Re: non-library level finalization

["Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com>]

<tmoran@acm.org> wrote in message news:eIKdnT-oNJ6gvqPfRVn-pA@comcast.com...
> I have a generic package that would benefit from doing some cleanup when
> an instantiation disappears.  It can't just declare a (private)
> Finalization_Controlled object because that would require all
> instantiations to be at library level.  Suggestions?

I forgot the obvious. The problem is not with a controlled *object*, but
rather declaring a controlled *type*. So, you can do this by declaring a
controlled type outside of the generic. Now, to make that useful, you'd have
to figure out some way to figure out how to do the needed actions inside of
the generic -- and *that* might prove difficult depending on what you need
done. (For instance, registering a handler would work, but it too would have
to be at library-level -- so you wouldn't have gained anything.)

For a lot of generics, restricting to library level isn't a major concern
(or, it's happened already, as is usually the case for tagged types). But
your case may be different.

                              Randy.