Struct ExternalPointer

pub struct ExternalPointer<E: Externalizable> { /* private fields */ }

A strongly-typed external pointer. As this is a shared pointer, it only provides immutable references to the underlying data. To allow for interior mutation, use an interior-mutable container such as [RefCell].

Implementations

impl<E: Externalizable> ExternalPointer<E>

pub fn new(external: E) -> Self

pub fn into_raw(self) -> *const c_void

pub fn from_raw(ptr: *const c_void) -> Self

Create an ExternalPointer from a raw pointer. This does not validate the pointer at all.

pub unsafe fn unsafely_deref(&self) -> &E

Unsafely retrieves the underlying object from this pointer after validating it.

Safety

This method is inherently unsafe because we cannot know if the underlying memory has been deallocated at some point.

The lifetime of the return value is tied to the pointer itself, however you must take care not to use methods that mutate the underlying pointer such as unsafely_take while this reference is alive.

pub unsafe fn unsafely_take(self) -> E

Unsafely takes the object from this external.

Safety

This method is inherently unsafe because we cannot know if the underlying memory has been deallocated at some point.

You must ensure that no other references to this object are alive at the time you call this method.