Commit graph

1 commit

Author SHA1 Message Date
Gino Valente
63f1a9dec8 bevy_reflect: Add ReflectFromReflect (v2) (#6245)
# Objective

Resolves #4597 (based on the work from #6056 and a refresh of #4147)

When using reflection, we may often end up in a scenario where we have a Dynamic representing a certain type. Unfortunately, we can't just call `MyType::from_reflect` as we do not have knowledge of the concrete type (`MyType`) at runtime.

Such scenarios happen when we call `Reflect::clone_value`, use the reflection deserializers, or create the Dynamic type ourselves.

## Solution

Add a `ReflectFromReflect` type data struct.

This struct allows us to easily convert Dynamic representations of our types into their respective concrete instances.

```rust
#[derive(Reflect, FromReflect)]
#[reflect(FromReflect)] // <- Register `ReflectFromReflect`
struct MyStruct(String);

let type_id = TypeId::of::<MyStruct>();

// Register our type
let mut registry = TypeRegistry::default();
registry.register::<MyStruct>();

// Create a concrete instance
let my_struct = MyStruct("Hello world".to_string());

// `Reflect::clone_value` will generate a `DynamicTupleStruct` for tuple struct types
let dynamic_value: Box<dyn Reflect> = my_struct.clone_value();
assert!(!dynamic_value.is::<MyStruct>());

// Get the `ReflectFromReflect` type data from the registry
let rfr: &ReflectFromReflect = registry
  .get_type_data::<ReflectFromReflect>(type_id)
  .unwrap();

// Call `FromReflect::from_reflect` on our Dynamic value
let concrete_value: Box<dyn Reflect> = rfr.from_reflect(&dynamic_value);
assert!(concrete_value.is::<MyStruct>());
```

### Why this PR?

###### Why now?

The three main reasons I closed #4147 were that:

1. Registering `ReflectFromReflect` is clunky (deriving `FromReflect` *and* registering `ReflectFromReflect`)
2. The ecosystem and Bevy itself didn't seem to pay much attention to deriving `FromReflect`
3. I didn't see a lot of desire from the community for such a feature

However, as time has passed it seems 2 and 3 are not really true anymore. Bevy is internally adding lots more `FromReflect` derives, which should make this feature all the more useful. Additionally, I have seen a growing number of people look for something like `ReflectFromReflect`.

I think 1 is still an issue, but not a horrible one. Plus it could be made much, much better using #6056. And I think splitting this feature out of #6056 could lead to #6056 being adopted sooner (or at least make the need more clear to users).

###### Why not just re-open #4147?

The main reason is so that this PR can garner more attention than simply re-opening the old one. This helps bring fresh eyes to the PR for potentially more perspectives/reviews.

---

## Changelog

* Added `ReflectFromReflect`

Co-authored-by: Gino Valente <49806985+MrGVSV@users.noreply.github.com>
2022-12-11 17:52:48 +00:00