Instantiable

Include file:

Attribute/paramlist.h

list of ParamStruct objects that defines the possible signature of a serialized object, for use in de-serialization (istream constructors).

See OverlayScript and OverlayComp for an example of how this is used. OverlayScript is a serializing view of an OverlayComp, and generates a variable length, ASCII record (with arguments enclosed in parenthesis following the object name) that describes the internal state of an OverlayComp. Then later, the istream constructor of an OverlayComp uses the static ParamList object of its class to reverse the process (called de-serialization), to set the internal state of a newly constructed OverlayComp to mirror the internal state of the original object. This mechanism can be used for any struct or C++ class that needs to be saved out to disk for persistent storage, or transmitted over a socket.

Keep in mind that only relative addresses are used to construct the ParamStruct objects that make up the ParamList, and the actual base address used to resolve where to place data is different when the final object is constructed (except for the very first time an object of a given class gets constructed -- at that time the addresses used to build up the ParamList are the same ones used to populate the object).