]> git.saurik.com Git - wxWidgets.git/blob - docs/latex/wx/array.tex
Clarify wxMessageBox usage. Fixes bug #1414535.
[wxWidgets.git] / docs / latex / wx / array.tex
1 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
2 %% Name: array.tex
3 %% Purpose: wxArray
4 %% Author: wxWidgets Team
5 %% Modified by:
6 %% Created:
7 %% RCS-ID: $Id$
8 %% Copyright: (c) wxWidgets Team
9 %% License: wxWindows license
10 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
11
12 \section{\class{wxArray}}\label{wxarray}
13
14 This section describes the so called {\it dynamic arrays}. This is a C
15 array-like data structure i.e. the member access time is constant (and not
16 linear according to the number of container elements as for linked lists). However, these
17 arrays are dynamic in the sense that they will automatically allocate more
18 memory if there is not enough of it for adding a new element. They also perform
19 range checking on the index values but in debug mode only, so please be sure to
20 compile your application in debug mode to use it (see \helpref{debugging overview}{debuggingoverview} for
21 details). So, unlike the arrays in some other
22 languages, attempt to access an element beyond the arrays bound doesn't
23 automatically expand the array but provokes an assertion failure instead in
24 debug build and does nothing (except possibly crashing your program) in the
25 release build.
26
27 The array classes were designed to be reasonably efficient, both in terms of
28 run-time speed and memory consumption and the executable size. The speed of
29 array item access is, of course, constant (independent of the number of elements)
30 making them much more efficient than linked lists (\helpref{wxList}{wxlist}).
31 Adding items to the arrays is also implemented in more or less constant time -
32 but the price is preallocating the memory in advance. In the \helpref{memory management}{wxarraymemorymanagement} section
33 you may find some useful hints about optimizing wxArray memory usage. As for executable size, all
34 wxArray functions are inline, so they do not take {\it any space at all}.
35
36 wxWidgets has three different kinds of array. All of them derive from
37 wxBaseArray class which works with untyped data and can not be used directly.
38 The standard macros WX\_DEFINE\_ARRAY(), WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_ARRAY() and
39 WX\_DEFINE\_OBJARRAY() are used to define a new class deriving from it. The
40 classes declared will be called in this documentation wxArray, wxSortedArray and
41 wxObjArray but you should keep in mind that no classes with such names actually
42 exist, each time you use one of WX\_DEFINE\_XXXARRAY macro you define a class
43 with a new name. In fact, these names are "template" names and each usage of one
44 of the macros mentioned above creates a template specialization for the given
45 element type.
46
47 wxArray is suitable for storing integer types and pointers which it does not
48 treat as objects in any way, i.e. the element pointed to by the pointer is not
49 deleted when the element is removed from the array. It should be noted that
50 all of wxArray's functions are inline, so it costs strictly nothing to define as
51 many array types as you want (either in terms of the executable size or the
52 speed) as long as at least one of them is defined and this is always the case
53 because wxArrays are used by wxWidgets internally. This class has one serious
54 limitation: it can only be used for storing integral types (bool, char, short,
55 int, long and their unsigned variants) or pointers (of any kind). An attempt
56 to use with objects of sizeof() greater than sizeof(long) will provoke a
57 runtime assertion failure, however declaring a wxArray of floats will not (on
58 the machines where sizeof(float) <= sizeof(long)), yet it will {\bf not} work,
59 please use wxObjArray for storing floats and doubles (NB: a more efficient
60 wxArrayDouble class is scheduled for the next release of wxWidgets).
61
62 wxSortedArray is a wxArray variant which should be used when searching in the
63 array is a frequently used operation. It requires you to define an additional
64 function for comparing two elements of the array element type and always stores
65 its items in the sorted order (according to this function). Thus, it is
66 \helpref{Index()}{wxarrayindex} function execution time is $O(log(N))$ instead of
67 $O(N)$ for the usual arrays but the \helpref{Add()}{wxarrayadd} method is
68 slower: it is $O(log(N))$ instead of constant time (neglecting time spent in
69 memory allocation routine). However, in a usual situation elements are added to
70 an array much less often than searched inside it, so wxSortedArray may lead to
71 huge performance improvements compared to wxArray. Finally, it should be
72 noticed that, as wxArray, wxSortedArray can be only used for storing integral
73 types or pointers.
