Options offer a convinient way to manipulate data no matter its type is. Internally, the value is stored as a boost::any object that theorically supports any type of value. In practice, template functions are defined in CPP files by using the explicit template declaration concept in order to optimize the compilation process. That is, only six types are supported by COOLFluiD options : bool, int, cf3::Uint, cf3::Real, std::string and common::URI. Trying to instanciate an option with another type will lead to a linking error (undefined reference).

Options are defined by the class common::Option, which is an abstract class. A list of options can be easily managed by using the class common::OptionList. The Common library provides some classes for different purposes of use :

common::OptionT : single value options. Cannot be used with URI.
common::OptionURI : options with type common::URI. These class can be seen as an implementation of OptionT<URI>. It allows to manage a list of supported protocols (see further for more information)
common::OptionComponent : options which point to components (configured using a Handle, or URI)
common::OptionArrayT : arrays of values.
common::OptionEnum : acts as an OptionT<std::string> of which data is an enumeration. This class is not implemented yet.

Using options

Options provide the following information:

a default value
a current value
a type as string
a restricted list of values

When you build an option, default and current values are the same. The type is

Using options

Single value options

Array options

Options and components

Triggers