Better class declaration

[madsmtm]

Blocked on at least #21.

Fundamentally cannot be made safe, since you're calling into unknown Objective-C classes. Not even sure add_ivar is sound (since Objective-C could be using the same ivar in a superclass)?

• Fix Adding a method isn't ergonomic SSheldon/rust-objc#12
  Fixed by Consistently implement MethodImplementation wrt. lifetimes #193.

• Rename ClassDecl -> ClassBuilder

• Can it be made more ergonomic with macros? See More macros SSheldon/rust-objc#74.
  Done in various PRs (primarily declare_class! macro)

• Returning an autoreleased object in a custom / overridden method is very unergonomic:

  extern "C" valid_attributes(_this: &Object, _sel: Sel) -> *mut NSArray {
      let array = Id<NSArray, Owned>::from(vec![...]);
      array.autorelease(pool) // Uhh, we don't have a pool from anywhere; it is implicit in Objective-C
  }
  let mut decl = ClassDecl::new("MyView", class!(NSView)).unwrap();
  decl.add_method(
      sel!(validAttributesForMarkedText),
      valid_attributes as extern "C" fn(&Object, Sel) -> *mut NSArray,
  );

  Will also need something like an autorelease_return method on Id which calls objc_autoreleaseReturnValue.

  Fixed by Add Id::autorelease_return #191. See Add autoreleasepool_leaking #112 as well for an alternate solution.

• Differentiate between static class references and "registered" classes, see Sending messages is inefficient because of selector lookup SSheldon/rust-objc#49 (comment) Moved to Add static classes #185.

• Memory management rules are not automatically followed. Fixed by Allow returning Id from extern_methods! #244

• Uninitialized data in init methods. Fixed by Better ivar initialization #252

• Allow Drop types in ivars. Fixed by Allow Drop types in ivars #254

[madsmtm]

Work on syntax extension that would help with declaring new classes (ideas in part from objrs, example from GNUStep's GSTitleView):

unsafe pub struct MyTitleView: NSView {
    pub close_button: Option<Id<NSButton, Owned>>,
    pub miniaturize_button: Option<Id<NSButton, Owned>>,
    pub text_attributes: Id<NSMutableDictionary, Owned>,
    pub title_color: Id<NSColor, Owned>,

    owner: *mut Object,
    owned_by_menu: Bool,
    is_key_window: Bool,
    is_main_window: Bool,
    is_active_application: Bool,
}

Approximate Objective-C equivalent.

/// Initialization & deallocation
unsafe impl MyTitleView {
    fn height() -> CGFloat {
        let h: CGFloat = unsafe { msg_send![class!(NSMenuView) menuBarHeight] };
        h + 1.0
    }

    // TODO: How do we handle `self: Option<...>`?
    fn init(self: Id<MaybeUninit<Self>, Owned>) -> Id<Self, Owned> {
        let self = unsafe { msg_send_id![super(self, class!(NSView)), init] };

        self.owner = ptr::null_mut();
        self.owned_by_menu = Bool::NO;
        self.is_key_window = Bool::NO;
        self.is_main_window = Bool::NO;
        self.is_active_application = Bool::NO;

        unsafe { msg_send![self, setAutoresizingMask: NSViewWidthSizable | NSViewMinYMargin] };

        self.text_attributes = unsafe { NSMutableDictionary::from(&[
            (msg_send_id![class!(NSFont), boldSystemFontOfSize: 0], NSFontAttributeName),
            (msg_send_id![class!(NSFont), boldSystemFontOfSize: 0], NSForegroundColorAttributeName),
        ])};

        self.title_color = msg_send_id![NSColor, lightGrayColor];

        unsafe { self.assume_init() }
    }

    #[selector(initWithOwner:)]
    fn init_with_owner(self: Id<MaybeUninit<Self>, Owned>, owner: *mut Object) -> Id<Self, Owned> {
         let self = unsafe { msg_send_id![self, init] };
         let _: () = unsafe { msg_send![self, setOwner: owner] };
         self
    }

