Handling Port Polymorphism

Polymorphism is the ability of ports to expose multiple data types. A more advanced implementation technique is needed for handling port polymorphism during the evaluation of a custom ICENode. Since the type resolution will occur at connection time, the coding of the ICENode must be done in a generic way to support multiple data types. The recommended approach is to query the ICENodeContext object for the current output port types and to use a template class to delegate the evaluation.
The following code snippet is part of the SDK example which demonstrates this technique for both 1D and 2D-arrays:
// CEvaluator class is handling the most common types. The data is copied by reference, 
// this is the most optimal way of setting output ports with input ports.
template < class T >
class CEvaluator
{
	public:
	static void Do( ICENodeContext& in_ctxt, ULONG in_nInPortID, XSI::siICENodeStructureType in_outStruct )
	{
		if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureSingle )
		{
			CDataArray<T> outData( in_ctxt );
			outData.CopyFrom( in_nInPortID );
		}
		else if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureArray )
		{
			CDataArray2D<T> outData( in_ctxt );
			outData.CopyFrom( in_nInPortID );
		}
	}
};

// Special case for the custom data type
template <>
class CEvaluator< CDataArrayCustomType::TData >
{
	public:
	static void Do( ICENodeContext& in_ctxt, ULONG in_nInPortID, XSI::siICENodeStructureType in_outStruct )
	{
		if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureSingle )
		{
			CDataArrayCustomType outData( in_ctxt );
			outData.CopyFrom( in_nInPortID );
		}
		else if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureArray )
		{
			CDataArray2DCustomType outData( in_ctxt );
			outData.CopyFrom( in_nInPortID );
		}
	}
};

SICALLBACK CustomPassThrough_Evaluate( ICENodeContext& in_ctxt )
{
	ULONG out_portID = in_ctxt.GetEvaluatedOutputPortID( );

	switch( out_portID )

	{	 
		case ID_OUT :
		{
			XSI::siICENodeDataType outPortType;
			XSI::siICENodeStructureType outPortStruct;
			XSI::siICENodeContextType outPortContext;
			in_ctxt.GetPortInfo( ID_OUT, outPortType, outPortStruct, outPortContext );

			switch( outPortType )
			{
				case siICENodeDataFloat:	CEvaluator<float>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataLong:		CEvaluator<LONG>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataBool:		CEvaluator<bool>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataVector2:	CEvaluator<MATH::CVector2f>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataVector3:	CEvaluator<MATH::CVector3f>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataVector4:	CEvaluator<MATH::CVector4f>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataQuaternion:	CEvaluator<MATH::CQuaternionf>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataRotation:	CEvaluator<MATH::CRotationf>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataMatrix33:	CEvaluator<MATH::CMatrix3f>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataMatrix44:	CEvaluator<MATH::CMatrix4f>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataColor4:	CEvaluator<MATH::CColor4f>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataShape:	CEvaluator<MATH::CShape>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
				case siICENodeDataCustomType:	CEvaluator<CDataArrayCustomType::TData>::Do( in_ctxt, ID_IN, outPortStruct ); break;
			};
		}
		break;
	};
	
	return CStatus::OK;
}

The next example shows another approach to handle port polymorphism when output arrays need to be set by index (memory allocation is required):
// Another version of the CEvaluator class that copies data by allocating memory.
template < class T >
class CCopyEvaluator
{
	public:
	static void Do( ICENodeContext& in_ctxt, ULONG in_nInPortID, XSI::siICENodeStructureType in_outStruct )
	{
		CIndexSet indexSet( in_ctxt );

		if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureSingle )
		{
			CDataArray<T> outData( in_ctxt );
			CDataArray<T> inData( in_ctxt, in_nInPortID );
		
			for(CIndexSet::Iterator it = indexSet.Begin(); it.HasNext(); it.Next())
			{
				outData[it] = inData[it];
			}
		}
		else if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureArray )
		{
			CDataArray2D<T> outData( in_ctxt );
			CDataArray2D<T> inData( in_ctxt, in_nInPortID );
					
			for(CIndexSet::Iterator it = indexSet.Begin(); it.HasNext(); it.Next())
			{
				typename CDataArray2D<T>::Accessor inAccess = inData[it];
				typename CDataArray2D<T>::Accessor outAccess = outData.Resize( it, inAccess.GetCount() );
				
				memcpy( &outAccess[0], &inAccess[0], outAccess.GetCount() );
			}
		}
	}
};

// Special case for the bool type
template <>
class CCopyEvaluator< bool >
{
   public:
   static void Do( ICENodeContext& in_ctxt, ULONG in_nInPortID, XSI::siICENodeStructureType in_outStruct )
   {
		CIndexSet indexSet( in_ctxt );
		if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureSingle )
		{
			CDataArray<bool> outData( in_ctxt );
			CDataArray<bool> inData( in_ctxt, in_nInPortID );
		
			for(CIndexSet::Iterator it = indexSet.Begin(); it.HasNext(); it.Next())
			{
				outData.Set( it, inData[it] );
			}
		}
		else if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureArray )
		{
			CDataArray2D<bool> outData( in_ctxt );
			CDataArray2D<bool> inData( in_ctxt, in_nInPortID );
					
			for(CIndexSet::Iterator it = indexSet.Begin(); it.HasNext(); it.Next())
			{
				CDataArray2D<bool>::Accessor inAccess = inData[it];
				CDataArray2D<bool>::Accessor outAccess = outData.Resize( it, inAccess.GetCount() );
				for ( ULONG i=0; i<outAccess.GetCount(); i++ )
				{
					outAccess.Set( i, inAccess[i] );
				}
			}
		}
	}
};

// Special case for the custom data type
template <>
class CCopyEvaluator< CDataArrayCustomType::TData >
{
	public:
	static void Do( ICENodeContext& in_ctxt, ULONG in_nInPortID, XSI::siICENodeStructureType in_outStruct )
	{
		if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureSingle )
		{
			CDataArrayCustomType outData( in_ctxt );
			CDataArrayCustomType inData( in_ctxt, in_nInPortID  );

			CIndexSet indexSet( in_ctxt );
			for(CIndexSet::Iterator it = indexSet.Begin(); it.HasNext(); it.Next())
			{
				ULONG nSize;
				const XSI::CDataArrayCustomType::TData* pInData;
				inData.GetData(it, &pInData, nSize);

				XSI::CDataArrayCustomType::TData* pOutData = outData.Resize(it, nSize);
				
				::memcpy( pOutData, pInData, nSize );
			}
		}
		else if ( in_outStruct == XSI::siICENodeStructureArray )
		{
			CDataArray2DCustomType outData( in_ctxt );
			CDataArray2DCustomType inData( in_ctxt, in_nInPortID );
		
			CIndexSet indexSet( in_ctxt );
			for (CIndexSet::Iterator it = indexSet.Begin(); it.HasNext(); it.Next())
			{
				CDataArray2DCustomType::Accessor inAccess = inData[ it ];
				CDataArray2DCustomType::Accessor outAccess = outData.Resize( it, inAccess.GetCount( ) );

				for ( ULONG i=0; i<outAccess.GetCount(); i++ )
				{
					CDataArray2DCustomType::TData* pInData = NULL;
					ULONG nSize;
					
					inAccess.GetData( i, &pInData, nSize );
					
					CDataArray2DCustomType::TData* pOutData = outAccess.Resize( i, nSize );
					
					::memcpy( pOutData, pInData, nSize );
				}
			}              
		}
	}
};