This allows you to use:
cls.def(py::init(&factory_function));
where `factory_function` returns a pointer, holder, or value of the
class type (or a derived type). Various compile-time checks
(static_asserts) are performed to ensure the function is valid, and
various run-time type checks where necessary.
Some other details of this feature:
- The `py::init` name doesn't conflict with the templated no-argument
`py::init<...>()`, but keeps the naming consistent: the existing
templated, no-argument one wraps constructors, the no-template,
function-argument one wraps factory functions.
- If returning a CppClass (whether by value or pointer) when an CppAlias
is required (i.e. python-side inheritance and a declared alias), a
dynamic_cast to the alias is attempted (for the pointer version); if
it fails, or if returned by value, an Alias(Class &&) constructor
is invoked. If this constructor doesn't exist, a runtime error occurs.
- for holder returns when an alias is required, we try a dynamic_cast of
the wrapped pointer to the alias to see if it is already an alias
instance; if it isn't, we raise an error.
- `py::init(class_factory, alias_factory)` is also available that takes
two factories: the first is called when an alias is not needed, the
second when it is.
- Reimplement factory instance clearing. The previous implementation
failed under python-side multiple inheritance: *each* inherited
type's factory init would clear the instance instead of only setting
its own type value. The new implementation here clears just the
relevant value pointer.
- dealloc is updated to explicitly set the leftover value pointer to
nullptr and the `holder_constructed` flag to false so that it can be
used to clear preallocated value without needing to rebuild the
instance internals data.
- Added various tests to test out new allocation/deallocation code.
- With preallocation now done lazily, init factory holders can
completely avoid the extra overhead of needing an extra
allocation/deallocation.
- Updated documentation to make factory constructors the default
advanced constructor style.
- If an `__init__` is called a second time, we have two choices: we can
throw away the first instance, replacing it with the second; or we can
ignore the second call. The latter is slightly easier, so do that.
Instead of creating a new unique metaclass for each type, the builtin
`property` type is subclassed to support static properties. The new
setter/getters always pass types instead of instances in their `self`
argument. A metaclass is still required to support this behavior, but
it doesn't store any data anymore, so a new one doesn't need to be
created for each class. There is now only one common metaclass which
is shared by all pybind11 types.
Use simple asserts and pytest's powerful introspection to make testing
simpler. This merges the old .py/.ref file pairs into simple .py files
where the expected values are right next to the code being tested.
This commit does not touch the C++ part of the code and replicates the
Python tests exactly like the old .ref-file-based approach.
- new pybind11::base<> attribute to indicate a subclass relationship
- unified infrastructure for parsing variadic arguments in class_ and cpp_function
- use 'handle' and 'object' more consistently everywhere