74
75 wxObjArray class treats its elements like "objects". It may delete them when
76 they are removed from the array (invoking the correct destructor) and copies
77 them using the objects copy constructor. In order to implement this behaviour
78 the definition of the wxObjArray arrays is split in two parts: first, you should
79 declare the new wxObjArray class using WX\_DECLARE\_OBJARRAY() macro and then
80 you must include the file defining the implementation of template type:
81 <wx/arrimpl.cpp> and define the array class with WX\_DEFINE\_OBJARRAY() macro
82 from a point where the full (as opposed to `forward') declaration of the array
83 elements class is in scope. As it probably sounds very complicated here is an
84 example:
85
86 \begin{verbatim}
87 #include <wx/dynarray.h>
88
89 // we must forward declare the array because it is used inside the class
90 // declaration
91 class MyDirectory;
92 class MyFile;
93
94 // this defines two new types: ArrayOfDirectories and ArrayOfFiles which can be
95 // now used as shown below
96 WX_DECLARE_OBJARRAY(MyDirectory, ArrayOfDirectories);
97 WX_DECLARE_OBJARRAY(MyFile, ArrayOfFiles);
98
99 class MyDirectory
100 {
101 ...
102 ArrayOfDirectories m_subdirectories; // all subdirectories
103 ArrayOfFiles m_files; // all files in this directory
104 };
105
106 ...
107
108 // now that we have MyDirectory declaration in scope we may finish the
109 // definition of ArrayOfDirectories -- note that this expands into some C++
110 // code and so should only be compiled once (i.e., don't put this in the
111 // header, but into a source file or you will get linking errors)
112 #include <wx/arrimpl.cpp> // this is a magic incantation which must be done!
113 WX_DEFINE_OBJARRAY(ArrayOfDirectories);
114
115 // that's all!
116 \end{verbatim}
117
118 It is not as elegant as writing
119
120 \begin{verbatim}
121 typedef std::vector<MyDirectory> ArrayOfDirectories;
122 \end{verbatim}
123
124 but is not that complicated and allows the code to be compiled with any, however
125 dumb, C++ compiler in the world.
126
127 Things are much simpler for wxArray and wxSortedArray however: it is enough
128 just to write
129
130 \begin{verbatim}
131 WX_DEFINE_ARRAY(int, ArrayOfDirectories);
132 WX_DEFINE_SORTED_ARRAY(int, ArrayOfFiles);
133 \end{verbatim}
134
135 i.e. there is only one {\tt DEFINE} macro and no need for separate
136 {\tt DECLARE} one.
137
138
139 \wxheading{See also:}
140
141 \helpref{Container classes overview}{wxcontaineroverview}, \helpref{wxList}{wxlist}
142
143 \wxheading{Include files}
144
145 <wx/dynarray.h> for wxArray and wxSortedArray and additionally <wx/arrimpl.cpp>
146 for wxObjArray.
147
148 \latexignore{\rtfignore{\wxheading{Function groups}}}
149
150 \membersection{Macros for template array definition}\label{arraymacros}
151
152 To use an array you must first define the array class. This is done with the
153 help of the macros in this section. The class of array elements must be (at
154 least) forward declared for WX\_DEFINE\_ARRAY, WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_ARRAY and
155 WX\_DECLARE\_OBJARRAY macros and must be fully declared before you use
156 WX\_DEFINE\_OBJARRAY macro.
157
158 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_ARRAY}{wxdefinearray}\\
159 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{wxdefinearray}\\
160 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_USER\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{wxdefinearray}\\
161 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_ARRAY}{wxdefinesortedarray}\\
162 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{wxdefinesortedarray}\\
163 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_USER\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{wxdefinesortedarray}\\
164 \helpref{WX\_DECLARE\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{wxdeclareobjarray}\\
165 \helpref{WX\_DECLARE\_USER\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{wxdeclareobjarray}\\
166 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_OBJARRAY}{wxdefineobjarray}\\
167 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{wxdefineobjarray}\\
168 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_USER\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{wxdefineobjarray}
169
170 To slightly complicate the matters even further, the operator $->$ defined by
171 default for the array iterators by these macros only makes sense if the array
172 element type is not a pointer itself and, although it still works, this
173 provokes warnings from some compilers and to avoid them you should use the
174 {\tt \_PTR} versions of the macros above. For example, to define an array of
175 pointers to {\tt double} you should use:
176
177 \begin{verbatim}
178 WX_DEFINE_ARRAY_PTR(double *, MyArrayOfDoublePointers);
179 \end{verbatim}
180
181 Note that the above macros are generally only useful for
182 wxObject types. There are separate macros for declaring an array of a simple type,
183 such as an int.
