Check if a class has a member function of a given signature

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly, but you may exploit SFINAE to detect function presence at compile-time. Example from my code (tests if class has member function size_t used_memory() const).

template<typename T>
struct HasUsedMemoryMethod
{
    template<typename U, size_t (U::*)() const> struct SFINAE {};
    template<typename U> static char Test(SFINAE<U, &U::used_memory>*);
    template<typename U> static int Test(...);
    static const bool Has = sizeof(Test<T>(0)) == sizeof(char);
};

template<typename TMap>
void ReportMemUsage(const TMap& m, std::true_type)
{
        // We may call used_memory() on m here.
}
template<typename TMap>
void ReportMemUsage(const TMap&, std::false_type)
{
}
template<typename TMap>
void ReportMemUsage(const TMap& m)
{
    ReportMemUsage(m, 
        std::integral_constant<bool, HasUsedMemoryMethod<TMap>::Has>());
}

This should be sufficient, if you know the name of the member function you are expecting. (In this case, the function bla fails to instantiate if there is no member function (writing one that works anyway is tough because there is a lack of function partial specialization. You may need to use class templates) Also, the enable struct (which is similar to enable_if) could also be templated on the type of function you want it to have as a member.

template <typename T, int (T::*) ()> struct enable { typedef T type; };
template <typename T> typename enable<T, &T::i>::type bla (T&);
struct A { void i(); };
struct B { int i(); };
int main()
{
  A a;
  B b;
  bla(b);
  bla(a);
}

With c++ 20 this becomes much simpler. Say we want to test if a class T has a member function void T::resize(typename T::size_type). For example, std::vector<U> has such a member function. Then,

template<typename T>
concept has_resize_member_func = requires {
    typename T::size_type;
    { std::declval<T>().resize(std::declval<typename T::size_type>()) } -> std::same_as<void>;
};

and the usage is

static_assert(has_resize_member_func<std::string>, "");
static_assert(has_resize_member_func<int> == false, "");

You appear to want the detector idiom. The above answers are variations on this that work with C++11 or C++14.

The std::experimental library has features which do essentially this. Reworking an example from above, it might be:

#include <experimental/type_traits>

// serialized_method_t is a detector type for T.serialize(int) const
template<typename T>
using serialized_method_t = decltype(std::declval<const T&>().serialize(std::declval<int>()));

// has_serialize_t is std::true_type when T.serialize(int) exists,
// and false otherwise.
template<typename T>
using has_serialize_t = std::experimental::is_detected_t<serialized_method_t, T>;

If you can't use std::experimental, a rudimentary version can be made like this:

template <typename... Ts>
using void_t = void;
template <template <class...> class Trait, class AlwaysVoid, class... Args>
struct detector : std::false_type {};
template <template <class...> class Trait, class... Args>
struct detector<Trait, void_t<Trait<Args...>>, Args...> : std::true_type {};

// serialized_method_t is a detector type for T.serialize(int) const
template<typename T>
using serialized_method_t = decltype(std::declval<const T&>().serialize(std::declval<int>()));

// has_serialize_t is std::true_type when T.serialize(int) exists,
// and false otherwise.
template <typename T>
using has_serialize_t = typename detector<serialized_method_t, void, T>::type;

Since has_serialize_t is really either std::true_type or std::false_type, it can be used via any of the common SFINAE idioms:

template<class T>
std::enable_if_t<has_serialize_t<T>::value, std::string>
SerializeToString(const T& t) {
}

Or by using dispatch with overload resolution:

template<class T>
std::string SerializeImpl(std::true_type, const T& t) {
  // call serialize here.
}

template<class T>
std::string SerializeImpl(std::false_type, const T& t) {
  // do something else here.
}

template<class T>
std::string Serialize(const T& t) {
  return SerializeImpl(has_serialize_t<T>{}, t);
}

To be non-intrusive, you can also put serialize in the namespace of the class being serialised, or of the archive class, thanks to Koenig lookup. See Namespaces for Free Function Overrides for more details. :-)

Opening up any given namespace to implement a free function is Simply Wrong. (e.g., you're not supposed to open up namespace std to implement swap for your own types, but should use Koenig lookup instead.)

Okay. Second try. It's okay if you don't like this one either, I'm looking for more ideas.

Herb Sutter's article talks about traits. So you can have a traits class whose default instantiation has the fallback behaviour, and for each class where your member function exists, then the traits class is specialised to invoke the member function. I believe Herb's article mentions a technique to do this so that it doesn't involve lots of copying and pasting.

