Table – Current Model

The model of the current table design is a monolithic single instance where the information for each code is obtained with a code enumerator that is used within the table as an index into an array of plain structures where each element contains the information for a single code.  There is a series of access functions taking a code enumerator as an argument.  There is a similar series of access functions taking a token as an argument, where the code enumerator stored in the token is used.  Finally there are a couple of functions for searching the table for a code by a name.

A singleton pattern was used for the table instance so that a global table instance would not be used.  However, the table entry array was global (though only within the table source file) along with a static pointer to the instance (within the table class and defined in the table source file).  Is this really a singleton?  In any case, this singleton pattern will be temporarily replaced with a single global table instance (until the new table model starts to get implemented).

One problem with the current table is when it comes time to add a new variable to a table entry structure, like the just added expected data type member.  If a value for one of the entries is missed, the compiler reports the error, but error is reported against the end of the array giving no clue which entry has the problem.  Finding the problem entry is very time consuming.  (This actually occurred).

Another problem is with the auto-generation of the code enumeration.  The actual code enumerators were defined as comments in the table source file, which a awk script combed through an generated a header file with the code enumeration definition.  This design was an attempt to eliminate the problem of matching the code enumeration with the entries.

This issue was that this auto-generated header file is dependent on the table source file, the main header file includes this header file, and all source files are dependent on the main header file.  So every time the table source file is modified, the entire project needs to be rebuilt, and this is becoming a nuisance.  Therefore, the first goal will be to eliminate this.