (3)
assert(!std::get<1>(t).has_value()); (4)
assert(std::get<2>(t).value() == E3::e33); (3)
1 We report a failure, so the variant must contain the error object tuple, rather than an int.
2 Grab the error tuple.
3 We communicated an E1 and an E3 error object…​
4 …​but not an E2 error object.

try_catch

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class TryBlock, class... H>
  typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()())>::type
  try_catch( TryBlock && try_block, H && ... h );

} }

The try_catch function works similarly to try_handle_some, except that it does not use or understand the semantics of result<T> types; instead:

  • It assumes that the try_block throws to indicate a failure, in which case try_catch will attempt to find a suitable handler among h…​;

  • If a suitable handler isn’t found, the original exception is re-thrown using throw;.

See Exception Handling.

try_handle_all

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class TryBlock, class... H>
  typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()().value())>::type
  try_handle_all( TryBlock && try_block, H && ... h );

} }

The try_handle_all function works similarly to try_handle_some, except:

  • In addition, it requires that at least one of h…​ can be used to handle any error (this requirement is enforced at compile time);

  • If the try_block returns some result<T> type, it must be possible to initialize a value of type T with the value returned by each of h…​, and

  • Because it is required to handle all errors, try_handle_all unwraps the result<T> object r returned by the try_block, returning r.value() instead of r.

See Error Handling.

try_handle_some

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class TryBlock, class... H>
  typename std::decay<decltype(std::declval<TryBlock>()())>::type
  try_handle_some( TryBlock && try_block, H && ... h );

} }
Requires:

  • The try_block function may not take any arguments.

  • The type R returned by the try_block function must be a result<T> type (see is_result_type). It is valid for the try_block to return leaf::result<T>, however this is not a requirement.

  • Each of the h…​ functions:

    • must return a type that can be used to initialize an object of the type R; in case R is a result<void> (that is, in case of success it does not communicate a value), handlers that return void are permitted. If such a handler is selected, the try_handle_some return value is initialized by {};

    • may take any error objects, by value, by (const) reference, or as pointer (to const);

    • may take arguments, by value, of any predicate type: catch_, match, match_value, match_member, if_not, or of any user-defined predicate type Pred for which is_predicate<Pred>::value is true;

    • may take an error_info argument by const &;

    • may take a diagnostic_info argument by const &;

    • may take a verbose_diagnostic_info argument by const &.

Effects:

  • Creates a local context<E…​> object ctx, where the E…​ types are automatically deduced from the types of arguments taken by each of h…​, which guarantees that ctx is able to store all of the types required to handle errors.

  • Invokes the try_block:

    • if the returned object r indicates success and the try_block did not throw, r is forwarded to the caller.

    • otherwise, LEAF considers each of the h…​ handlers, in order, until it finds one that it can supply with arguments using the error objects currently stored in ctx, associated with r.error(). The first such handler is invoked and its return value is used to initialize the return value of try_handle_some, which can indicate success if the handler was able to handle the error, or failure if it was not.

    • if try_handle_some is unable to find a suitable handler, it returns r.

try_handle_some is exception-neutral: it does not throw exceptions, however the try_block and any of h…​ are permitted to throw.
Handler Selection Procedure:

A handler h is suitable to handle the failure reported by r iff try_handle_some is able to produce values to pass as its arguments, using the error objects currently available in ctx, associated with the error ID obtained by calling r.error(). As soon as it is determined that an argument value can not be produced, the current handler is dropped and the selection process continues with the next handler, if any.

The return value of r.error() must be implicitly convertible to error_id. Naturally, the leaf::result template satisfies this requirement. If an external result type is used instead, usually r.error() would return a std::error_code, which is able to communicate LEAF error IDs; see Interoperability.

If err is the error_id obtained from r.error(), each argument ai taken by the handler currently under consideration is produced as follows:

  • If ai is of type Ai, Ai const& or Ai&:

    • If an error object of type Ai, associated with err, is currently available in ctx, ai is initialized with a reference to that object; otherwise

    • If Ai derives from std::exception, and the try_block throws an object ex of type that derives from std::exception, LEAF obtains Ai* p = dynamic_cast<Ai*>(&ex). The handler is dropped if p is null, otherwise ai is initialized with *p.

    • Otherwise the handler is dropped.

    Example:
    ....
auto r = leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<int>
  {
    return f();
  },

  [](leaf::e_file_name const & fn) (1)
  {
    std::cerr << "File Name: \"" << fn.value << '"' << std::endl; (2)

    return 1;
  } );

    result | e_file_name

    1 In case the try_block indicates a failure, this handler will be selected if ctx stores an e_file_name associated with the error. Because this is the only supplied handler, if an e_file_name is not available, try_handle_some will return the leaf::result<int> returned by f.
    2 Print the file name, handle the error.

  • If ai is of type Ai const* or Ai*, try_handle_some is always able to produce it: first it attempts to produce it as if it is taken by reference; if that fails, rather than dropping the handler, ai is initialized with 0.

    Example:
    ....
try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<int>
  {
    return f();
  },

  [](leaf::e_file_name const * fn) (1)
  {
    if( fn ) (2)
      std::cerr << "File Name: \"" << fn->value << '"' << std::endl;

    return 1;
  } );
}

    result | e_file_name

    1 This handler can be selected to handle any error, because it takes e_file_name as a const * (and nothing else).
    2 If an e_file_name is available with the current error, print it.

  • If ai is of a predicate type Pred (for which is_predicate<Pred>::value is true), E is deduced as typename Pred::error_type, and then:

    • If E is not void, and an error object e of type E, associated with err, is not currently stored in ctx, the handler is dropped; otherwise the handler is dropped if the expression Pred::evaluate(e) returns false.

    • if E is void, and a std::exception was not caught, the handler is dropped; otherwise the handler is dropped if the expression Pred::evaluate(e), where e is of type std::exception const &, returns false.

    • To invoke the handler, the Pred argument ai is initialized with Pred{e}.

      See also: Predicates.

  • If ai is of type error_info const &, try_handle_some is always able to produce it.

    Example:
    ....
try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  [](leaf::error_info const & info) (1)
  {
    std::cerr << "leaf::error_info:" << std::endl << info; (2)
    return info.error(); (3)
  } );

    result | error_info

    1 This handler matches any error.
    2 Print error information.
    3 Return the original error, which will be returned out of try_handle_some.

  • If ai is of type diagnostic_info const &, try_handle_some is always able to produce it.

    Example:
    ....
try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // throws
  },

  [](leaf::diagnostic_info const & info) (1)
  {
    std::cerr << "leaf::diagnostic_information:" << std::endl << info; (2)
    return info.error(); (3)
  } );

    result | diagnostic_info

    1 This handler matches any error.
    2 Print diagnostic information, including limited information about dropped error objects.
    3 Return the original error, which will be returned out of try_handle_some.

  • If ai is of type verbose_diagnostic_info const &, try_handle_some is always able to produce it.

    Example:
    ....
try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // throws
  },

  [](leaf::verbose_diagnostic_info const & info) (1)
  {
    std::cerr << "leaf::verbose_diagnostic_information:" << std::endl << info; (2)
    return info.error(); (3)
  } );

    result | verbose_diagnostic_info

    1 This handler matches any error.
    2 Print verbose diagnostic information, including values of dropped error objects.
    3 Return the original error, which will be returned out of try_handle_some.

Reference: Types

The contents of each Reference section are organized alphabetically.

context

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  class context
  {
    context( context const & ) = delete;
    context & operator=( context const & ) = delete;

  public:

    context() noexcept;
    context( context && x ) noexcept;
    ~context() noexcept;

    void activate() noexcept;
    void deactivate() noexcept;
    bool is_active() const noexcept;

    void propagate( error_id ) noexcept;

    void print( std::ostream & os ) const;

    template <class R, class... H>
    R handle_error( error_id, H && ... ) const;

  };

  template <class... H>
  using context_type_from_handlers = typename <<unspecified>>::type;

} }

Constructors | activate | deactivate | is_active | propagate | print | handle_error | context_type_from_handlers

The context class template provides storage for each of the specified E…​ types. Typically, context objects are not used directly; they’re created internally when the try_handle_some, try_handle_all or try_catch functions are invoked, instantiated with types that are automatically deduced from the types of the arguments of the passed handlers.

Independently, users can create context objects if they need to capture error objects and then transport them, by moving the context object itself.

Even in that case it is recommended that users do not instantiate the context template by explicitly listing the E…​ types they want it to be able to store. Instead, use context_type_from_handlers or call the make_context function template, which deduce the correct E…​ types from a captured list of handler function objects.

To be able to load up error objects in a context object, it must be activated. Activating a context object ctx binds it to the calling thread, setting thread-local pointers of the stored E…​ types to point to the corresponding storage within ctx. It is possible, even likely, to have more than one active context in any given thread. In this case, activation/deactivation must happen in a LIFO manner. For this reason, it is best to use a context_activator, which relies on RAII to activate and deactivate a context.

When a context is deactivated, it detaches from the calling thread, restoring the thread-local pointers to their pre-activate values. Typically, at this point the stored error objects, if any, are either discarded (by default) or moved to corresponding storage in other context objects active in the calling thread (if available), by calling propagate.

