Improve #[derive(...)] in declare_class!

[madsmtm]

Deriving PartialEq, Eq and Hash automatically in extern_class! works because it delegates to a msg_send! call to the relevant selector.

#[derive(Debug)], however, prints out the internal variable name as well as helpers that ensure that the type has the correct auto traits, which is really ugly, so we should use some macro hacks to extract and implement it ourselves as a direct delegation to the superclass' Debug instead.

[madsmtm]

We also need to consider how things should work in declare_class!? Because when deriving, we could actually use that syntax for also implementing relevant protocols on the class!

Interesting std derive macros	Relevant protocols/methods to implement
PartialEq + Eq	-[NSObjectProtocol isEqual:]
Hash	-[NSObjectProtocol hash]
Clone	-[NSCopying copyWithZone]
Debug	-[NSObjectProtocol description/debugDescription]
DefaultId	-[NSObjectProtocol init] (+ ensure no new)
PartialOrd + Ord	compare:

However I'm unsure how these implementations should actually work?

In the case of types that inherit NSObject, you'd think the behaviour to be fairly straightforward, we compare the ivars for equality - but even then, we probably don't want things that inherit NSObject, but don't provide any ivars, to compare equal, so maybe it's not so clear cut?

[madsmtm]

Maybe the actually useful thing in declare_class! would be to allow #[derive(IdDefault, NSCopying, NSObjectProtocol)]?

IdDefault would create:

unsafe impl MyObject {
    #[method_id(init)]
    fn init(this: Allocated<Self>) -> Option<Id<Self>> {
        let this = this.set_ivars(Self::Ivars::default()); // Require `Ivars: Default`
        // SAFETY: Because of `Self::Super: IdDefault`, it is sound to call the `init` method on this
        // `IdDefault` would need to be an `unsafe` trait, so that we can ensure the super class is `init`-able
        unsafe { msg_send_id![super(this), init] }
    }
}

// SAFETY: `init` is implemented and valid for this object
unsafe impl IdDefault for MyObject {}

NSCopying would create (unsure which implementation would actually be the most correct? copy works differently from init, since objects are responsible for allocating the object themselves too):

unsafe impl NSCopying for MyObject {
    #[method_id(copyWithZone:)]
    fn copyWithZone(&self, zone: *const NSZone) -> Id<Self> {
        // Implementation 1
        // Require `T::Super: NSCopying`
        let new = unsafe { msg_send_id![super(self), copyWithZone: zone] };
        // Require `Self::Ivars: Clone`
        new.set_ivars(self.ivars().clone())

        // Implementation 2
        // Require `Self::Ivars: Clone`
        let new = Self::alloc().set_ivars(self.ivars().clone());
        // Require `Self::Super: IdDefault`
        unsafe { msg_send_id![super(self), init] }
    }
}

[madsmtm]

I think for NSObjectProtocol, it would perhaps be possible to use autoref specialization to check if the user implemented PartialEq, Hash or Debug for their class, and then generate proper implementations of NSObjectProtocol:

unsafe impl NSObjectProtocol for MyObject {
    #[method(isEqual:)]
    #[cfg(Self implements PartialEq)]
    fn isEqual(&self, other: &Self) -> bool {
        <Self as PartialEq>::eq(self, other)
    }

    #[method(hash)]
    #[cfg(Self implements Hash)]
    fn hash(&self) -> NSUInteger {
        let mut hasher = DefaultHasher::new();
        <Self as Hash>::hash(self, &mut hasher);
        hasher.finish() as NSUInteger
    }

    #[method_id(description)]
    #[cfg(Self implements Debug)] // Maybe `Display`?
    fn description(&self) -> Id<NSString> {
        let s = format!("{self:?}");
        NSString::from_str(&s)
    }

    #[method_id(debugDescription)]
    #[cfg(Self implements Debug)]
    fn debugDescription(&self) -> Id<NSString> {
        let s = format!("{self:#?}"); // Note the `#:?` formatting
        NSString::from_str(&s)
    }
}

[madsmtm]

The difficult part here is that in general, you could want two things when deriving PartialEq: Referential equality or structural equality. Usually you want the latter, though that is really difficult to generate an implementation for in general (since NSObject, and hence all other objects by default, compare referentially. It's something you have to know when implementing PartialEq, whether you should just defer to the superclass, compare your own ivars, or do both).

So that's why making NSObjectProtocol defer to a custom implementation of PartialEq and Hash instead is somewhat nice.

[madsmtm]

Swift's Equatable protocol is automatically implemented for types inheriting NSObject, and implements reference equality by default.

If the user wants anything else, they're supposed to override the isEqual: method, and there's a lint that protects users from accidentally overriding == instead.

Similarly for Hashable/hash.

So maybe we should also just do referential equality by default?

[madsmtm]

Debug in extern_class! was fixed in b8c24dc.

[madsmtm]

0494d07 improves the Debug impl of declare_class!.

I'm leaning towards exposing a NSObjectProtocol derive that just overrides description, and leaves isEqual: and hash up to the super class' implementation (i.e. preferring referential comparison). If the user wants more, they'll have to implement it themselves.