Class IlcAnyPredicate

This class makes it possible for you to define predicates operating on arbitrary objects. A predicate is an object with a method (IlcAnyPredicate::isTrue) that checks whether or not a property is satisfied by an ordered set of (pointers to) objects. The ordered set is conventionally represented in Solver by an instance of IlcAnyArray.

Defining a New Class of Predicates

Predicates, like other Solver objects, depend on two classes: a handle class, IlcAnyPredicate, and an implementation class, IlcAnyPredicateI, where an object of the handle class contains a data member (the handle pointer) that points to an object (its implementation object) of an instance of IlcAnyPredicateI allocated on the Solver heap. As a Solver user, you will be working primarily with handles.

If you define a new class of predicates yourself, you must define its implementation class together with the corresponding virtual member function isTrue, as well as a member function that returns an instance of the handle class IlcAnyPredicate.

Arity

As a developer, you can use predicates in Solver applications to define your own constraints that have not already been predefined in Solver. In that case, the arity of the predicate (that is, the number of constrained variables involved in the predicate, and thus the size of the array that the member function IlcAnyPredicate::isTrue must check) must be less than or equal to three.

This constructor creates an empty handle. You must initialize it before you use it.

This constructor creates a handle object from a pointer to an implementation object.

This member function returns a pointer to the implementation object of the invoking handle.

This member function calls the member function IlcAnyPredicateI::isTrue.

This operator assigns an address to the handle pointer of the invoking object. That address is the location of the implementation object of the provided argument.