While error handling typically uses try_handle_some, try_handle_all or try_catch, it is also possible to handle errors by calling the member function handle_error. It takes an error_id, and attempts to select an error handler based on the error objects stored in *this, associated with the passed error_id.

context objects can be moved, as long as they aren’t active.
Moving an active context results in undefined behavior.

Constructors

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  context<E...>::context() noexcept;

  template <class... E>
  context<E...>::context( context && x ) noexcept;

} }

The default constructor initializes an empty context object: it provides storage for, but does not contain any error objects.

The move constructor moves the stored error objects from one context to the other.

Moving an active context object results in undefined behavior.

activate

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  void context<E...>::activate() noexcept;

} }
Requires:

!is_active().

Effects:

Associates *this with the calling thread.

Ensures:

is_active().

When a context is associated with a thread, thread-local pointers are set to point each E…​ type in its store, while the previous value of each such pointer is preserved in the context object, so that the effect of activate can be undone by calling deactivate.

When an error object is loaded, it is moved in the last activated (in the calling thread) context object that provides storage for its type (note that this may or may not be the last activated context object). If no such storage is available, the error object is discarded.

deactivate

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  void context<E...>::deactivate() noexcept;

} }
Requires:

  • is_active();

  • *this must be the last activated context object in the calling thread.

Effects:

Un-associates *this with the calling thread.

Ensures:

!is_active().

When a context is deactivated, the thread-local pointers that currently point to each individual error object storage in it are restored to their original value prior to calling activate.

handle_error

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  template <class R, class... H>
  R context<E...>::handle_error( error_id err, H && ... h ) const;

} }

This function works similarly to try_handle_all, but rather than calling a try_block and obtaining the error_id from a returned result type, it matches error objects (stored in *this, associated with err) with a suitable error handler from the h…​ pack.

The caller is required to specify the return type R. This is because in general the supplied handlers may return different types (which must all be convertible to R).

is_active

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  bool context<E...>::is_active() const noexcept;

} }
Returns:

true if the *this is active in any thread, false otherwise.

print

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  void context<E...>::print( std::ostream & os ) const;

  template <class CharT, class Traits>
  friend std::ostream & context<E...>::operator<<( std::basic_ostream<CharT, Traits> & os, context const & ctx )
  {
      ctx.print(os);
      return os;
  }

} }
Effects:

Prints all error objects currently stored in *this, together with the unique error ID each individual error object is associated with.

propagate

#include <boost/leaf/context.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  void context<E...>::propagate( error_id id ) noexcept;

} }
Requires:

!is_active().

Effects:

Each stored error object of some type E is moved into another context object active in the call stack that provides storage for objects of type E, if any, or discarded. Target objects are not overwritten if they are associated with the specified id, except if id.value() == 0.

context_activator

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class Ctx>
  class context_activator
  {
    context_activator( context_activator const & ) = delete;
    context_activator & operator=( context_activator const & ) = delete;

  public:

    explicit context_activator( Ctx & ctx ) noexcept;
    context_activator( context_activator && ) noexcept;
    ~context_activator() noexcept;
  };

} }

context_activator is a simple class that activates and deactivates a context using RAII:

If ctx.is_active() is true at the time the context_activator is initialized, the constructor and the destructor have no effects. Otherwise:

  • The constructor stores a reference to ctx in *this and calls ctx.activate().

  • The destructor:

    • Has no effects if ctx.is_active() is false (that is, it is valid to call deactivate manually, before the context_activator object expires);

    • Otherwise, calls ctx.deactivate().

For automatic deduction of Ctx, use activate_context.

diagnostic_info

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  class diagnostic_info: public error_info
  {
    //Constructors unspecified

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, diagnostic_info const & x );
  };

} }

Handlers passed to try_handle_some, try_handle_all or try_catch may take an argument of type diagnostic_info const & if they need to print diagnostic information about the error.

The message printed by operator<< includes the message printed by error_info, followed by basic information about error objects that were communicated to LEAF (to be associated with the error) for which there was no storage available in any active context (these error objects were discarded by LEAF, because no handler needed them).

The additional information is limited to the type name of the first such error object, as well as their total count.

The behavior of diagnostic_info (and verbose_diagnostic_info) is affected by the value of the macro BOOST_LEAF_CFG_DIAGNOSTICS:

  • If it is 1 (the default), LEAF produces diagnostic_info but only if an active error handling context on the call stack takes an argument of type diagnostic_info;

  • If it is 0, the diagnostic_info functionality is stubbed out even for error handling contexts that take an argument of type diagnostic_info. This could shave a few cycles off the error path in some programs (but it is probably not worth it).

error_id

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  class error_id
  {
  public:

    error_id() noexcept;

    template <class Enum>
    result( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

    error_id( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

    int value() const noexcept;
    explicit operator bool() const noexcept;

    std::error_code to_error_code() const noexcept;

    friend bool operator==( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;
    friend bool operator!=( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;
    friend bool operator<( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;

    template <class... Item>
    error_id load( Item && ... item ) const noexcept;

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, error_id x );
  };

  bool is_error_id( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

  template <class... E>
  error_id new_error( E && ... e ) noexcept;

  error_id current_error() noexcept;

} }

Constructors | value | operator bool | to_error_code | operator==, !=, < | load | is_error_id | new_error | current_error

Values of type error_id identify a specific occurrence of a failure across the entire program. They can be copied, moved, assigned to, and compared to other error_id objects. They’re as efficient as an int.

Constructors

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  error_id::error_id() noexcept = default;

  template <class Enum>
  error_id::error_id( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

  error_id::error_id( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

} }

A default-initialized error_id object does not represent a specific failure. It compares equal to any other default-initialized error_id object. All other error_id objects identify a specific occurrence of a failure.

When using an object of type error_id to initialize a result<T> object, it will be initialized in error state, even when passing a default-initialized error_id value.

Converting an error_id object to std::error_code uses an unspecified std::error_category which LEAF recognizes. This allows an error_id to be transported through interfaces that work with std::error_code. The std::error_code constructor allows the original error_id to be restored.

To check if a given std::error_code is actually carrying an error_id, use is_error_id.

Typically, users create new error_id objects by invoking new_error. The constructor that takes std::error_code, and the one that takes a type Enum for which std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value is true, have the following effects:

  • If ec.value() is 0, the effect is the same as using the default constructor.

  • Otherwise, if is_error_id(ec) is true, the original error_id value is used to initialize *this;

  • Otherwise, *this is initialized by the value returned by new_error, while ec is passed to load, which enables handlers used with try_handle_some, try_handle_all or try_catch to receive it as an argument of type std::error_code.

is_error_id

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  bool is_error_id( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

} }
Returns:

true if ec uses the LEAF-specific std::error_category that identifies it as carrying an error ID rather than another error code; otherwise returns false.

load

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... Item>
  error_id error_id::load( Item && ... item ) const noexcept;

} }
Requires:

Each of the Item…​ types must be no-throw movable.

Effects:

  • If value()==0, all of item…​ are discarded and no further action is taken.

  • Otherwise, what happens with each item depends on its type:

    • If it is a function that takes a single argument of some type E &, that function is called with the object of type E currently associated with *this. If no such object exists, a default-initialized object is associated with *this and then passed to the function.

    • If it is a function that takes no arguments, than function is called to obtain an error object, which is associated with *this.

    • Otherwise, the item itself is assumed to be an error object, which is associated with *this.

Returns:

*this.

load discards error objects which are not used in any active error handling calling scope.
When loaded into a context, an error object of a type E will overwrite the previously loaded object of type E, if any.
See also:

Loading of Error Objects.

operator==, !=, <

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  friend bool operator==( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;
  friend bool operator!=( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;
  friend bool operator<( error_id a, error_id b ) noexcept;

} }

These functions have the usual semantics, comparing a.value() and b.value().

The exact strict weak ordering implemented by operator< is not specified. In particular, if for two error_id objects a and b, a < b is true, it does not follow that the failure identified by a ocurred earlier than the one identified by b.

operator bool

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

    explicit error_id::operator bool() const noexcept;

} }
Effects:

As if return value()!=0.

to_error_code

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

    std::error_code error_id::to_error_code() const noexcept;

} }
Effects:

Returns a std::error_code with the same value() as *this, using an unspecified std::error_category.

The returned object can be used to initialize an error_id, in which case the original error_id value will be restored.
Use is_error_id to check if a given std::error_code carries an error_id.

value

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

    int error_id::value() const noexcept;

} }
Effects:

  • If *this was initialized using the default constructor, returns 0.

  • Otherwise returns an int that is guaranteed to not be 0: a program-wide unique identifier of the failure.

error_monitor

#include <boost/leaf/on_error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  class error_monitor
  {
  public:

    error_monitor() noexcept;

    error_id check() const noexcept;

    error_id assigned_error_id( E && ... e ) const noexcept;
  };

} }

This class helps obtain an error_id to associate error objects with, when augmenting failures communicated using LEAF through uncooperative APIs that do not use LEAF to report errors (and therefore do not return an error_id on error).

