Question

In C++11, since there is a standard std::to_string(), I overload this function for enumeration classes and other small data classes where an implementation makes sense.

My question is, what do you implement as a complement to std::to_string()?

Some kind of from_string() (which doesn’t exist in std) or is there a more appropriate standard interface you implement throughout your classes?

Answer 1

the standard using uses the terse naming scheme used in old C. so where you have

std::string to_string( int value );

you have

int std::stoi(std::string);

see here

http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/stol

so where you might have.

std::string to_string(my_enum);

you might have

my_enum stomy_enum(std::string)

although I would just be verbose about it

my_enum string_to_my_enum(std::string)

or just use streams

std::stringstream ss(my_str);
if(ss >> emun_) //conversion worked

Defining stream operator also allows to use lexical cast from boost;

enum_ = boost::lexical_cast<my_enum>(my_str);