184
185 The following simple types are supported:\\
186 int\\
187 long\\
188 size\_t\\
189 double
190
191 To create an array of a simple type, simply append the type you want in CAPS to
192 the array definition.
193
194 For example, for an integer array, you'd use one of the following variants:
195
196 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_ARRAY\_INT}{wxdefinearray}\\
197 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY\_INT}{wxdefinearray}\\
198 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_USER\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY\_INT}{wxdefinearray}\\
199 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_ARRAY\_INT}{wxdefinesortedarray}\\
200 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY\_INT}{wxdefinesortedarray}\\
201 \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_USER\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY\_INT}{wxdefinesortedarray}\\
202
203 \membersection{Constructors and destructors}\label{arrayconstructorsdestructors}
204
205 Array classes are 100\% C++ objects and as such they have the appropriate copy
206 constructors and assignment operators. Copying wxArray just copies the elements
207 but copying wxObjArray copies the arrays items. However, for memory-efficiency
208 sake, neither of these classes has virtual destructor. It is not very important
209 for wxArray which has trivial destructor anyhow, but it does mean that you
210 should avoid deleting wxObjArray through a wxBaseArray pointer (as you would
211 never use wxBaseArray anyhow it shouldn't be a problem) and that you should not
212 derive your own classes from the array classes.
213
214 \helpref{wxArray default constructor}{wxarrayctordef}\\
215 \helpref{wxArray copy constructors and assignment operators}{wxarrayctorcopy}\\
216 \helpref{\destruct{wxArray}}{wxarraydtor}
217
218 \membersection{Memory management}\label{wxarraymemorymanagement}
219
220 Automatic array memory management is quite trivial: the array starts by
221 preallocating some minimal amount of memory (defined by
222 WX\_ARRAY\_DEFAULT\_INITIAL\_SIZE) and when further new items exhaust already
223 allocated memory it reallocates it adding 50\% of the currently allocated
224 amount, but no more than some maximal number which is defined by
225 ARRAY\_MAXSIZE\_INCREMENT constant. Of course, this may lead to some memory
226 being wasted (ARRAY\_MAXSIZE\_INCREMENT in the worst case, i.e. 4Kb in the
227 current implementation), so the \helpref{Shrink()}{wxarrayshrink} function is
228 provided to deallocate the extra memory. The \helpref{Alloc()}{wxarrayalloc}
229 function can also be quite useful if you know in advance how many items you are
230 going to put in the array and will prevent the array code from reallocating the
231 memory more times than needed.
232
233 \helpref{Alloc}{wxarrayalloc}\\
234 \helpref{Shrink}{wxarrayshrink}
235
236 \membersection{Number of elements and simple item access}\label{arrayelementsaccess}
237
238 Functions in this section return the total number of array elements and allow to
239 retrieve them - possibly using just the C array indexing $[]$ operator which
240 does exactly the same as \helpref{Item()}{wxarrayitem} method.