The common usage of this class is as follows:

error_code compute_value( int * out_value ) noexcept; (1)

leaf::error<int> augmenter() noexcept
{
  leaf::error_monitor cur_err; (2)

  int val;
  auto ec = compute_value(&val);

  if( failure(ec) )
    return cur_err.assigned_error_id().load(e1, e2, ...); (3)
  else
    return val; (4)
}
1 Uncooperative third-party API that does not use LEAF, but may result in calling a user callback that does use LEAF. In case our callback reports a failure, we’ll augment it with error objects available in the calling scope, even though compute_value can not communicate an error_id.
2 Initialize an error_monitor object.
3 The call to compute_value has failed:

  • If new_error was invoked (by the calling thread) after the augment object was initialized, assigned_error_id returns the last error_id returned by new_error. This would be the case if the failure originates in our callback (invoked internally by compute_value).

  • Else, assigned_error_id invokes new_error and returns that error_id.
4 The call was successful, return the computed value.

The check function works similarly, but instead of invoking new_error it returns a default-initialized error_id.

See Using error_monitor to Report Arbitrary Errors from C-callbacks.

e_api_function

#include <boost/leaf/common.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  struct e_api_function {char const * value;};

} }

The e_api_function type is designed to capture the name of the API function that failed. For example, if you’re reporting an error from fread, you could use leaf::e_api_function {"fread"}.

The passed value is stored as a C string (char const *), so value should only be initialized with a string literal.

e_at_line

#include <boost/leaf/common.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  struct e_at_line { int value; };

} }

e_at_line can be used to communicate the line number when reporting errors (for example parse errors) about a text file.

e_errno

#include <boost/leaf/common.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  struct e_errno
  {
    int value;
    explicit e_errno(int value=errno);
    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, e_errno const & err );
  };

} }

By default, the constructor initializes value with errno, but the caller can pass a specific error code instead. When printed in automatically-generated diagnostic messages, e_errno objects use strerror to convert the error code to string.

e_file_name

#include <boost/leaf/common.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  struct e_file_name { std::string value; };

} }

When a file operation fails, you could use e_file_name to store the name of the file.

It is probably better to define your own file name wrappers to avoid clashes if different modules all use leaf::e_file_name. It is best to use a descriptive name that clarifies what kind of file name it is (e.g. e_source_file_name, e_destination_file_name), or at least define e_file_name in a given module’s namespace.

e_LastError

#include <boost/leaf/common.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  namespace windows
  {
    struct e_LastError
    {
      unsigned value;

      explicit e_LastError(unsigned value);

#if BOOST_LEAF_CFG_WIN32
      e_LastError();
      friend std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream &, e_LastError const &);
#endif
    };
  }

} }

e_LastError is designed to communicate GetLastError() values on Windows. The default constructor initializes value via GetLastError(). See Configuration.

e_source_location

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  struct e_source_location
  {
    char const * file;
    int line;
    char const * function;

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, e_source_location const & x );
  };

} }

The BOOST_LEAF_NEW_ERROR and BOOST_LEAF_THROW_EXCEPTION macros capture __FILE__, __LINE__ and __FUNCTION__ into a e_source_location object.

e_type_info_name

#include <boost/leaf/common.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  struct e_type_info_name { char const * value; };

} }

e_type_info_name is designed to store the return value of std::type_info::name.

error_info

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  class error_info
  {
    //Constructors unspecified

  public:

    error_id error() const noexcept;

    bool exception_caught() const noexcept;
    std::exception const * exception() const noexcept;

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, error_info const & x );
  };

} }

Handlers passed to error handling functions such as try_handle_some, try_handle_all or try_catch may take an argument of type error_info const & to receive generic information about the error being handled.

The error member function returns the program-wide unique error_id of the error.

The exception_caught member function returns true if the handler that received *this is being invoked to handle an exception, false otherwise.

If handling an exception, the exception member function returns a pointer to the std::exception subobject of the caught exception, or 0 if that exception could not be converted to std::exception.

It is illegal to call the exception member function unless exception_caught() is true.

The operator<< overload prints diagnostic information about each error object currently stored in the context local to the try_handle_some, try_handle_all or try_catch scope that invoked the handler, but only if it is associated with the error_id returned by error().

polymorphic_context

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  class polymorphic_context
  {
  protected:

    polymorphic_context() noexcept;
    ~polymorphic_context() noexcept;

  public:

    virtual void activate() noexcept = 0;
    virtual void deactivate() noexcept = 0;
    virtual bool is_active() const noexcept = 0;

    virtual void propagate( error_id ) noexcept = 0;

    virtual void print( std::ostream & ) const = 0;

    template <class CharT, class Traits>
    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::basic_ostream<CharT, Traits> & os, polymorphic_context const & ctx )
    {
        ctx.print(os);
        return os;
    }
  };

} }

The polymorphic_context class is an abstract base type which can be used to erase the type of the exact instantiation of the context class template used. See make_shared_context.

result

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  class result
  {
  public:

    using value_type = T;

    result() noexcept;
    result( T && v ) noexcept;
    result( T const & v );

    template <class U>
    result( U &&, <<enabled_if_T_can_be_inited_with_U>> );

    result( error_id err ) noexcept;
    result( std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> && ctx ) noexcept;

    template <class Enum>
    result( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

    result( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

    result( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    result & operator=( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result & operator=( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    bool has_value() const noexcept;
    bool has_error() const noexcept;
    explicit operator bool() const noexcept;

    T const & value() const;
    T & value();

    T const * operator->() const noexcept;
    T * operator->() noexcept;

    T const & operator*() const noexcept;
    T & operator*() noexcept;

    <<unspecified-type>> error() noexcept;

    template <class... Item>
    error_id load( Item && ... item ) noexcept;
  };

  template <>
  class result<void>
  {
  public:

    using value_type = void;

    result() noexcept;

    result( error_id err ) noexcept;
    result( std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> && ctx ) noexcept;

    template <class Enum>
    result( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

    result( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

    result( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    result & operator=( result && r ) noexcept;

    template <class U>
    result & operator=( result<U> && r ) noexcept;

    bool has_value() const noexcept;
    bool has_error() const noexcept;
    explicit operator bool() const noexcept;

    void value() const;

    <<unspecified-type>> error() noexcept;

    template <class... Item>
    error_id load( Item && ... item ) noexcept;
  };

  struct bad_result: std::exception { };

} }

Constructors | operator= | has_value | has_error | operator bool | value | operator-> | operator* | error | load

The result<T> type can be returned by functions which produce a value of type T but may fail doing so.

Requires:

T must be movable, and its move constructor may not throw.

Invariant:

A result<T> object is in one of three states:

  • Value state, in which case it contains an object of type T, and value/operator*/operator-> can be used to access the contained value.

  • Error state, in which case it contains an error ID, and calling value throws leaf::bad_result.

  • Error capture state, which is the same as the Error state, but in addition to the error ID, it holds a std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context>.

result<T> objects are nothrow-moveable but are not copyable.

Constructors

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  result<T>::result() noexcept;

  template <class T>
  result<T>::result( T && v ) noexcept; (1)

  template <class T>
  result<T>::result( T const & v ); (1)

  template <class U>
  result<T>::result( U && u, <<enabled_if_T_can_be_inited_with_U>> ); (2)

  template <class T>
  result<T>::result( leaf::error_id err ) noexcept;

  template <class T>
  template <class Enum>
  result<T>::result( Enum e, typename std::enable_if<std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value, Enum>::type * = 0 ) noexcept;

  template <class T>
  result<T>::result( std::error_code const & ec ) noexcept;

  template <class T>
  result<T>::result( std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> && ctx ) noexcept;

  template <class T>
  result<T>::result( result && ) noexcept;

  template <class T>
  template <class U>
  result<T>::result( result<U> && ) noexcept;

} }
1 Not available if T is void.
2 Available if an object of type T can be initialized with std::forward<U>(u). This is to enable e.g. result<std::string> to be initialized with a string literal.
Requires:

T must be movable, and its move constructor may not throw; or void.

Effects:

Establishes the result<T> invariant:

  • To get a result<T> in Value state, initialize it with an object of type T or use the default constructor.

  • To get a result<T> in Error state, initialize it with:

    • an error_id object.

      Initializing a result<T> with a default-initialized error_id object (for which .value() returns 0) will still result in Error state!

    • a std::error_code object.

    • an object of type Enum for which std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value is true.

  • To get a result<T> in Error capture state, initialize it with a std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context> (which can be obtained by calling e.g. make_shared_context).

When a result object is initialized with a std::error_code object, it is used to initialize an error_id object, then the behavior is the same as if initialized with error_id.

Throws:

  • Initializing the result<T> in Value state may throw, depending on which constructor of T is invoked;

  • Other constructors do not throw.

A result that is in value state converts to true in boolean contexts. A result that is not in value state converts to false in boolean contexts.
result<T> objects are nothrow-moveable but are not copyable.

error

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... E>
  <<unspecified-type>> result<T>::error() noexcept;

} }

Returns: A proxy object of unspecified type, implicitly convertible to any instance of the result class template, as well as to error_id.

  • If the proxy object is converted to some result<U>:

    • If *this is in Value state, returns result<U>(error_id()).

    • Otherwise the state of *this is moved into the returned result<U>.

  • If the proxy object is converted to an error_id:

    • If *this is in Value state, returns a default-initialized error_id object.

    • If *this is in Error capture state, all captured error objects are loaded in the calling thread, and the captured error_id value is returned.

    • If *this is in Error state, returns the stored error_id.