    #[selector(setOwner:)]
    fn set_owner(&mut self, owner: Id<NSObject, Shared>) {
        let center = NSNotificationCenter::default_center();

        if (owner.is_kind_of(class!(NSWindow)) {
            log::debug("GSTitleView: owner is NSWindow or NSPanel");

            self.owner = owner.as_ptr();
            self.owned_by_menu = Bool::NO;

            msg_send![
                self,
                setFrame: NSRect::new(
                    -1,
                    self.owner.frame().size.height - MyTitleView::height() - 40,
                    self.owner.frame().size.width + 2,
                    MyTitleView::height()
                ),
            ];

            if (msg_send![self.owner, styleMask] & NSClosableWindowMask) {
                msg_send![self, addCloseButtonWithAction: sel!(performClose:)];
            }

            if (msg_send![self.owner, styleMask] & NSMiniaturizableWindowMask) {
                msg_send![self, addMiniaturizeButtonWithAction: sel!(performMiniaturize:)];
            }

            center.add_observer(self, sel!(windowBecomeKey:), NSWindowDidBecomeKeyNotification, self.owner);
            center.add_observer(self, sel!(windowResignKey:), NSWindowDidResignKeyNotification, self.owner);
            center.add_observer(self, sel!(windowBecomeMain:), NSWindowDidBecomeMainNotification, self.owner);
            center.add_observer(self, sel!(windowResignMain:), NSWindowDidResignMainNotification, self.owner);

            center.add_observer(self, sel!(applicationBecomeActive:), NSApplicationWillBecomeActiveNotification, self.owner);
            center.add_observer(self, sel!(applicationResignActive:), NSApplicationWillResignActiveNotification, self.owner);
        } else if (owner.is_kind_of(class!(NSMenu)) {
            log::debug("GSTitleView: owner is NSMenu");
            self.owner = owner.as_ptr();
            self.owned_by_menu = Bool::YES;

            let theme: Id<GSTheme, Unknown> = unsafe { msg_send_id![class!(GSTheme), theme] };

            if let Some(color) = msg_send_id![theme, colorNamed: @"GSMenuBar", state: GSThemeNormalState] {
                self.title_color = color;
            } else {
                self.title_color = msg_send_id![NSColor, blackColor];
            }

            let text_color = unsafe {
                msg_send_id![theme, colorNamed: @"GSMenuBarTitle", state: GSThemeNormalState]
            }.unwrap_or_else(|| {
                msg_send_id![NSColor, whiteColor]
            });
            [self.text_attributes, setObject: text_color, forKey: NSForegroundColorAttributeName];
        } else {
            log::debug!("GSTitleView: {} owner is not NSMenu or NSWindow or NSPanel", owner.class().name());
        }
    }

    fn owner(&self) -> *mut Object {
        self.owner
    }

    fn dealloc(&mut self) {
        if (self.owned_by_menu.is_false()) {
            unsafe { 
                let center = msg_send_id![class!(NSNotificationCenter), defaultCenter];
                msg_send![center, removeObserver: self];
            };
        }

        unsafe { msg_send![msg_send_id![class!(GSTheme), theme], setName: ptr::null(), forElement: msg_send![self.close_button, cell], temporary: Bool::NO] };

        unsafe { msg_send![super(self, class!(NSView)), dealloc] };

        // Drop impl called after this
    }
}

/// Drawing
unsafe impl MyTitleView {
    fn title_size(&self) -> NSSize {
        let s: Id<NSString, Shared> = unsafe { msg_send_id![self.owner, title] };
        s.size_with_attributes(self.text_attributes)
    }

    fn title_size(&self) -> NSSize {
        let s: Id<NSString, Shared> = unsafe { msg_send_id![self.owner, title] };
        s.size_with_attributes(self.text_attributes)
    }
}