Like I said, though, perhaps you don't want the extra work involved with "tagging" classes that do implement that member. In which case, I'm looking at a third solution....

If you are using facebook folly, there are out of box macro to help you:

#include <folly/Traits.h>
namespace {
  FOLLY_CREATE_HAS_MEMBER_FN_TRAITS(has_test_traits, test);
} // unnamed-namespace

void some_func() {
  cout << "Does class Foo have a member int test() const? "
    << boolalpha << has_test_traits<Foo, int() const>::value;
}

Though the implementation details is the same with the previous answer, use a library is simpler.

I had a similar need and came across o this SO. There are many interesting/powerful solutions proposed here, though it is a bit long for just a specific need : detect if a class has member function with a precise signature. So I did some reading/testing and came up with my version that could be of interest. It detect :

• static member function
• non-static member function
• non-static member function const

with a precise signature. Since I don't need to capture any signature (that'd require a more complicated solution), this one suites to me. It basically used enable_if_t.

struct Foo{ static int sum(int, const double&){return 0;} };
struct Bar{ int calc(int, const double&) {return 1;} };
struct BarConst{ int calc(int, const double&) const {return 1;} };

// Note : second typename can be void or anything, as long as it is consistent with the result of enable_if_t
template<typename T, typename = T> struct has_static_sum : std::false_type {};
template<typename T>
struct has_static_sum<typename T,
                        std::enable_if_t<std::is_same<decltype(T::sum), int(int, const double&)>::value,T> 
                      > : std::true_type {};

template<typename T, typename = T> struct has_calc : std::false_type {};
template<typename T>
struct has_calc <typename T,
                  std::enable_if_t<std::is_same<decltype(&T::calc), int(T::*)(int, const double&)>::value,T>
                > : std::true_type {};

template<typename T, typename = T> struct has_calc_const : std::false_type {};
template<typename T>
struct has_calc_const <T,
                        std::enable_if_t<std::is_same<decltype(&T::calc), int(T::*)(int, const double&) const>::value,T>
                      > : std::true_type {};

int main ()
{
    constexpr bool has_sum_val = has_static_sum<Foo>::value;
    constexpr bool not_has_sum_val = !has_static_sum<Bar>::value;

    constexpr bool has_calc_val = has_calc<Bar>::value;
    constexpr bool not_has_calc_val = !has_calc<Foo>::value;

    constexpr bool has_calc_const_val = has_calc_const<BarConst>::value;
    constexpr bool not_has_calc_const_val = !has_calc_const<Bar>::value;

    std::cout<< "           has_sum_val " << has_sum_val            << std::endl
             << "       not_has_sum_val " << not_has_sum_val        << std::endl
             << "          has_calc_val " << has_calc_val           << std::endl
             << "      not_has_calc_val " << not_has_calc_val       << std::endl
             << "    has_calc_const_val " << has_calc_const_val     << std::endl
             << "not_has_calc_const_val " << not_has_calc_const_val << std::endl;
}

Output :

           has_sum_val 1
       not_has_sum_val 1
          has_calc_val 1
      not_has_calc_val 1
    has_calc_const_val 1
not_has_calc_const_val 1

Building on jrok's answer, I have avoided using nested template classes and/or functions.

#include <type_traits>

#define CHECK_NESTED_FUNC(fName) \
    template <typename, typename, typename = std::void_t<>> \
    struct _has_##fName \
    : public std::false_type {}; \
    \
    template <typename Class, typename Ret, typename... Args> \
    struct _has_##fName<Class, Ret(Args...), \
        std::void_t<decltype(std::declval<Class>().fName(std::declval<Args>()...))>> \
    : public std::is_same<decltype(std::declval<Class>().fName(std::declval<Args>()...)), Ret> \
    {}; \
    \
    template <typename Class, typename Signature> \
    using has_##fName = _has_##fName<Class, Signature>;

#define HAS_NESTED_FUNC(Class, Func, Signature) has_##Func<Class, Signature>::value

We can use the above macros as below:

class Foo
{
public:
    void Bar(int, const char *) {}
};

CHECK_NESTED_FUNC(Bar);  // generate required metafunctions

int main()
{
    using namespace std;
    cout << boolalpha
         << HAS_NESTED_FUNC(Foo, Bar, void(int, const char *))  // prints true
         << endl;
    return 0;
}

Suggestions are welcome.