How do I interoperate with C APIs std::variant in C++?

Interoperating with C APIs using std::variant in C++ can enhance type safety and flexibility in handling different return types from C functions. Below is an example demonstrating how to create a simple C API that returns different types using std::variant. This allows for more robust error handling and streamlined data processing.

To start, we can define a C function that returns different types, and then in our C++ code, we will utilize std::variant to handle these return types.

// C API Example #include #include typedef struct { enum { INT_TYPE, FLOAT_TYPE, STRING_TYPE } type; union { int i; float f; char *s; } value; } Variant; Variant get_variant(int choice) { Variant v; if (choice == 1) { v.type = INT_TYPE; v.value.i = 42; } else if (choice == 2) { v.type = FLOAT_TYPE; v.value.f = 3.14f; } else { v.type = STRING_TYPE; v.value.s = "Hello, World!"; } return v; } // C++ code using std::variant #include #include #include using MyVariant = std::variant; MyVariant getCVariant(int choice) { Variant v = get_variant(choice); switch(v.type) { case INT_TYPE: return v.value.i; case FLOAT_TYPE: return v.value.f; case STRING_TYPE: return std::string(v.value.s); } // Fallback in case of an invalid choice return 0; // or throw an exception } int main() { MyVariant var = getCVariant(2); std::visit([](auto&& arg){ std::cout << arg << '\n'; }, var); return 0; }

C APIs C++ std::variant type safety error handling