Class method callbacks in D to C functions - methods

Question

I'm writing a simple, lightweight engine in D. For the input calls I use GLFW3. The library in question uses callbacks to send input events to the program.
What I would like is to use a method from a class as the callback function, rather than a function. This is proving difficult (just as it is in C++). I believe there is an elegant way to do it, but this is how I got it right now.
public void initialise(string logPath) {
[...]
m_Window = new RenderWindow();
m_Window.create();
// Lets set up the input loop.
GLFWkeyfun keyCB = function(GLFWwindow* win, int key, int scancode, int action, int mods) {
printf("Got key event: %d:%d:%d:%d\n");
RenderWindow rw = Root().getRenderWindow();
switch (key) {
case KeyboardKeyID.Q:
glfwSetWindowShouldClose(win, true);
break;
case KeyboardKeyID.H:
if (rw.hidden) {
rw.show();
} else {
rw.hide();
}
break;
default:
break;
}
};
glfwSetKeyCallback(m_Window.window, keyCB);
}
Here is the definition of the callback setting function and type:
extern (C) {
alias GLFWkeyfun = void function(GLFWwindow*, int, int, int, int);
GLFWkeyfun glfwSetKeyCallback(GLFWwindow*, GLFWkeyfun);
}
What I would like to do instead, is create a method that is part of the class. Is there any way to do this?
A solution I tried was a static method wrapped around in extern (C), this worked for calling it, but then I could (obviously) not access this or any other methods, which defeats the point of the exercise.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The way I'd do it is to have a static map of the pointers to the class, so like:
static YourWindowClass[GLFWwindow*] mappings;
Then, in the constructor, once you get a GLFWwindow pointer, add it right in:
mappings[m_Window.window] = this;
Now, make the static extern(C) function to use as the callback. When it gets a pointer from C, look up your class reference in that mappings array and then go ahead and call the member function through that, forwarding the arguments.
So a bit of an extra step, but since it doesn't look like the callback lets you pass user-defined data to it (BTW, attention all lib writers: user-defined void* to the callbacks is sooooo useful, you should do it whenever possible!), but since it doesn't do that the associative array is the next best thing.

Answer 2

Well, I have figured it out my own. The solution I went with was a Singleton class InputManager. Instances of RenderWindow attach themselves to it with the following function. The InputManager then creates an anonymous function() for the RenderWindow that receives events, which then calls a function that handles the actual event.
The idea is then that listeners attach themselves to the InputManager and receive keyboard events for the RenderWindow they requested.
class InputManager {
private static InputManager m_Instance;
private RenderWindow[] m_Watched;
private KeyboardListener[][RenderWindow] m_KeyListeners;
public void recvKeyEvent(GLFWwindow* w, int k, int c, int a, int m) {
writeln("Received key: ", k);
}
public void watch(RenderWindow win) {
if (!isWatched(win)) {
// Relay the key callbacks onto the InputManager.
GLFWkeyfun keyCB = function(GLFWwindow* w, int k, int c, int a, int m) {
InputManager().recvKeyEvent(w, k, c, a, m);
};
glfwSetKeyCallback(win.window, keyCB);
}
}
private bool isWatched(RenderWindow win) {
foreach(RenderWindow w; m_Watched) {
if (win == w) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
public static InputManager opCall() {
if (m_Instance is null) {
m_Instance = new InputManager();
}
return m_Instance;
}
private this() {
// nothing
}
}
Works like a charm, now to figure out how to properly attach listeners elegantly.
For those curious, the full source code with how this is set up can be found at https://github.com/Adel92/Mage2D. I hope it helps someone else in a similar position with callbacks.