Pdfsm.h

A simple pushdown finite states machine library that separates data and behaviors as much as possible.

In brief

1. States are just enum values.
2. Implement behaviors by inheriting from Pdfsm::B
3. A state behavior class shouldn't contain any internal data.
4. A StateMachine is just a struct, holding active states.
5. StateMachineHandler is for handling each state machine's behavior.

Code Example

1. Defines state enums, there the trailing N is necessary:

   enum class RobotState { Idle, Moving, Dancing, N };

2. Makes a transition table, jumps or pushs that violate this table will throw an exception

   // for each item: { from, {to list} }
   Pdfsm::TransitionTable<RobotState> transitions{
       {RobotState::Idle, {RobotState::Moving, RobotState::Dancing}},
       {RobotState::Moving, {RobotState::Idle, RobotState::Dancing}},
       {RobotState::Dancing, {RobotState::Idle}},
   };

3. Defines a state behavior class for each state:

   class RobotMovingBehavior : public Pdfsm::B<RobotState::Moving> {
    public:
     void OnSetup() override {}
     void Update(const Pdfsm::Context& ctx) override {}
     void OnEnter(const Pdfsm::Context& ctx) override {}
     void OnTerminate(const Pdfsm::Context& ctx) override { }
     void OnPause(const Pdfsm::Context& ctx) override {}
     void OnResume(const Pdfsm::Context& ctx) override {}
   };

   And a behavior table:

   Pdfsm::BTable<RobotState> behaviors{
       std::make_unique<RobotIdleBehavior>(),
       std::make_unique<RobotMovingBehavior>(),
       std::make_unique<RobotDancingBehavior>(),
   };

4. Creates a state machine fsm.

   A fsm is just a struct holding active states in a static-array based stack. It can be used as an attribute (or field) of, i.e. a game entity.

   Pdfsm::StateMachine<RobotState> fsm;

5. Makes a context for ticking / update, for propagating to the active state's hook methods:

   Pdfsm::Context ctx;

6. Creates a handler to manipulate a fsm's state transitions:

   Pdfsm::StateMachineHandler<RobotState> h(behaviors, transitions);

   Before handling a fsm struct, binds it at first:

   h.SetHandlingFsm(fsm, ctx);

   And then, after handling, clears the binding:

   h.ClearHandlingFsm();

7. We can access the handler's pointer inside a state behavior class:

   auto& handler = GetHandler(); // returns a pointer to the handler.

8. Operations / APIs of the handler:

   // Jump to a state.
   handler->Jump(ctx, RobotState::Moving);
   
   // Push a state and pause current active state.
   handler->Push(ctx, RobotState::Dancing);
   
   // Pop current active state and resume previous paused state.
   handler->Pop(ctx);
   
   // Gets current active state.
   RobotState state = handler->Top();
   
   // Update (ticking).
   handler->Update(ctx);

To work with signals, for example, with my tiny signal/event library blinker.h, checkout tests.

License

BSD.