241
242 \helpref{Count}{wxarraycount}\\
243 \helpref{GetCount}{wxarraygetcount}\\
244 \helpref{IsEmpty}{wxarrayisempty}\\
245 \helpref{Item}{wxarrayitem}\\
246 \helpref{Last}{wxarraylast}
247
248 \membersection{Adding items}\label{arrayadding}
249
250 \helpref{Add}{wxarrayadd}\\
251 \helpref{Insert}{wxarrayinsert}\\
252 \helpref{SetCount}{wxarraysetcount}\\
253 \helpref{WX\_APPEND\_ARRAY}{wxappendarray}
254
255 \membersection{Removing items}\label{arrayremoving}
256
257 \helpref{WX\_CLEAR\_ARRAY}{wxcleararray}\\
258 \helpref{Empty}{wxarrayempty}\\
259 \helpref{Clear}{wxarrayclear}\\
260 \helpref{RemoveAt}{wxarrayremoveat}\\
261 \helpref{Remove}{wxarrayremove}
262
263 \membersection{Searching and sorting}\label{arraysearchingandsorting}
264
265 \helpref{Index}{wxarrayindex}\\
266 \helpref{Sort}{wxarraysort}
267
268 %%%%% MEMBERS HERE %%%%%
269 \helponly{\insertatlevel{2}{
270
271 \wxheading{Members}
272
273 }}
274
275 \membersection{WX\_DEFINE\_ARRAY}\label{wxdefinearray}
276
277 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_ARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
278
279 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
280
281 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_USER\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}, \param{}{exportspec}}
282
283 This macro defines a new array class named {\it name} and containing the
284 elements of type {\it T}. The second form is used when compiling wxWidgets as
285 a DLL under Windows and array needs to be visible outside the DLL. The third is
286 needed for exporting an array from a user DLL.
287
288 Example:
289
290 \begin{verbatim}
291 WX_DEFINE_ARRAY_INT(int, MyArrayInt);
292
293 class MyClass;
294 WX_DEFINE_ARRAY(MyClass *, ArrayOfMyClass);
295 \end{verbatim}
296
297 Note that wxWidgets predefines the following standard array classes: wxArrayInt,
298 wxArrayLong and wxArrayPtrVoid.
299
300 \membersection{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_ARRAY}\label{wxdefinesortedarray}
301
302 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_ARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
303
304 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
305
306 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_SORTED\_USER\_EXPORTED\_ARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
307
308 This macro defines a new sorted array class named {\it name} and containing
309 the elements of type {\it T}. The second form is used when compiling wxWidgets as
310 a DLL under Windows and array needs to be visible outside the DLL. The third is
311 needed for exporting an array from a user DLL.
312
313 Example:
314
315 \begin{verbatim}
316 WX_DEFINE_SORTED_ARRAY_INT(int, MySortedArrayInt);
317
318 class MyClass;
319 WX_DEFINE_SORTED_ARRAY(MyClass *, ArrayOfMyClass);
320 \end{verbatim}
321
322 You will have to initialize the objects of this class by passing a comparison
323 function to the array object constructor like this:
324
325 \begin{verbatim}
326 int CompareInts(int n1, int n2)
327 {
328 return n1 - n2;
329 }
330
331 wxSortedArrayInt sorted(CompareInts);
332
333 int CompareMyClassObjects(MyClass *item1, MyClass *item2)
334 {
335 // sort the items by their address...
336 return Stricmp(item1->GetAddress(), item2->GetAddress());
337 }
338
339 wxArrayOfMyClass another(CompareMyClassObjects);
340 \end{verbatim}
341
342 \membersection{WX\_DECLARE\_OBJARRAY}\label{wxdeclareobjarray}
343
344 \func{}{WX\_DECLARE\_OBJARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
345
346 \func{}{WX\_DECLARE\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
347
348 \func{}{WX\_DECLARE\_USER\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{\param{}{T}, \param{}{name}}
349
350 This macro declares a new object array class named {\it name} and containing
351 the elements of type {\it T}. The second form is used when compiling wxWidgets as
352 a DLL under Windows and array needs to be visible outside the DLL. The third is
353 needed for exporting an array from a user DLL.
354
355 Example:
356
357 \begin{verbatim}
358 class MyClass;
359 WX_DECLARE_OBJARRAY(MyClass, wxArrayOfMyClass); // note: not "MyClass *"!
360 \end{verbatim}
361
362 You must use \helpref{WX\_DEFINE\_OBJARRAY()}{wxdefineobjarray} macro to define
363 the array class - otherwise you would get link errors.
364
365 \membersection{WX\_DEFINE\_OBJARRAY}\label{wxdefineobjarray}
366
367 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_OBJARRAY}{\param{}{name}}
368
369 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{\param{}{name}}
370
371 \func{}{WX\_DEFINE\_USER\_EXPORTED\_OBJARRAY}{\param{}{name}}
372
373 This macro defines the methods of the array class {\it name} not defined by the
374 \helpref{WX\_DECLARE\_OBJARRAY()}{wxdeclareobjarray} macro. You must include the
375 file <wx/arrimpl.cpp> before using this macro and you must have the full
376 declaration of the class of array elements in scope! If you forget to do the
377 first, the error will be caught by the compiler, but, unfortunately, many
378 compilers will not give any warnings if you forget to do the second - but the
379 objects of the class will not be copied correctly and their real destructor will
380 not be called. The latter two forms are merely aliases of the first to satisfy
381 some people's sense of symmetry when using the exported declarations.