  • If the proxy object is not used, the state of *this is not modified.

The returned proxy object refers to *this; avoid holding on to it.

load

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  template <class... Item>
  error_id result<T>::load( Item && ... item ) noexcept;

} }

This member function is designed for use in return statements in functions that return result<T> to forward additional error objects to the caller.

Effects:

As if error_id(this->error()).load(std::forward<Item>(item)…​).

Returns:

*this.

operator=

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  result<T> & result<T>::operator=( result && ) noexcept;

  template <class T>
  template <class U>
  result<T> & result<T>::operator=( result<U> && ) noexcept;

} }
Effects:

Destroys *this, then re-initializes it as if using the appropriate result<T> constructor. Basic exception-safety guarantee.

has_value

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  bool result<T>::has_value() const noexcept;

} }
Returns:

If *this is in value state, returns true, otherwise returns false.

has_error

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  bool result<T>::has_error() const noexcept;

} }
Returns:

If *this is in value state, returns false, otherwise returns true.

operator bool

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  result<T>::operator bool() const noexcept;

} }
Returns:

If *this is in value state, returns true, otherwise returns false.

value

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  void result<void>::value() const;

  template <class T>
  T const & result<T>::value() const;

  template <class T>
  T & result<T>::value();

  struct bad_result: std::exception { };

} }

value_type

A member type of result<T>, defined as a synonim for T.

Effects:

If *this is in value state, returns a reference to the stored value, otherwise throws bad_result.

operator->

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  T const * result<T>::operator->() const noexcept;

  template <class T>
  T * result<T>::operator->() noexcept;

} }
Returns

If *this is in value state, returns a pointer to the stored value; otherwise returns 0.

operator*

#include <boost/leaf/result.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  T const & result<T>::operator*() const noexcept;

  template <class T>
  T & result<T>::operator*() noexcept;

} }
Requires:

*this must be in value state.

Returns

a reference to the stored value.

verbose_diagnostic_info

#include <boost/leaf/handle_errors.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  class verbose_diagnostic_info: public error_info
  {
    //Constructors unspecified

    friend std::ostream & operator<<( std::ostream & os, verbose_diagnostic_info const & x );
  };

} }

Handlers passed to error handling functions such as try_handle_some, try_handle_all or try_catch may take an argument of type verbose_diagnostic_info const & if they need to print diagnostic information about the error.

The message printed by operator<< includes the message printed by error_info, followed by information about error objects that were communicated to LEAF (to be associated with the error) for which there was no storage available in any active context (these error objects were discarded by LEAF, because no handler needed them).

The additional information includes the types and the values of all such error objects.

The behavior of verbose_diagnostic_info (and diagnostic_info) is affected by the value of the macro BOOST_LEAF_CFG_DIAGNOSTICS:

  • If it is 1 (the default), LEAF produces verbose_diagnostic_info but only if an active error handling context on the call stack takes an argument of type verbose_diagnostic_info;

  • If it is 0, the verbose_diagnostic_info functionality is stubbed out even for error handling contexts that take an argument of type verbose_diagnostic_info. This could save some cycles on the error path in some programs (but is probably not worth it).
Using verbose_diagnostic_info may allocate memory dynamically, but only if an active error handler takes an argument of type verbose_diagnostic_info.

Reference: Predicates

The contents of each Reference section are organized alphabetically.

A predicate is a special type of error handler argument which enables the handler selection procedure to consider the value of available error objects, not only their type; see Using Predicates to Handle Errors.

The following predicates are available:

In addition, any user-defined type Pred for which is_predicate<Pred>::value is true is treated as a predicate. In this case, it is required that:

  • Pred defines an accessible member type error_type to specify the error object type it requires;

  • Pred defines an accessible static member function evaluate, which returns a boolean type, and can be invoked with an object of type error_type const &;

  • A Pred instance can be initialized with an object of type error_type.

When an error handler takes an argument of a predicate type Pred, the handler selection procedure drops the handler if an error object e of type Pred::error_type is not available. Otherwise, the handler is dropped if Pred::evaluate(e) returns false. If the handler is invoked, the Pred argument is initialized with Pred{e}.

Predicates are evaluated before the error handler is invoked, and so they may not access dynamic state (of course the error handler itself can access dynamic state, e.g. by means of lambda expression captures).
Example 1:
enum class my_error { e1 = 1, e2, e3 };

struct my_pred
{
  using error_type = my_error; (1)

  static bool evaluate(my_error) noexcept; (2)

  my_error matched; (3)
}

namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <>
  struct is_predicate<my_pred>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }
1 This predicate requires an error object of type my_error.
2 The handler selection procedure will call this function with an object e of type my_error to evaluate the predicate…​
3 …​and if successful, initialize the my_pred error handler argument with my_pred{e}.
Example 2:
struct my_pred
{
  using error_type = leaf::e_errno; (1)

  static bool evaluate(leaf::e_errno const &) noexcept; (2)

  leaf::e_errno const & matched; (3)
}

namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <>
  struct is_predicate<my_pred>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }
1 This predicate requires an error object of type e_errno.
2 The handler selection procedure will call this function with an object e of type e_errno to evaluate the predicate…​
3 …​and if successful, initialize the my_pred error handler argument with my_pred{e}.

catch_

#include <boost/leaf/pred.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class... Ex>
  struct catch_
  {
    std::exception const & matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class Ex>
  struct catch_<Ex>
  {
    Ex const & matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class... Ex>
  struct is_predicate<catch_<Ex...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }

is_predicate

When an error handler takes an argument of type that is an instance of the catch_ template, the handler selection procedure first checks if a std::exception was caught. If not, the handler is dropped. Otherwise, the handler is dropped if the caught std::exception can not be dynamic_cast to any of the specified types Ex…​.

If the error handler is invoked, the matched member can be used to access the exception object.

See also: Using Predicates to Handle Errors.
While catch_ requires that the caught exception object is of type that derives from std::exception, it is not required that the Ex…​ types derive from std::exception.
Example 1:
struct ex1: std::exception { };
struct ex2: std::exception { };

leaf::try_catch(

  []
  {
    return f(); // throws
  },

  [](leaf::catch_<ex1, ex2> c)
  { (1)
    assert(dynamic_cast<ex1 const *>(&c.matched) || dynamic_cast<ex2 const *>(&c.matched));
    ....
  } );
1 The handler is selected if f throws an exception of type ex1 or ex2.
Example 2:
struct ex1: std::exception { };

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  [](ex1 & e)
  { (1)
    ....
  } );
1 The handler is selected if f throws an exception of type ex1. Notice that if we’re interested in only one exception type, as long as that type derives from std::exception, the use of catch_ is not required.

if_not

#include <boost/leaf/pred.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class P>
  struct if_not
  {
    <<deduced>> matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class P>
  struct is_predicate<if_not<P>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }

is_predicate

When an error handler takes an argument of type if_not<P>, where P is another predicate type, the handler selection procedure first checks if an error object of the type E required by P is available. If not, the handler is dropped. Otherwise, the handler is dropped if P evaluates to true.

If the error handler is invoked, matched can be used to access the matched object E.

See also Using Predicates to Handle Errors.
Example:
enum class my_enum { e1, e2, e3 };

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::if_not<leaf::match<my_enum, my_enum::e1, my_enum::e2>> )
  { (1)
    ....
  } );

try_handle_some | match

1 The handler is selected if an object of type my_enum, which does not compare equal to e1 or to e2, is associated with the detected error.

match

#include <boost/leaf/pred.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class E, auto... V>
  class match
  {
    <<deduced>> matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class E, auto... V>
  struct is_predicate<match<E, V...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }

is_predicate

When an error handler takes an argument of type match<E, V…​>, the handler selection procedure first checks if an error object e of type E is available. If it is not available, the handler is dropped. Otherwise, the handler is dropped if the following condition is not met:

p1 || p2 || …​ pn.

Where pi is equivalent to e == Vi, except if Vi is pointer to a function

bool (*Vi)(T x).

In this case it is required that Vi != 0 and that x can be initialized with E const &, and then pi is equivalent to:

Vi(e).

In particular, it is valid to pass pointer to the function leaf::category<Enum> for any Vi, where:

std::is_error_code_enum<Enum>::value || std::is_error_condition_enum<Enum>::value.

In this case, pi is equivalent to:

&e.category() == &std::error_code(Enum{}).category().

If the error handler is invoked, matched can be used to access e.

