Luigi Castelli

I am in need of storing an object attribute into a dictionary.

No big deal. The dictionary API provides functions to do just that.

However I noticed that the attribute in question will always be cloned, meaning that now I have to manage two instances of the same attribute. Definetely not what I want. Ideally I would like to store in the dictionary a reference to an attribute, so that I will only need to manage one instance.

Basically, I am trying to save an object's state into a dictionary so that it could be passed around by the dictobj system. However I don't want to manage two copies of the same state.

long argc = 0;
t_symbol **argv = NULL;

object_attr_getnames(x, &argc, &argv);
if (argc && argv) {
    symbolarray_sort(argc, argv);
    for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
        dictionary_appendattribute(d, argv[i], argv[i], (t_object *)x);
    }
    sysmem_freeptr(argv);
}

This works but then I will have to manage both the object's state [created by defining attributes in the object's main() function] AND the state saved in the dictionary. I want the object's state saved in the dictionary to directly reference the object's attributes created in main().

long argc = 0;
t_symbol **argv = NULL;
t_object *attr;

object_attr_getnames(x, &argc, &argv);
if (argc && argv) {
    symbolarray_sort(argc, argv);
    for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
        attr = object_attr_get(x, argv[i]);
        dictionary_appendobject_flags(d, argv[i], attr, OBJ_FLAG_REF);
    }
    sysmem_freeptr(argv);
}

However it doesn't produce the desired outcome either...

Is my goal possible to achieve, or am I just going in the wrong direction?

I am in need of storing an object attribute into a dictionary.
No big deal. The dictionary API provides functions to do just that.
However I noticed that the attribute in question will always be cloned, meaning that now I have to manage two instances of the same attribute. Definetely not what I want. Ideally I would like to store in the dictionary a reference to an attribute, so that I will only need to manage one instance.

Is my goal possible to achieve, or am I just going in the wrong direction?
Any suggestion is highly appreciated.

objects-attribute-state-stored-into-a-dictionary

Trying to pass around references like this gets extremely complex very quickly and is an invitation to trouble. Especially when the attribute's owner is freed or subject to undo/redo events, etc.

Using copies is certainly more robust, even if it involves some work to keep the copies in sync (using object_notify() or similar). Sorry to not offer a magic bullet for this scenario.

Trying to pass around references like this gets extremely complex very quickly and is an invitation to trouble.  Especially when the attribute's owner is freed or subject to undo/redo events, etc.

Using copies is certainly more robust, even if it involves some work to keep the copies in sync (using object_notify() or similar).  Sorry to not offer a magic bullet for this scenario.

Object's attribute state stored into a dictionary