382
383 Example of usage:
384
385 \begin{verbatim}
386 // first declare the class!
387 class MyClass
388 {
389 public:
390 MyClass(const MyClass&);
391
392 ...
393
394 virtual ~MyClass();
395 };
396
397 #include <wx/arrimpl.cpp>
398 WX_DEFINE_OBJARRAY(wxArrayOfMyClass);
399 \end{verbatim}
400
401 \membersection{WX\_APPEND\_ARRAY}\label{wxappendarray}
402
403 \func{void}{WX\_APPEND\_ARRAY}{\param{wxArray\& }{array}, \param{wxArray\& }{other}}
404
405 This macro may be used to append all elements of the {\it other} array to the
406 {\it array}. The two arrays must be of the same type.
407
408 \membersection{WX\_CLEAR\_ARRAY}\label{wxcleararray}
409
410 \func{void}{WX\_CLEAR\_ARRAY}{\param{wxArray\& }{array}}
411
412 This macro may be used to delete all elements of the array before emptying it.
413 It can not be used with wxObjArrays - but they will delete their elements anyhow
414 when you call Empty().
415
416 \membersection{Default constructors}\label{wxarrayctordef}
417
418 \func{}{wxArray}{\void}
419
420 \func{}{wxObjArray}{\void}
421
422 Default constructor initializes an empty array object.
423
424 \func{}{wxSortedArray}{\param{int (*)(T first, T second)}{compareFunction}}
425
426 There is no default constructor for wxSortedArray classes - you must initialize it
427 with a function to use for item comparison. It is a function which is passed
428 two arguments of type {\it T} where {\it T} is the array element type and which
429 should return a negative, zero or positive value according to whether the first
430 element passed to it is less than, equal to or greater than the second one.
431
432 \membersection{wxArray copy constructor and assignment operator}\label{wxarrayctorcopy}
433
434 \func{}{wxArray}{\param{const wxArray\& }{array}}
435
436 \func{}{wxSortedArray}{\param{const wxSortedArray\& }{array}}
437
438 \func{}{wxObjArray}{\param{const wxObjArray\& }{array}}
439
440 \func{wxArray\&}{operator$=$}{\param{const wxArray\& }{array}}
441
442 \func{wxSortedArray\&}{operator$=$}{\param{const wxSortedArray\& }{array}}
443
444 \func{wxObjArray\&}{operator$=$}{\param{const wxObjArray\& }{array}}
445
446 The copy constructors and assignment operators perform a shallow array copy
447 (i.e. they don't copy the objects pointed to even if the source array contains
448 the items of pointer type) for wxArray and wxSortedArray and a deep copy (i.e.
449 the array element are copied too) for wxObjArray.
450
451 \membersection{wxArray::\destruct{wxArray}}\label{wxarraydtor}
452
453 \func{}{\destruct{wxArray}}{\void}
454
455 \func{}{\destruct{wxSortedArray}}{\void}
456
457 \func{}{\destruct{wxObjArray}}{\void}
458
459 The wxObjArray destructor deletes all the items owned by the array. This is not
460 done by wxArray and wxSortedArray versions - you may use
461 \helpref{WX\_CLEAR\_ARRAY}{wxcleararray} macro for this.
462
463 \membersection{wxArray::Add}\label{wxarrayadd}
464
465 \func{void}{Add}{\param{T }{item}, \param{size\_t}{ copies = $1$}}
466
467 \func{void}{Add}{\param{T *}{item}}
468
469 \func{void}{Add}{\param{T \&}{item}, \param{size\_t}{ copies = $1$}}
470
471 Appends the given number of {\it copies} of the {\it item} to the array
472 consisting of the elements of type {\it T}.
473
474 The first version is used with wxArray and wxSortedArray. The second and the
475 third are used with wxObjArray. There is an important difference between
476 them: if you give a pointer to the array, it will take ownership of it, i.e.