See also Using Predicates to Handle Errors.
Example 1: Handling of a subset of enum values.
enum class my_enum { e1, e2, e3 };

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match<my_enum, my_enum::e1, my_enum::e2> m )
  { (1)
    static_assert(std::is_same<my_enum, decltype(m.matched)>::value);
    assert(m.matched == my_enum::e1 || m.matched == my_enum::e2);
    ....
  } );
1 The handler is selected if an object of type my_enum, which compares equal to e1 or to e2, is associated with the detected error.
Example 2: Handling of a subset of std::error_code enum values (requires at least C++17, see Example 4 for a C++11-compatible workaround).
enum class my_enum { e1=1, e2, e3 };

namespace std
{
  template <> struct is_error_code_enum<my_enum>: std::true_type { };
}

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match<std::error_code, my_enum::e1, my_enum::e2> m )
  { (1)
    static_assert(std::is_same<std::error_code const &, decltype(m.matched)>::value);
    assert(m.matched == my_enum::e1 || m.matched == my_enum::e2);
    ....
  } );
1 The handler is selected if an object of type std::error_code, which compares equal to e1 or to e2, is associated with the detected error.
Example 3: Handling of a specific std::error_code::category (requires at least C++17).
enum class enum_a { a1=1, a2, a3 };
enum class enum_b { b1=1, b2, b3 };

namespace std
{
  template <> struct is_error_code_enum<enum_a>: std::true_type { };
  template <> struct is_error_code_enum<enum_b>: std::true_type { };
}

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match<std::error_code, leaf::category<enum_a>, enum_b::b2> m )
  { (1)
    static_assert(std::is_same<std::error_code const &, decltype(m.matched)>::value);
    assert(&m.matched.category() == &std::error_code(enum_{}).category() || m.matched == enum_b::b2);
    ....
  } );
1 The handler is selected if an object of type std::error_code, which either has the same std::error_category as that of enum_a or compares equal to enum_b::b2, is associated with the detected error.

The use of the leaf::category template requires automatic deduction of the type of each Vi, which in turn requires C++17 or newer. The same applies to the use of std::error_code as E, but LEAF provides a compatible C++11 workaround for this case, using the template condition. The following is equivalent to Example 2:

Example 4: Handling of a subset of std::error_code enum values using the C++11-compatible API.
enum class my_enum { e1=1, e2, e3 };

namespace std
{
  template <> struct is_error_code_enum<my_enum>: std::true_type { };
}

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match<leaf::condition<my_enum>, my_enum::e1, my_enum::e2> m )
  {
    static_assert(std::is_same<std::error_code const &, decltype(m.matched)>::value);
    assert(m.matched == my_enum::e1 || m.matched == my_enum::e2);
    ....
  } );

Instead of a set of values, the match template can be given pointers to functions that implement a custom comparison. In the following example, we define a handler which will be selected to handle any error that communicates an object of the user-defined type severity with value greater than 4:

Example 5: Handling of failures with severity::value greater than a specified threshold (requires at least C++17).
struct severity { int value; }

template <int S>
constexpr bool severity_greater_than( severity const & e ) noexcept
{
  return e.value > S;
}

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match<severity, severity_greater_than<4>> m )
  {
    static_assert(std::is_same<severity const &, decltype(m.matched)>::value);
    assert(m.matched.value > 4);
    ....
  } );

match_member

#include <boost/leaf/pred.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <auto, auto... V>
  struct match_member;

  template <class E, class T, T E::* P, auto... V>
  struct match_member<P, V...>
  {
    E const & matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <auto P, auto... V>
  struct is_predicate<match_member<P, V...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }

is_predicate

This predicate is similar to match_value, but able to bind any accessible data member of E; e.g. match_member<&E::value, V…​> is equivalent to match_value<E, V…​>.

See also Using Predicates to Handle Errors.
match_member requires at least C++17, whereas match_value does not.

match_value

#include <boost/leaf/pred.hpp>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class E, auto... V>
  struct match_value
  {
    E const & matched;

    // Other members not specified
  };

  template <class E, auto... V>
  struct is_predicate<match_value<E, V...>>: std::true_type
  {
  };

} }

is_predicate

This predicate is similar to match, but where match compares the available error object e of type E to the specified values V…​, match_value works with e.value.

See also Using Predicates to Handle Errors.
Example:
struct e_errno { int value; }

leaf::try_handle_some(

  []
  {
    return f(); // returns leaf::result<T>
  },

  []( leaf::match_value<e_errno, ENOENT> m )
  { (1)
    static_assert(std::is_same<e_errno const &, decltype(m.matched)>::value);
    assert(m.matched.value == ENOENT);
    ....
  } );
1 The handler is selected if an object of type e_errno, with .value equal to ENOENT, is associated with the detected error.

Reference: Traits

The contents of each Reference section are organized alphabetically.

is_predicate

#include <boost/leaf/pred.hpp>>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class T>
  struct is_predicate: std::false_type
  {
  };

} }

The is_predicate template is used by the handler selection procedure to detect predicate types. See Using Predicates to Handle Errors.

is_result_type

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>>
namespace boost { namespace leaf {

  template <class R>
  struct is_result_type: std::false_type
  {
  };

} }

The error handling functionality provided by try_handle_some and try_handle_all — including the ability to load error objects of arbitrary types — is compatible with any external result<T> type R, as long as for a given object r of type R:

  • If bool(r) is true, r indicates success, in which case it is valid to call r.value() to recover the T value.

  • Otherwise r indicates a failure, in which case it is valid to call r.error(). The returned value is used to initialize an error_id (note: error_id can be initialized by std::error_code).

To use an external result<T> type R, you must specialize the is_result_type template so that is_result_type<R>::value evaluates to true.

Naturally, the provided leaf::result<T> class template satisfies these requirements. In addition, it allows error objects to be transported across thread boundaries, using a std::shared_ptr<polymorphic_context>.

Reference: Macros

The contents of each Reference section are organized alphabetically.

BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
#define BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN(v, r)\
  auto && <<temp>> = r;\
  if( !<<temp>> )\
    return <<temp>>.error();\
  v = std::forward<decltype(<<temp>>)>(<<temp>>).value()

BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN is useful when calling a function that returns result<T> (other than result<void>), if the desired behavior is to forward any errors to the caller verbatim.

In case of success, the result value() of type T is assigned to the specified variable v, which must have been declared prior to invoking BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN. However, it is possible to use BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN to declare a new variable, by passing in v its type together with its name, e.g. BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN(auto && x, f()) calls f, forwards errors to the caller, while capturing successful values in x.

See also BOOST_LEAF_AUTO.

BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
#define BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v, r)\
  BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN(auto v, r)

BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN

BOOST_LEAF_AUTO is useful when calling a function that returns result<T> (other than result<void>), if the desired behavior is to forward any errors to the caller verbatim.

Example:
leaf::result<int> compute_value();

leaf::result<float> add_values()
{
  BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v1, compute_value()); (1)
  BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(v2, compute_value()); (2)
  return v1 + v2;
}
1 Call compute_value, bail out on failure, define a local variable v1 on success.
2 Call compute_value again, bail out on failure, define a local variable v2 on success.

Of course, we could write add_value without using BOOST_LEAF_AUTO. This is equivalent:

leaf::result<float> add_values()
{
  auto v1 = compute_value();
  if( !v1 )
    return v1.error();

  auto v2 = compute_value();
  if( !v2 )
    return v2.error();

  return v1.value() + v2.value();
}
See also BOOST_LEAF_ASSIGN.

BOOST_LEAF_CHECK

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
#if BOOST_LEAF_CFG_GNUC_STMTEXPR

#define BOOST_LEAF_CHECK(r)\
  ({\
    auto && <<temp>> = (r);\
    if( !<<temp>> )\
      return <<temp>>.error();\
    std::move(<<temp>>);\
  }).value()

#else

#define BOOST_LEAF_CHECK(r)\
  {\
    auto && <<temp>> = (r);\
    if( !<<temp>> )\
      return <<temp>>.error();\
  }

#endif

BOOST_LEAF_CHECK is useful when calling a function that returns result<void>, if the desired behavior is to forward any errors to the caller verbatim.

Example:
leaf::result<void> send_message( char const * msg );

leaf::result<int> compute_value();

leaf::result<int> say_hello_and_compute_value()
{
  BOOST_LEAF_CHECK(send_message("Hello!")); (1)
  return compute_value();
}
1 Try to send a message, then compute a value, report errors using BOOST_LEAF_CHECK.

Equivalent implementation without BOOST_LEAF_CHECK:

leaf::result<float> add_values()
{
  auto r = send_message("Hello!");
  if( !r )
    return r.error();

  return compute_value();
}

If BOOST_LEAF_CFG_GNUC_STMTEXPR is 1 (which is the default under __GNUC__), BOOST_LEAF_CHECK expands to a GNU C statement expression, which allows its use with non-void result types in any expression; see Checking for Errors.

BOOST_LEAF_THROW_EXCEPTION

#include <boost/leaf/exception.hpp>
#define BOOST_LEAF_THROW_EXCEPTION <<exact-dedfinition-unspecified>>
Effects:

BOOST_LEAF_THROW_EXCEPTION(e…​) is equivalent to leaf::throw_exception(e…​), except the current source location is automatically communicated with the thrown exception, in a e_source_location object (in addition to all e…​ objects).

BOOST_LEAF_NEW_ERROR

#include <boost/leaf/error.hpp>
#define BOOST_LEAF_NEW_ERROR <<exact-definition-unspecified>>
Effects:

BOOST_LEAF_NEW_ERROR(e…​) is equivalent to leaf::new_error(e…​), except the current source location is automatically passed, in a e_source_location object (in addition to all e…​ objects).

Design

Rationale

Definition:

Objects that carry information about error conditions are called error objects. For example, objects of type std::error_code are error objects.

The following reasoning is independent of the mechanism used to transport error objects, whether it is exception handling or anything else.
Definition:

Depending on their interaction with error objects, functions can be classified as follows:

  • Error initiating: functions that initiate error conditions by creating new error objects.

