Parameter — Universal Type-Erased Wrapper in C++

A lightweight, C++11-compatible class that provides a universal container for storing and retrieving values of arbitrary types — similar in spirit to C#'s object or C++17's std::any, but written from scratch using type erasure.

---

✨ Features

• ✅ Store and retrieve values of any type
• 🔐 Runtime type checking with std::type_index
• 💡 Safe value access (with fallback)
• 🚀 Full support for copy, move, and custom types
• 📦 Header/cpp split with Parameter.inl for clean template support
• 🛠️ C++11 compatible — no modern extensions required

---

🔧 Usage Example

#include "Parameter.hpp"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main() {
    Parameter p1(42);
    Parameter p2(std::string("Hello"));

    std::cout << p1.getValueAs<int>() << std::endl;              // Outputs: 42
    std::cout << p2.getValueAs<std::string>() << std::endl;      // Outputs: Hello

    // Safe access fallback
    double wrong = p2.getSafeValueAs<double>(); // Returns 0.0
    std::cout << "Safe value: " << wrong << std::endl;
}

---

🛠 Build Instructions

📁 Folder Structure

/include
  ├── Parameter.hpp
  └── Parameter.inl
/src
  └── Parameter.cpp
main.cpp

🧱 Using Visual Studio 2022

1. Create an empty C++ Console App project.
2. Add parameter.hpp, parameter.inl, and parameter.cpp to the project.
3. Set main.cpp as the entry point.
4. Make sure include/ is added to your project’s Additional Include Directories.

---

🧪 Tested Types

• Primitive types: int, double, char, etc.
• Standard types: std::string
• Custom structs/classes
• Move-only types (with care)
• Arrays and containers (in development)

---

💬 Credits

Built by @MasterAdamant as a learning experiment in C++ type erasure.
Inspired by std::any, boost::any, and C#’s object. Special thanks to ChatGPT 4o.