477 will delete it when the item is deleted from the array. If you give a reference
478 to the array, however, the array will make a copy of the item and will not take
479 ownership of the original item. Once again, it only makes sense for wxObjArrays
480 because the other array types never take ownership of their elements. Also note
481 that you cannot append more than one pointer as reusing it would lead to
482 deleting it twice (or more) and hence to a crash.
483
484 You may also use \helpref{WX\_APPEND\_ARRAY}{wxappendarray} macro to append all
485 elements of one array to another one but it is more efficient to use
486 {\it copies} parameter and modify the elements in place later if you plan to
487 append a lot of items.
488
489 \membersection{wxArray::Alloc}\label{wxarrayalloc}
490
491 \func{void}{Alloc}{\param{size\_t }{count}}
492
493 Preallocates memory for a given number of array elements. It is worth calling
494 when the number of items which are going to be added to the array is known in
495 advance because it will save unneeded memory reallocation. If the array already
496 has enough memory for the given number of items, nothing happens.
497
498 \membersection{wxArray::Clear}\label{wxarrayclear}
499
500 \func{void}{Clear}{\void}
501
502 This function does the same as \helpref{Empty()}{wxarrayempty} and additionally
503 frees the memory allocated to the array.
504
505 \membersection{wxArray::Count}\label{wxarraycount}
506
507 \constfunc{size\_t}{Count}{\void}
508
509 Same as \helpref{GetCount()}{wxarraygetcount}. This function is deprecated -
510 it exists only for compatibility.
511
512 \membersection{wxObjArray::Detach}\label{wxobjarraydetach}
513
514 \func{T *}{Detach}{\param{size\_t }{index}}
515
516 Removes the element from the array, but, unlike,
517 \helpref{Remove()}{wxarrayremove} doesn't delete it. The function returns the
518 pointer to the removed element.
519
520 \membersection{wxArray::Empty}\label{wxarrayempty}
521
522 \func{void}{Empty}{\void}
523
524 Empties the array. For wxObjArray classes, this destroys all of the array
525 elements. For wxArray and wxSortedArray this does nothing except marking the
526 array of being empty - this function does not free the allocated memory, use
527 \helpref{Clear()}{wxarrayclear} for this.
528
529 \membersection{wxArray::GetCount}\label{wxarraygetcount}
530
531 \constfunc{size\_t}{GetCount}{\void}
532
533 Return the number of items in the array.
534
535 \membersection{wxArray::Index}\label{wxarrayindex}
536
537 \func{int}{Index}{\param{T\& }{item}, \param{bool }{searchFromEnd = false}}
538
539 \func{int}{Index}{\param{T\& }{item}}
540
541 The first version of the function is for wxArray and wxObjArray, the second is
542 for wxSortedArray only.
543
544 Searches the element in the array, starting from either beginning or the end
545 depending on the value of {\it searchFromEnd} parameter. {\tt wxNOT\_FOUND} is
546 returned if the element is not found, otherwise the index of the element is
547 returned.
548
549 Linear search is used for the wxArray and wxObjArray classes but binary search
550 in the sorted array is used for wxSortedArray (this is why searchFromEnd
551 parameter doesn't make sense for it).
552
553 {\bf NB:} even for wxObjArray classes, the operator==() of the elements in the
554 array is {\bf not} used by this function. It searches exactly the given
555 element in the array and so will only succeed if this element had been
556 previously added to the array, but fail even if another, identical, element is
557 in the array.
558
559 \membersection{wxArray::Insert}\label{wxarrayinsert}
560
561 \func{void}{Insert}{\param{T }{item}, \param{size\_t }{n}, \param{size\_t }{copies = $1$}}
562
563 \func{void}{Insert}{\param{T *}{item}, \param{size\_t }{n}}
564
565 \func{void}{Insert}{\param{T \&}{item}, \param{size\_t }{n}, \param{size\_t }{copies = $1$}}
566
567 Insert the given number of {\it copies} of the {\it item} into the array before
568 the existing item {\it n} - thus, {\it Insert(something, 0u)} will insert an
569 item in such way that it will become the first array element.
570
571 Please see \helpref{Add()}{wxarrayadd} for explanation of the differences
572 between the overloaded versions of this function.
