How do I expand a tuple into variadic template function's arguments?

Question

Consider the case of a templated function with variadic template arguments:

template<typename Tret, typename... T> Tret func(const T&... t);

Now, I have a tuple t of values. How do I call func() using the tuple values as arguments? I've read about the bind() function object, with call() function, and also the apply() function in different some now-obsolete documents. The GNU GCC 4.4 implementation seems to have a call() function in the bind() class, but there is very little documentation on the subject.

Some people suggest hand-written recursive hacks, but the true value of variadic template arguments is to be able to use them in cases like above.

Does anyone have a solution to is, or hint on where to read about it?

Answer 1

Here's my code if anyone is interested

Basically at compile time the compiler will recursively unroll all arguments in various inclusive function calls <N> -> calls <N-1> -> calls ... -> calls <0> which is the last one and the compiler will optimize away the various intermediate function calls to only keep the last one which is the equivalent of func(arg1, arg2, arg3, ...)

Provided are 2 versions, one for a function called on an object and the other for a static function.

#include <tr1/tuple>

/**
 * Object Function Tuple Argument Unpacking
 *
 * This recursive template unpacks the tuple parameters into
 * variadic template arguments until we reach the count of 0 where the function
 * is called with the correct parameters
 *
 * @tparam N Number of tuple arguments to unroll
 *
 * @ingroup g_util_tuple
 */
template < uint N >
struct apply_obj_func
{
  template < typename T, typename... ArgsF, typename... ArgsT, typename... Args >
  static void applyTuple( T* pObj,
                          void (T::*f)( ArgsF... ),
                          const std::tr1::tuple<ArgsT...>& t,
                          Args... args )
  {
    apply_obj_func<N-1>::applyTuple( pObj, f, t, std::tr1::get<N-1>( t ), args... );
  }
};

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Object Function Tuple Argument Unpacking End Point
 *
 * This recursive template unpacks the tuple parameters into
 * variadic template arguments until we reach the count of 0 where the function
 * is called with the correct parameters
 *
 * @ingroup g_util_tuple
 */
template <>
struct apply_obj_func<0>
{
  template < typename T, typename... ArgsF, typename... ArgsT, typename... Args >
  static void applyTuple( T* pObj,
                          void (T::*f)( ArgsF... ),
                          const std::tr1::tuple<ArgsT...>& /* t */,
                          Args... args )
  {
    (pObj->*f)( args... );
  }
};

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Object Function Call Forwarding Using Tuple Pack Parameters
 */
// Actual apply function
template < typename T, typename... ArgsF, typename... ArgsT >
void applyTuple( T* pObj,
                 void (T::*f)( ArgsF... ),
                 std::tr1::tuple<ArgsT...> const& t )
{
   apply_obj_func<sizeof...(ArgsT)>::applyTuple( pObj, f, t );
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Static Function Tuple Argument Unpacking
 *
 * This recursive template unpacks the tuple parameters into
 * variadic template arguments until we reach the count of 0 where the function
 * is called with the correct parameters
 *
 * @tparam N Number of tuple arguments to unroll
 *
 * @ingroup g_util_tuple
 */
template < uint N >
struct apply_func
{
  template < typename... ArgsF, typename... ArgsT, typename... Args >
  static void applyTuple( void (*f)( ArgsF... ),
                          const std::tr1::tuple<ArgsT...>& t,
                          Args... args )
  {
    apply_func<N-1>::applyTuple( f, t, std::tr1::get<N-1>( t ), args... );
  }
};

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Static Function Tuple Argument Unpacking End Point
 *
 * This recursive template unpacks the tuple parameters into
 * variadic template arguments until we reach the count of 0 where the function
 * is called with the correct parameters
 *
 * @ingroup g_util_tuple
 */
template <>
struct apply_func<0>
{
  template < typename... ArgsF, typename... ArgsT, typename... Args >
  static void applyTuple( void (*f)( ArgsF... ),
                          const std::tr1::tuple<ArgsT...>& /* t */,
                          Args... args )
  {
    f( args... );
  }
};

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Static Function Call Forwarding Using Tuple Pack Parameters
 */
// Actual apply function
template < typename... ArgsF, typename... ArgsT >
void applyTuple( void (*f)(ArgsF...),
                 std::tr1::tuple<ArgsT...> const& t )
{
   apply_func<sizeof...(ArgsT)>::applyTuple( f, t );
}

// ***************************************
// Usage
// ***************************************

template < typename T, typename... Args >
class Message : public IMessage
{

  typedef void (T::*F)( Args... args );

public:

  Message( const std::string& name,
           T& obj,
           F pFunc,
           Args... args );

private:

  virtual void doDispatch( );

  T*  pObj_;
  F   pFunc_;
  std::tr1::tuple<Args...> args_;
};

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

template < typename T, typename... Args >
Message<T, Args...>::Message( const std::string& name,
                              T& obj,
                              F pFunc,
                              Args... args )
: IMessage( name ),
  pObj_( &obj ),
  pFunc_( pFunc ),
  args_( std::forward<Args>(args)... )
{

}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

template < typename T, typename... Args >
void Message<T, Args...>::doDispatch( )
{
  try
  {
    applyTuple( pObj_, pFunc_, args_ );
  }
  catch ( std::exception& e )
  {

  }
}