boost::statechart visualisation

Antons Jel̦kins

Meeting C++ 2019

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 1/7

About me

Hello!
My name is Anton.
I work at BMW.
I do software which runs in cars.
I mostly code in C++.
antons.jelkins@bmw.de

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 2/7

What is boost::statechart?

‘The Boost Statechart library is a framework that allows you to quickly

transform a UML statechart into executable C++ code.’
https://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_71_0/libs/statechart/doc/tutorial.html

Example
struct StopWatch : sc::state_machine< StopWatch, Active > {};
struct EvStartStop : sc::event< EvStartStop > {};

struct Active : sc::simple_state< Active, StopWatch, Stopped > {

using reactions = mpl::list<
sc::transition< EvReset, Active >,
sc::custom_reaction< EvPlayMusic >,
sc::deferral< EvTerminate > >;

sc::result react(const EvPlayMusic &ev);

};

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 3/7

Problem statement

Let’s have a look at these common use cases:

New feature. State machine must be modi ied.
Code review. Someone modi ied a state machine.
Bug analysis. State machine misbehave.
Learning. You are new to the code base.

These tasks require you to have an overview of the state machines.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 4/7

Problem statement

Let’s have a look at these common use cases:

New feature. State machine must be modi ied.
Code review. Someone modi ied a state machine.
Bug analysis. State machine misbehave.
Learning. You are new to the code base.

These tasks require you to have an overview of the state machines.

It is relatively hard to get an overview of boost::statecharts by just

looking at C++ code:
No explicit transition table.
Notation is quite verbose.
Implementation can span multiple iles.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 4/7

Solution
What to do?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 5/7

Solution
What to do? Look at a picture instead of C++ code!

How to get a picture?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 5/7

Solution
What to do? Look at a picture instead of C++ code!

How to get a picture?

Bosce, or boost::statechart extractor, is a command line tool to extract

information about boost::statecharts from an arbitrary binary with
debug symbols and transform it to a user-friendly form, e.g. UML
diagrams.
https://github.com/kanje/bosce

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 5/7

Solution
What to do? Look at a picture instead of C++ code!

How to get a picture?

Bosce, or boost::statechart extractor, is a command line tool to extract

information about boost::statecharts from an arbitrary binary with
debug symbols and transform it to a user-friendly form, e.g. UML
diagrams.
https://github.com/kanje/bosce

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 5/7

Example

Shell
$ g++ demo.cpp -o demo
$ bosce demo -l
Available state-machines:
StopWatch

$ bosce demo -s StopWatch > uml.pu

$ plantuml uml.pu
$ xdg-open uml.png

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 6/7

Example

Shell
$ g++ demo.cpp -o demo
$ bosce demo -l
Available state-machines:
StopWatch

$ bosce demo -s StopWatch > uml.pu

$ plantuml uml.pu
$ xdg-open uml.png

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 6/7

 Thank you!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antons Jel̦kins boost::statechart visualisation Meeting C++ 2019 7/7