573
574 \membersection{wxArray::IsEmpty}\label{wxarrayisempty}
575
576 \constfunc{bool}{IsEmpty}{\void}
577
578 Returns true if the array is empty, false otherwise.
579
580 \membersection{wxArray::Item}\label{wxarrayitem}
581
582 \constfunc{T\&}{Item}{\param{size\_t }{index}}
583
584 Returns the item at the given position in the array. If {\it index} is out of
585 bounds, an assert failure is raised in the debug builds but nothing special is
586 done in the release build.
587
588 The returned value is of type "reference to the array element type" for all of
589 the array classes.
590
591 \membersection{wxArray::Last}\label{wxarraylast}
592
593 \constfunc{T\&}{Last}{\void}
594
595 Returns the last element in the array, i.e. is the same as Item(GetCount() - 1).
596 An assert failure is raised in the debug mode if the array is empty.
597
598 The returned value is of type "reference to the array element type" for all of
599 the array classes.
600
601 \membersection{wxArray::Remove}\label{wxarrayremove}
602
603 \func{\void}{Remove}{\param{T }{item}}
604
605 Removes an element from the array by value: the first item of the
606 array equal to {\it item} is removed, an assert failure will result from an
607 attempt to remove an item which doesn't exist in the array.
608
609 When an element is removed from wxObjArray it is deleted by the array - use
610 \helpref{Detach()}{wxobjarraydetach} if you don't want this to happen. On the
611 other hand, when an object is removed from a wxArray nothing happens - you
612 should delete it manually if required:
613
614 \begin{verbatim}
615 T *item = array[n];
616 delete item;
617 array.Remove(n)
618 \end{verbatim}
619
620 See also \helpref{WX\_CLEAR\_ARRAY}{wxcleararray} macro which deletes all
621 elements of a wxArray (supposed to contain pointers).
622
623 \membersection{wxArray::RemoveAt}\label{wxarrayremoveat}
624
625 \func{\void}{RemoveAt}{\param{size\_t }{index}, \param{size\_t }{count = $1$}}
626
627 Removes {\it count} elements starting at {\it index} from the array. When an
628 element is removed from wxObjArray it is deleted by the array - use
629 \helpref{Detach()}{wxobjarraydetach} if you don't want this to happen. On
630 the other hand, when an object is removed from a wxArray nothing happens -
631 you should delete it manually if required:
632
633 \begin{verbatim}
634 T *item = array[n];
635 delete item;
636 array.RemoveAt(n)
637 \end{verbatim}
638
639 See also \helpref{WX\_CLEAR\_ARRAY}{wxcleararray} macro which deletes all
640 elements of a wxArray (supposed to contain pointers).
641
642 \membersection{wxArray::SetCount}\label{wxarraysetcount}
643
644 \func{void}{SetCount}{\param{size\_t }{count}, \param{T }{defval = T($0$)}}
645
646 This function ensures that the number of array elements is at least
647 {\it count}. If the array has already {\it count} or more items, nothing is
648 done. Otherwise, {\tt count - GetCount()} elements are added and initialized to
649 the value {\it defval}.
650
651 \wxheading{See also}
652
653 \helpref{GetCount}{wxarraygetcount}
654
655 \membersection{wxArray::Shrink}\label{wxarrayshrink}
656
657 \func{void}{Shrink}{\void}
658
659 Frees all memory unused by the array. If the program knows that no new items
660 will be added to the array it may call Shrink() to reduce its memory usage.
661 However, if a new item is added to the array, some extra memory will be
662 allocated again.
663
664 \membersection{wxArray::Sort}\label{wxarraysort}
665
666 \func{void}{Sort}{\param{CMPFUNC<T> }{compareFunction}}
667
668 The notation CMPFUNC<T> should be read as if we had the following declaration:
669
670 \begin{verbatim}
671 template int CMPFUNC(T *first, T *second);
672 \end{verbatim}
673
674 where {\it T} is the type of the array elements. I.e. it is a function returning
675 {\it int} which is passed two arguments of type {\it T *}.
676
677 Sorts the array using the specified compare function: this function should
678 return a negative, zero or positive value according to whether the first element
679 passed to it is less than, equal to or greater than the second one.
680
681 wxSortedArray doesn't have this function because it is always sorted.