2.7.6 Forwarding abstract fields

since Haxe 3.1.0

When wrapping an underlying type, it is sometimes desirable to "keep" parts of its functionality. Because writing forwarding functions by hand is cumbersome, Haxe allows adding the @:forward metadata to an abstract type:

@:forward(push, pop)
abstract MyArray<S>(Array<S>) {
  public inline function new() {
    this = [];
  }
}

class Main {
  static public function main() {
    var myArray = new MyArray();
    myArray.push(12);
    myArray.pop();
    // MyArray<Int> has no field length
    // myArray.length;
  }
}

The MyArray abstract in this example wraps Array. Its @:forward metadata has two arguments which correspond to the field names to be forwarded to the underlying type. In this example, the main method instantiates MyArray and accesses its push and pop methods. The commented line demonstrates that the length field is not available.

As usual, we can look at the JavaScript output to see how the code is being generated:

Main.main = function() {
    var myArray = [];
    myArray.push(12);
    myArray.pop();
};

@:forward can be utilized without any arguments in order to forward all fields. Of course, the Haxe Compiler still ensures that the field actually exists on the underlying type.

Trivia: Implemented as macro

Both the @:enum and @:forward functionality were originally implemented using build macros. While this worked nicely in non-macro code, it caused issues if these features were used from within macros. The implementation was subsequently moved to the compiler.

---