OrderedBitField

Alternative to bit-fields with guaranteed field order and alignment for C++17/20

Features

Fixed-ordered fields independent of implementation
Member access with custom enum or string literals
- Access by string literals requires a C++20 feature (P1907R1: nontype template arguments)
Support compound assignment operators

Flag macros

ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_REF_BY_STR: enable member access with string literals (requires C++20)
ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_DISALLOW_OVERSIZED_FIELD: disallow fields larger than the base type (C style)

Examples

Member access with string literals

#define ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_REF_BY_STR 1
#incldue <OrderedBitField/OrderedBitField.hpp>

using namespace OrderedBitField;

// ...

// Type definition
using F = BitField<uint8_t,                // storage type
                   Field<"a", 3>,          // mutable field "a" of size 3
                   ConstField<"b", 2, 3>,  // immutable field "b" of size 2 and value 3
                   Padding<2>,             // padding of size 2
                   Field<"c", 1, 1>>;      // mutable field "c" of size 1 and default value 1
F bit_field;

// Member access
auto a = get<"a">(bit_field);
a = 6;
auto b = get<"b">(bit_field);
// It fails because field "b" is const-qualified
// b = 1;
auto c = get<"c">(bit_field);
assert(static_cast<uint8_t>(c) == 2);

// Direct access to the storage
std::cout << std::bitset<8>(bit_field.Data[0]) << std::endl;
// Output: 10011110

Member access with enum

#define ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_REF_BY_STR 0
#incldue <OrderedBitField/OrderedBitField.hpp>

using namespace OrderedBitField;

// ...

// Type definition
enum class FieldName { A, B, C };

using F = BitField<uint8_t,                         // storage type
                   Field<FieldName::A, 3>,          // mutable field FieldName::A of size 3
                   ConstField<FieldName::B, 2, 3>,  // immutable field FieldName::B of size 2 and value 3
                   Padding<2>,                      // padding of size 2
                   Field<FieldName::C, 1, 1>>;      // mutable field FieldName::C of size 1 and default value 1
F bit_field;

// Member access
auto a = get<FieldName::A>(bit_field);
a = 6;
auto b = get<FieldName::B>(bit_field);
// It fails because field "b" is const-qualified
// b = 1;
auto c = get<FieldName::C>(bit_field);
assert(static_cast<uint8_t>(c) == 2);

// Direct access to the storage
std::cout << std::bitset<8>(bit_field.Data[0]) << std::endl;
// Output: 10011110

Note: The maximum value of the underlying type of the enum is used to represent unnamed fields (paddings).

Specification

Fields are stored from least significant bit to most significant bit:

BitField<uint8_t, Field<"a", 3>, Field<"b", 1>, Field<"c", 1>> BF;
//             7       5  4   3  2       0
//            +---------+---+---+---------+
// BF.Data[0] | (empty) |"c"|"b"|   "a"   |
//            +---------+---+---+---------+

If a field crosses a allocation unit boundary, it starts at the next allocation unit:

BitField<uint8_t, Field<"a", 3>, Field<"b", 1>, Field<"c", 5>> BF_8x2;
//                 7         4  3  2       0
//                +-----------+---+---------+
// BF_8x2.Data[0] |  (empty)  |"b"|   "a"   |
//                +-----------+---+---------+
//                 7       5 4             0
//                +---------+---------------+
// BF_8x2.Data[1] | (empty) |      "c"      |
//                +---------+---------------+

BitField<uint8_t, Field<"a", 3>, Field<"b", 1>, Field<"c", 5>> BF_16x1;
//                  15        9 8             4  3  2       0
//                 +----...----+---------------+---+---------+
// BF_16x1.Data[0] |  (empty)  |      "c"      |"b"|   "a"   |
//                 +----...----+---------------+---+---------+

Fields of size zero break the padding and the next fields start from the next allocation unit:

BitField<uint8_t, Field<"a", 3>, Field<"b", 1>, Padding<0>, Field<"c", 1>> BF;
//             7         4  3  2       0
//            +-----------+---+---------+
// BF.Data[0] |  (empty)  |"b"|   "a"   |
//            +-----------+---+---------+
//             7                   1  0
//            +---------------------+---+
// BF.Data[1] |       (empty)       |"c"|
//            +---------------------+---+

Integration

Just copy include/OrderedBitField directory into your project and include OrderedBitField/OrderedBitField.hpp:

// If you use string literals to access fields:
#define ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_REF_BY_STR 1

// If you disallow fields larger than the base type:
#define ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_DISALLOW_OVERSIZED_FIELD 1

#include <OrderedBitField/OrderedBitField.hpp>

CMake

Requires CMake >= 3.12.

find_package(OrderedBitField REQUIRED)
# ...
target_link_libraries(your_target OrderedBitField::OrderedBitField)

# to enable options, set properties to your target
set_target_properties(your_target PROPERTIES
  ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_REF_BY_STR ON
  ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_DISALLOW_OVERSIZED_FIELD ON)

Instead, clone this repository and add to your project by add_subdirectory().

add_subdirectory(path/to/OrderedBitField)

target_link_libraries(your_target OrderedBitField::OrderedBitField)
set_target_properties(your_target PROPERTIES
  ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_REF_BY_STR ON)

You can also use FetchContent.

include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
  OrderedBitField
  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/Haru-T/OrderedBitField
  GIT_TAG v0.1.0)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(OrderedBitField)

target_link_libraries(your_target OrderedBitField::OrderedBitField)
set_target_properties(your_target PROPERTIES
  ORDERED_BIT_FIELD_REF_BY_STR ON)

API Documentation

You can generate the API documentation with CMake and Doxygen (CMake target: OrderedBitFieldDoc).

License

This library is dual-licensed under the Apache 2.0 and MIT terms.