The following code works in Visual Studio 2013 but fails to compile with clang or gcc so I am guessing it is not valid c++.
#include <iterator>
#include <type_traits>
#include <vector>
template< typename T >
class SupportsStdBegin
{
// std::false_type TestHasBegin( ... ) always exists.
template< typename >
static std::false_type TestSupportsBegin( ... );
// std::true_type TestHasBegin( int ) only exists if std::begin( T() ) is a valid expression.
template< typename U >
static auto TestSupportsBegin( int ) -> decltype( std::begin( std::declval< T >() ), std::true_type{ } );
public:
static const bool value = decltype( TestSupportsBegin< T >( 0 ) )::value;
};
static_assert( !SupportsStdBegin< int >::value, "'int' does not support std::begin()." );
const int TestArray[] = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, };
static_assert( SupportsStdBegin< decltype( TestArray ) >::value, "'const int TestArray[]' supports std::begin()." );
static_assert( SupportsStdBegin< std::vector< int > >::value, "'std::vector< int >' supports std::begin()." );
Can someone explain why SFINAE doesn't work as I'm expecting it to?
The line containing decltype( std::begin( std::declval< T >() ) fails for the static_assert for int type with the error:
error: no matching function for call to 'begin(int)'
I thought that this would mean SFINAE would fail and the implementation returning std::false_type would be used to set SupportsStdBegin< T >::value.
I understand there are alternate ways of writing this test but I would like to know why this particular way is not valid. I've successfully used it before to test if member functions exist.