/// Mouse actions
unsafe impl MyTitleView {
    #[selector(acceptsFirstMouse:)]
    fn accepts_first_mouse(&self, _event: &NSEvent) -> Bool {
        Bool::YES
    }

    #[selector(mouseDown:)]
    fn mouse_down(&self, _event: &NSEvent) {
        todo!()
    }

    #[selector(rightMouseDown:)]
    fn right_mouse_down(&self, _event: &NSEvent) {
        // Explicitly does not call super
    }

    #[selector(menuForEvent:)]
    fn menu_for_event(&self, _event: &NSEvent) -> Option<Id<NSMenu, Unknown>> {
        None
    }
}


/// NSWindow & NSApplication notifications
unsafe impl MyTitleView {
    #[selector(applicationBecomeActive:)]
    fn application_becomes_active(&self, _notification: &NSNotification) {
        self.is_active_application = Bool::YES;
    }

    // ...
}

// ...

Approximate Objective-C equivalent.

[madsmtm]

Regarding instance variables, an idea would be to have a macro that expands to roughly:

struct MyObjectIvars {
    ivar1: i32,
    ivar2: Box<u8>,
}

impl MyObject {
    fn ivars(&self) -> &MyObjectIvars { ... }
    fn ivars_mut(&mut self) -> &mut MyObjectIvars { ... }
}

(Assuming that the order that ivars are laid out in are guaranteed, haven't researched this yet).

That would then make it trivial for users to access these as self.ivars().ivar1, and we avoid having to write a complex macro that translates self.ivar1 to extract_ivar1(self) like objrs does.

EDIT: Found a better solution to this, see #190

[madsmtm]

Idea for init: Add PartialInit<T>(NonNull<T>) struct with helper methods for retrieving &mut MaybeUninit<U> references to T's instance variables:

fn init(this: Allocated<Self>) -> Id<Self, Owned> {
    let this: Option<PartialInit<Self>> = unsafe { msg_send_id![super(self, class!(NSView)), init] };
    this.map(|mut this| {
        // this.owner is MaybeUninit<*mut Object>
        this.owner.write(ptr::null_mut());
        // this.owned_by_menu is MaybeUninit<Bool>
        this.owned_by_menu.write(Bool::NO);
        this.is_key_window.write(Bool::NO);
        this.is_main_window.write(Bool::NO);
        this.is_active_application.write(Bool::NO);
    
        // Discouraged; no way to verify that `this` is initialized!
        unsafe { msg_send![this, setAutoresizingMask: NSViewWidthSizable | NSViewMinYMargin] };
    
        this.text_attributes.write(unsafe { NSMutableDictionary::from(&[
            (msg_send_id![class!(NSFont), boldSystemFontOfSize: 0], NSFontAttributeName),
            (msg_send_id![class!(NSFont), boldSystemFontOfSize: 0], NSForegroundColorAttributeName),
        ])});
    
        this.title_color.write(unsafe { msg_send_id![NSColor, lightGrayColor] });
    
        unsafe { this.assume_init() }
    })
}

EDIT: Postponed, see #252 for the interim solution

[madsmtm]

We want to keep the "declare this class" and "use this class" use-cases separate (may at some point merge these together again, but at least for now). The "use this class" pattern will probably be implemented as part of #161.

Reasoning: Declared classes are often used for delegate classes, who don't need to be called from Rust, and it would be a waste trying to create methods for doing so. More importantly, if you do self.my_method() inside a declared class method, it is ambiguous whether you want that to be a plain Rust-to-Rust method call, or you want it to go through the msg_send! machinery (Rust-to-Objective-C-to-Rust).

[madsmtm]

The situation has gone a long way since I opened this issue!

A few remaining things are #282 and #283, but I went and opened separate issues for that to make it easier to track progress.

See also #250 (comment) about improving safety when implementing protocols.