  • Error neutral: functions that forward to the caller error objects communicated by lower-level functions they call.

  • Error handling: functions that dispose of error objects they have received, recovering normal program operation.

A crucial observation is that error initiating functions are typically low-level functions that lack any context and can not determine, much less dictate, the correct program behavior in response to the errors they may initiate. Error conditions which (correctly) lead to termination in some programs may (correctly) be ignored in others; yet other programs may recover from them and resume normal operation.

The same reasoning applies to error neutral functions, but in this case there is the additional issue that the errors they need to communicate, in general, are initiated by functions multiple levels removed from them in the call chain, functions which usually are — and should be treated as — implementation details. An error neutral function should not be coupled with error object types communicated by error initiating functions, for the same reason it should not be coupled with any other aspect of their interface.

Finally, error handling functions, by definition, have the full context they need to deal with at least some, if not all, failures. In their scope it is an absolute necessity that the author knows exactly what information must be communicated by lower level functions in order to recover from each error condition. Specifically, none of this necessary information can be treated as implementation details; in this case, the coupling which is to be avoided in error neutral functions is in fact desirable.

We’re now ready to define our

Design goals:

  • Error initiating functions should be able to communicate all information available to them that is relevant to the failure being reported.

  • Error neutral functions should not be coupled with error types communicated by lower-level error initiating functions. They should be able to augment any failure with additional relevant information available to them.

  • Error handling functions should be able to access all the information communicated by error initiating or error neutral functions that is needed in order to deal with failures.

The design goal that error neutral functions are not coupled with the static type of error objects that pass through them seems to require dynamic polymorphism and therefore dynamic memory allocations (the Boost Exception library meets this design goal at the cost of dynamic memory allocation).

As it turns out, dynamic memory allocation is not necessary due to the following

Fact:

  • Error handling functions "know" which of the information error initiating and error neutral functions are able to communicate is actually needed in order to deal with failures in a particular program. Ideally, no resources should be used wasted storing or communicating information which is not currently needed to handle errors, even if it is relevant to the failure.

For example, if a library function is able to communicate an error code but the program does not need to know the exact error code, then that information may be ignored at the time the library function attempts to communicate it. On the other hand, if an error handling function needs that information, the memory needed to store it can be reserved statically in its scope.

The LEAF functions try_handle_some, try_handle_all and try_catch implement this idea. Users provide error handling lambda functions, each taking arguments of the types it needs in order to recover from a particular error condition. LEAF simply provides the space needed to store these types (in the form of a std::tuple, using automatic storage duration) until they are passed to a suitable handler.

At the time this space is reserved in the scope of an error handling function, thread_local pointers of the required error types are set to point to the corresponding objects within it. Later on, error initiating or error neutral functions wanting to communicate an error object of a given type E use the corresponding thread_local pointer to detect if there is currently storage available for this type:

  • If the pointer is not null, storage is available and the object is moved into the pointed storage, exactly once — regardless of how many levels of function calls must unwind before an error handling function is reached.

  • If the pointer is null, storage is not available and the error object is discarded, since no error handling function makes any use of it in this program — saving resources.

This almost works, except we need to make sure that error handling functions are protected from accessing stale error objects stored in response to previous failures, which would be a serious logic error. To this end, each occurrence of an error is assigned a unique error_id. Each of the E…​ objects stored in error handling scopes is assigned an error_id as well, permanently associating it with a particular failure.

Thus, to handle a failure we simply match the available error objects (associated with its unique error_id) with the argument types required by each user-provided error handling function. In terms of C++ exception handling, it is as if we could write something like:

try
{
  auto r = process_file();

  //Success, use r:
  ....
}

catch(file_read_error &, e_file_name const & fn, e_errno const & err)
{
  std::cerr <<
    "Could not read " << fn << ", errno=" << err << std::endl;
}

catch(file_read_error &, e_errno const & err)
{
  std::cerr <<
    "File read error, errno=" << err << std::endl;
}

catch(file_read_error &)
{
  std::cerr << "File read error!" << std::endl;
}

Of course this syntax is not valid, so LEAF uses lambda functions to express the same idea:

leaf::try_catch(

  []
  {
    auto r = process_file(); //Throws in case of failure, error objects stored inside the try_catch scope

    //Success, use r:
    ....
  }

  [](file_read_error &, e_file_name const & fn, e_errno const & err)
  {
    std::cerr <<
      "Could not read " << fn << ", errno=" << err << std::endl;
  },

  [](file_read_error &, e_errno const & err)
  {
    std::cerr <<
      "File read error, errno=" << err << std::endl;
  },

  [](file_read_error &)
  {
    std::cerr << "File read error!" << std::endl;
  } );

try_catch | e_file_name | e_errno

Similar syntax works without exception handling as well. Below is the same snippet, written using result<T>:

return leaf::try_handle_some(

  []() -> leaf::result<void>
  {
    BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(r, process_file()); //In case of errors, error objects are stored inside the try_handle_some scope

    //Success, use r:
    ....

    return { };
  }

  [](leaf::match<error_enum, file_read_error>, e_file_name const & fn, e_errno const & err)
  {
    std::cerr <<
      "Could not read " << fn << ", errno=" << err << std::endl;
  },

  [](leaf::match<error_enum, file_read_error>, e_errno const & err)
  {
    std::cerr <<
      "File read error, errno=" << err << std::endl;
  },

  [](leaf::match<error_enum, file_read_error>)
  {
    std::cerr << "File read error!" << std::endl;
  } );

result | try_handle_some | match | e_file_name | e_errno

Please post questions and feedback on the Boost Developers Mailing List.

Critique 1: Error Types Do Not Participate in Function Signatures

A knee-jerk critique of the LEAF design is that it does not statically enforce that each possible error condition is recognized and handled by the program. One idea I’ve heard from multiple sources is to add E…​ parameter pack to result<T>, essentially turning it into expected<T,E…​>, so we could write something along these lines:

expected<T, E1, E2, E3> f() noexcept; (1)

expected<T, E1, E3> g() noexcept (2)
{
  if( expected<T, E1, E2, E3> r = f() )
  {
    return r; //Success, return the T
  }
  else
  {
    return r.handle_error<E2>( [] ( .... ) (3)
      {
        ....
      } );
  }
}
1 f may only return error objects of type E1, E2, E3.
2 g narrows that to only E1 and E3.
3 Because g may only return error objects of type E1 and E3, it uses handle_error to deal with E2. In case r contains E1 or E3, handle_error simply returns r, narrowing the error type parameter pack from E1, E2, E3 down to E1, E3. If r contains an E2, handle_error calls the supplied lambda, which is required to return one of E1, E3 (or a valid T).

The motivation here is to help avoid bugs in functions that handle errors that pop out of g: as long as the programmer deals with E1 and E3, he can rest assured that no error is left unhandled.

Congratulations, we’ve just discovered exception specifications. The difference is that exception specifications, before being removed from C++, were enforced dynamically, while this idea is equivalent to statically-enforced exception specifications, like they are in Java.

Why not use the equivalent of exception specifications, even if they are enforced statically?

The short answer is that nobody knows how to fix exception specifications in any language, because the dynamic enforcement C++ chose has only different (not greater or fewer) problems than the static enforcement Java chose. …​ When you go down the Java path, people love exception specifications until they find themselves all too often encouraged, or even forced, to add throws Exception, which immediately renders the exception specification entirely meaningless. (Example: Imagine writing a Java generic that manipulates an arbitrary type T).[1]
— Herb Sutter

Consider again the example above: assuming we don’t want important error-related information to be lost, values of type E1 and/or E3 must be able to encode any E2 value dynamically. But like Sutter points out, in generic contexts we don’t know what errors may result in calling a user-supplied function. The only way around that is to specify a single type (e.g. std::error_code) that can communicate any and all errors, which ultimately defeats the idea of using static type checking to enforce correct error handling.

That said, in every program there are certain error handling functions (e.g. main) which are required to handle any error, and it is highly desirable to be able to enforce this requirement at compile-time. In LEAF, the try_handle_all function implements this idea: if the user fails to supply at least one handler that will match any error, the result is a compile error. This guarantees that the scope invoking try_handle_all is prepared to recover from any failure.

Critique 2: LEAF Does Not Facilitate Mapping Between Different Error Types

Most C++ programs use multiple C and C++ libraries, and each library may provide its own system of error codes. But because it is difficult to define static interfaces that can communicate arbitrary error code types, a popular idea is to map each library-specific error code to a common program-wide enum.

For example, if we have — 

namespace lib_a
{
  enum error
  {
    ok,
    ec1,
    ec2,
    ....
  };
}
namespace lib_b
{
  enum error
  {
    ok,
    ec1,
    ec2,
    ....
  };
}

 — we could define:

namespace program
{
  enum error
  {
    ok,
    lib_a_ec1,
    lib_a_ec2,
    ....
    lib_b_ec1,
    lib_b_ec2,
    ....
  };
}

An error handling library could provide conversion API that uses the C++ static type system to automate the mapping between the different error enums. For example, it may define a class template result<T,E> with value-or-error variant semantics, so that:

  • lib_a errors are transported in result<T,lib_a::error>,

  • lib_b errors are transported in result<T,lib_b::error>,

  • then both are automatically mapped to result<T,program::error> once control reaches the appropriate scope.

