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