There are several problems with this idea:

  • It is prone to errors, both during the initial implementation as well as under maintenance.

  • It does not compose well. For example, if both of lib_a and lib_b use lib_c, errors that originate in lib_c would be obfuscated by the different APIs exposed by each of lib_a and lib_b.

  • It presumes that all errors in the program can be specified by exactly one error code, which is false.

To elaborate on the last point, consider a program that attempts to read a configuration file from three different locations: in case all of the attempts fail, it should communicate each of the failures. In theory result<T,E> handles this case well:

struct attempted_location
{
  std::string path;
  error ec;
};

struct config_error
{
  attempted_location current_dir, user_dir, app_dir;
};

result<config,config_error> read_config();

This looks nice, until we realize what the config_error type means for the automatic mapping API we wanted to define: an enum can not represent a struct. It is a fact that we can not assume that all error conditions can be fully specified by an enum; an error handling library must be able to transport arbitrary static types efficiently.

Critique 3: LEAF Does Not Treat Low Level Error Types as Implementation Details

This critique is a combination of Critique 1 and Critique 2, but it deserves special attention. Let’s consider this example using LEAF:

leaf::result<std::string> read_line( reader & r );

leaf::result<parsed_line> parse_line( std::string const & line );

leaf::result<parsed_line> read_and_parse_line( reader & r )
{
  BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(line, read_line(r)); (1)
  BOOST_LEAF_AUTO(parsed, parse_line(line)); (2)
  return parsed;
}

result | BOOST_LEAF_AUTO

1 Read a line, forward errors to the caller.
2 Parse the line, forward errors to the caller.

The objection is that LEAF will forward verbatim the errors that are detected in read_line or parse_line to the caller of read_and_parse_line. The premise of this objection is that such low-level errors are implementation details and should be treated as such. Under this premise, read_and_parse_line should act as a translator of sorts, in both directions:

  • When called, it should translate its own arguments to call read_line and parse_line;

  • If an error is detected, it should translate the errors from the error types returned by read_line and parse_line to a higher-level type.

The motivation is to isolate the caller of read_and_parse_line from its implementation details read_line and parse_line.

There are two possible ways to implement this translation:

1) read_and_parse_line understands the semantics of all possible failures that may be reported by both read_line and parse_line, implementing a non-trivial mapping which both erases information that is considered not relevant to its caller, as well as encodes different semantics in the error it reports. In this case read_and_parse_line assumes full responsibility for describing precisely what went wrong, using its own type specifically designed for the job.

2) read_and_parse_line returns an error object that essentially indicates which of the two inner functions failed, and also transports the original error object without understanding its semantics and without any loss of information, wrapping it in a new error type.

The problem with 1) is that typically the caller of read_and_parse_line is not going to handle the error, but it does need to forward it to its caller. In our attempt to protect the one error handling function from "implementation details", we’ve coupled the interface of all intermediate error neutral functions with the static types of errors they do not understand and do not handle.

Consider the case where read_line communicates errno in its errors. What is read_and_parse_line supposed to do with e.g. EACCESS? Turn it into READ_AND_PARSE_LINE_EACCESS? To what end, other than to obfuscate the original (already complex and platform-specific) semantics of errno?

And what if the call to read is polymorphic, which is also typical? What if it involves a user-supplied function object? What kinds of errors does it return and why should read_and_parse_line care?

Therefore, we’re left with 2). There’s almost nothing wrong with this option, since it passes any and all error-related information from lower level functions without any loss. However, using a wrapper type to grant (presumably dynamic) access to any lower-level error type it may be transporting is cumbersome and (like Niall Douglas explains) in general probably requires dynamic allocations. It is better to use independent error types that communicate the additional information not available in the original error object, while error handlers rely on LEAF to provide efficient access to any and all low-level error types, as needed.

Alternatives to LEAF

Below we offer a comparison of Boost LEAF to Boost Exception and to Boost Outcome.

Comparison to Boost Exception

While LEAF can be used without exception handling, in the use case when errors are communicated by throwing exceptions, it can be viewed as a better, more efficient alternative to Boost Exception. LEAF has the following advantages over Boost Exception:

  • LEAF does not allocate memory dynamically;

  • LEAF does not waste system resources communicating error objects not used by specific error handling functions;

  • LEAF does not store the error objects in the exception object, and therefore it is able to augment exceptions thrown by external libraries (Boost Exception can only augment exceptions of types that derive from boost::exception).

The following tables outline the differences between the two libraries which should be considered when code that uses Boost Exception is refactored to use LEAF instead.

It is possible to access Boost Exception error information using the LEAF error handling interface. See Boost Exception Integration.
Table 1. Defining a custom type for transporting values of type T
Boost Exception LEAF 
typedef error_info<struct my_info_,T> my_info;

boost::error_info

 
struct my_info { T value; };
Table 2. Passing arbitrary info at the point of the throw
Boost Exception LEAF 
throw my_exception() <<
  my_info(x) <<
  my_info(y);

operator<<

 
leaf::throw_exception( my_exception(),
  my_info{x},
  my_info{y} );

throw_exception
Table 3. Augmenting exceptions in error neutral contexts
Boost Exception LEAF 
try
{
  f();
}
catch( boost::exception & e )
{
  e << my_info(x);
  throw;
}

boost::exception | operator<<

 
auto load = leaf::on_error( my_info{x} );

f();

on_error
Table 4. Obtaining arbitrary info at the point of the catch
Boost Exception LEAF 
try
{
  f();
}
catch( my_exception & e )
{
  if( T * v = get_error_info<my_info>(e) )
  {
    //my_info is available in e.
  }
}

boost::get_error_info

 
leaf::try_catch(
  []
  {
    f(); // throws
  }
  [](my_exception &, my_info const & x)
  {
    //my_info is available with
    //the caught exception.
  } );

try_catch
Table 5. Transporting of error objects
Boost Exception LEAF

All supplied boost::error_info objects are allocated dynamically and stored in the boost::exception subobject of exception objects.

User-defined error objects are stored statically in the scope of try_catch, but only if their types are needed to handle errors; otherwise they are discarded.
Table 6. Transporting of error objects across thread boundaries
Boost Exception LEAF

boost::exception_ptr automatically captures boost::error_info objects stored in a boost::exception and can transport them across thread boundaries.

Transporting error objects across thread boundaries requires the use of capture.
Table 7. Printing of error objects in automatically-generated diagnostic information messages
Boost Exception LEAF

boost::error_info types may define conversion to std::string by providing to_string overloads or by overloading operator<< for std::ostream.

LEAF does not use to_string. Error types may define operator<< overloads for std::ostream.

The fact that Boost Exception stores all supplied boost::error_info objects — while LEAF discards them if they aren’t needed — affects the completeness of the message we get when we print leaf::diagnostic_info objects, compared to the string returned by boost::diagnostic_information.

If the user requires a complete diagnostic message, the solution is to use leaf::verbose_diagnostic_info. In this case, before unused error objects are discarded by LEAF, they are converted to string and printed. Note that this allocates memory dynamically.

Comparison to Boost Outcome

Design Differences

Like LEAF, the Boost Outcome library is designed to work in low latency environments. It provides two class templates, result<> and outcome<>:

  • result<T,EC,NVP> can be used as the return type in noexcept functions which may fail, where T specifies the type of the return value in case of success, while EC is an "error code" type. Semantically, result<T,EC> is similar to std::variant<T,EC>. Naturally, EC defaults to std::error_code.

  • outcome<T,EC,EP,NVP> is similar to result<>, but in case of failure, in addition to the "error code" type EC it can hold a "pointer" object of type EP, which defaults to std::exception_ptr.

NVP is a policy type used to customize the behavior of .value() when the result<> or the outcome<> object contains an error.

The idea is to use result<> to communicate failures which can be fully specified by an "error code", and outcome<> to communicate failures that require additional information.

Another way to describe this design is that result<> is used when it suffices to return an error object of some static type EC, while outcome<> can also transport a polymorphic error object, using the pointer type EP.

In the default configuration of outcome<T> the additional information — or the additional polymorphic object — is an exception object held by std::exception_ptr. This targets the use case when an exception thrown by a lower-level library function needs to be transported through some intermediate contexts that are not exception-safe, to a higher-level context able to handle it. LEAF directly supports this use as well, see exception_to_result.

Similar reasoning drives the design of LEAF as well. The difference is that while both libraries recognize the need to transport "something else" in addition to an "error code", LEAF provides an efficient solution to this problem, while Outcome shifts this burden to the user.

The leaf::result<> template deletes both EC and EP, which decouples it from the type of the error objects that are transported in case of a failure. This enables lower-level functions to freely communicate anything and everything they "know" about the failure: error code, even multiple error codes, file names, URLs, port numbers, etc. At the same time, the higher-level error handling functions control which of this information is needed in a specific client program and which is not. This is ideal, because:

  • Authors of lower-level library functions lack context to determine which of the information that is both relevant to the error and naturally available to them needs to be communicated in order for a particular client program to recover from that error;

  • Authors of higher-level error handling functions can easily and confidently make this determination, which they communicate naturally to LEAF, by simply writing the different error handlers. LEAF will transport the needed error objects while discarding the ones handlers don’t care to use, saving resources.

The LEAF examples include an adaptation of the program from the Boost Outcome result<> tutorial. You can view it on GitHub.
Programs using LEAF for error handling are not required to use leaf::result<T>; for example, it is possible to use outcome::result<T> with LEAF.

The Interoperability Problem

The Boost Outcome documentation discusses the important problem of bringing together multiple libraries — each using its own error reporting mechanism — and incorporating them in a robust error handling infrastructure in a client program.

Users are advised that whenever possible they should use a common error handling system throughout their entire codebase, but because this is not practical, both the result<> and the outcome<> templates can carry user-defined "payloads".

The following analysis is from the Boost Outcome documentation:

If library A uses result<T, libraryA::failure_info>, and library B uses result<T, libraryB::error_info> and so on, there becomes a problem for the application writer who is bringing in these third party dependencies and tying them together into an application. As a general rule, each third party library author will not have built in explicit interoperation support for unknown other third party libraries. The problem therefore lands with the application writer.

The application writer has one of three choices:

  1. In the application, the form of result used is result<T, std::variant<E1, E2, …​>> where E1, E2 … are the failure types for every third party library in use in the application. This has the advantage of preserving the original information exactly, but comes with a certain amount of use inconvenience and maybe excessive coupling between high level layers and implementation detail.

  2. One can translate/map the third party’s failure type into the application’s failure type at the point of the failure exiting the third party library and entering the application. One might do this, say, with a C preprocessor macro wrapping every invocation of the third party API from the application. This approach may lose the original failure detail, or mis-map under certain circumstances if the mapping between the two systems is not one-one.

  3. One can type erase the third party’s failure type into some application failure type, which can later be reconstituted if necessary. This is the cleanest solution with the least coupling issues and no problems with mis-mapping, but it almost certainly requires the use of malloc which the previous two did not.

The analysis above (emphasis added) is clear and precise, but LEAF and Boost Outcome tackle the interoperability problem differently:

  • The Boost Outcome design asserts that the "cleanest" solution based on type-erasure is suboptimal ("almost certainly requires the use of malloc"), and instead provides a system for injecting custom converters into the outcome::convert namespace, used to translate between library-specific and program-wide error types, even though this approach "may lose the original failure detail".

  • The LEAF design asserts that coupling the signatures of error neutral functions with the static types of the error objects they need to forward to the caller does not scale, and instead transports error objects directly to error handling scopes where they are stored statically, effectively implementing the third choice outlined above (without the use of malloc).

Further, consider that Outcome aims to hopefully become the one error handling API all libraries would use, and in theory everyone would benefit from uniformity and standardization. But the reality is that this is wishful thinking. In fact, that reality is reflected in the design of outcome::result<>, in its lack of commitment to using std::error_code for its intended purpose: to be the standard type for transporting error codes. The fact is that std::error_code became yet another error code type programmers need to understand and support.

In contrast, the design of LEAF acknowledges that C++ programmers don’t even agree on what a string is. If your project uses 10 different libraries, this probably means 15 different ways to report errors, sometimes across uncooperative interfaces (e.g. C APIs). LEAF helps you get the job done.

Benchmark

This benchmark compares the performance of LEAF, Boost Outcome and tl::expected.

Running the Unit Tests

The unit tests can be run with Meson Build or with Boost Build. To run the unit tests:

Meson Build

Clone LEAF into any local directory and execute:

cd leaf
meson bld/debug
cd bld/debug
meson test

See meson_options.txt found in the root directory for available build options.

Boost Build

Assuming the current working directory is <boostroot>/libs/leaf:

../../b2 test

Configuration

The following configuration macros are recognized:

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_DIAGNOSTICS: Defining this macro as 0 stubs out both diagnostic_info and verbose_diagnostic_info (if the macro is left undefined, LEAF defines it as 1).

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_STD_SYSTEM_ERROR: Defining this macro as 0 disables the std::error_code / std::error_condition integration. In this case LEAF does not #include <system_error>, which may be too heavy for embedded platforms (if the macro is left undefined, LEAF defines it as 1).

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_STD_STRING: Defining this macro as 0 disables all use of std::string (this requires BOOST_LEAF_CFG_DIAGNOSTICS=0 as well). In this case LEAF does not #include <string> which may be too heavy for embedded platforms (if the macro is left undefined, LEAF defines it as 1).

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_CAPTURE: Defining this macro as 0 disables the ability of leaf::result to transport errors between threads. In this case LEAF does not #include <memory>, which may be too heavy for embedded platforms (if the macro is left undefined, LEAF defines it as 1).

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_GNUC_STMTEXPR: This macro controls whether or not BOOST_LEAF_CHECK is defined in terms of a GNU C statement expression, which enables its use to check for errors similarly to how the questionmark operator works in some languages (see Checking for Errors). By default the macro is defined as 1 under __GNUC__, otherwise as 0.

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_WIN32: Defining this macro as 1 enables the default constructor in e_LastError, and the automatic conversion to string (via FormatMessageA) when verbose_diagnostic_info is printed. If the macro is left undefined, LEAF defines it as 0 (even on windows, since including windows.h is generally not desirable). Note that the e_LastError type itself is available on all platforms, there is no need for conditional compilation in error handlers that use it.

  • BOOST_LEAF_NO_EXCEPTIONS: Disables all exception handling support. If left undefined, LEAF defines it automatically based on the compiler configuration (e.g. -fno-exceptions).

  • BOOST_LEAF_NO_THREADS: Disables all thread safety in LEAF.

Configuring TLS Access

LEAF requires support for thread-local void pointers. By default, this is implemented by means of the C++11 thread_local keyword, but in order to support embedded platforms, it is possible to configure LEAF to use an array of thread local pointers instead, by defining BOOST_LEAF_USE_TLS_ARRAY. In this case, the user is required to define the following two functions to implement the required TLS access:

namespace boost { namespace leaf {

namespace tls
{
    void * read_void_ptr( int tls_index ) noexcept;
    void write_void_ptr( int tls_index, void * p ) noexcept;
}

} }
For efficiency, read_void_ptr and write_void_ptr should be defined inline.

Under BOOST_LEAF_USE_TLS_ARRAY the following additional configuration macros are recognized:

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_TLS_ARRAY_START_INDEX specifies the start TLS array index available to LEAF (if the macro is left undefined, LEAF defines it as 0).

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_TLS_ARRAY_SIZE may be defined to specify the size of the TLS array. In this case TLS indices are validated via BOOST_LEAF_ASSERT before being passed to read_void_ptr / write_void_ptr.

  • BOOST_LEAF_CFG_TLS_INDEX_TYPE may be defined to specify the integral type used to store assigned TLS indices (if the macro is left undefined, LEAF defines it as unsigned char).

Reporting error objects of types that are not used by the program to handle failures does not consume TLS pointers. The minimum size of the TLS pointer array required by LEAF is the total number of different types used as arguments to error handlers (in the entire program), plus one.
Beware of read_void_ptr/write_void_ptr accessing thread local pointers beyond the static boundaries of the thread local pointer array; this will likely result in undefined behavior.

Embedded Platforms

Defining BOOST_LEAF_EMBEDDED is equivalent to the following:

#ifndef BOOST_LEAF_CFG_DIAGNOSTICS
#   define BOOST_LEAF_CFG_DIAGNOSTICS 0
#endif

#ifndef BOOST_LEAF_CFG_STD_SYSTEM_ERROR
#   define BOOST_LEAF_CFG_STD_SYSTEM_ERROR 0
#endif

#ifndef BOOST_LEAF_CFG_STD_STRING
#   define BOOST_LEAF_CFG_STD_STRING 0
#endif

#ifndef BOOST_LEAF_CFG_CAPTURE
#   define BOOST_LEAF_CFG_CAPTURE 0
#endif

LEAF supports FreeRTOS out of the box, please define BOOST_LEAF_TLS_FREERTOS (in which case LEAF automatically defines BOOST_LEAF_EMBEDDED, if it is not defined already).

For other embedded platforms, please define BOOST_LEAF_USE_TLS_ARRAY, see Configuring TLS Access.

If your program does not use concurrency at all, simply define BOOST_LEAF_NO_THREADS, which requires no TLS support at all (but is NOT thread-safe).

Portability

The source code is compatible with C++11 or newer.

LEAF uses thread-local storage (only for pointers). By default, this is implemented via the C++11 thread_local storage class specifier, but the library is easily configurable to use any platform-specific TLS API instead (it ships with built-in support for FreeRTOS). See Configuration.

Limitations

When using dynamic linking, it is required that error types are declared with default visibility, e.g.:

struct __attribute__ ((visibility ("default"))) my_error_info
{
    int value;
};

This works as expected except on Windows, where thread-local storage is not shared between the individual binary modules. For this reason, to transport error objects across DLL boundaries, it is required that they’re captured in a polymorphic_context, just like when Transporting Error Objects Between Threads.

When using dynamic linking, it is always best to define module interfaces in terms of C (and implement them in C++ if appropriate).

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Peter Dimov and Sorin Fetche.

Ivo Belchev, Sean Palmer, Jason King, Vinnie Falco, Glen Fernandes, Augustín Bergé — thanks for the valuable feedback.

Documentation rendered by Asciidoctor with these customizations.

1. https://herbsutter.com/2007/01/24/questions-about-exception-specifications/