Uuid Library - 1.61.0 http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_61_0/libs/uuid/uu...

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Uuid
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Conguration
3. Examples
Tagging
POD Eiciencies
Byte Extraction
Reference
boost/uuid/uuid.hpp
Synopsis
Size
Iteration
Nil uuid
Variant
Version
Swap
Operators
Hash
boost/uuid/uuid_generators.hpp
Synopsis
boost/uuid/nil_generator.hpp
Synopsis
Nil Generator
boost/uuid/string_generator.hpp
Synopsis
String Generator
boost/uuid/name_generator.hpp
Synopsis
Name Generator
boost/uuid/random_generator.hpp
Synopsis
Random Generator
boost/uuid/uuid_io.hpp
Synopsis
Stream Operators
To String
boost/uuid/uuid_serialize.hpp
Synopsis
Serialization
4. Design notes
5. History and Acknowledgements

Introduction
A UUID, or Universally unique identier, is intended to uniquely identify information in a

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distributed environment without signicant central coordination. It can be used to tag objects
with very short lifetimes, or to reliably identify very persistent objects across a network.

UUIDs have many applications. Some examples follow: Databases may use UUIDs to identify rows
or records in order to ensure that they are unique across dierent databases, or for
publication/subscription services. Network messages may be identied with a UUID to ensure
that dierent parts of a message are put back together again. Distributed computing may use
UUIDs to identify a remote procedure call. Transactions and classes involved in serialization may
be identied by UUIDs. Microsoft's component object model (COM) uses UUIDs to distinguish
dierent software component interfaces. UUIDs are inserted into documents from Microsoft
Oice programs. UUIDs identify audio or video streams in the Advanced Systems Format (ASF).
UUIDs are also a basis for OIDs (object identiers), and URNs (uniform resource name).

An attractive feature of UUIDs when compared to alternatives is their relative small size, of
128-bits, or 16-bytes. Another is that the creation of UUIDs does not require a centralized
authority.

When UUIDs are generated by one of the dened mechanisms, they are either guaranteed to be
unique, dierent from all other generated UUIDs (that is, it has never been generated before and
it will never be generated again), or it is extremely likely to be unique (depending on the
mechanism).

Conguration
The library does not require building or any special conguration to be used. However, there are
a few options that can be enabled by dening macros prior to including library headers. These
macros are summarized in the following table.

Macro Description
If dened, disables any optimizations for SIMD-enabled processors. Generic
versions of algorithms will be used instead. This may result in suboptimal
BOOST_UUID_NO_SIMD
performance. By default, optimized algorithms are used, when the library is
able to detect the availability of SIMD extensions at compile time.

BOOST_UUID_USE_SSE2
If dened, enables optimizations for SSE2 exstensions available in modern
x86 processors.
If dened, enables optimizations for SSE3 exstensions available in modern
BOOST_UUID_USE_SSE3
x86 processors.
If dened, enables optimizations for SSE4.1 exstensions available in modern
BOOST_UUID_USE_SSE41
x86 processors.

By default the library attempts to detect the availability of SIMD extensions in the target CPU at
compile time and automatically denes the appropriate macros if succeeded. The
BOOST_UUID_USE_SSE* macros can be dened by users, if auto-detection fails and it is known that the
target CPU will have the extension. Do not enable these extensions unless you're certain that they
will always be available on any machine that will run your program. The library performs no run
time checks, so if an extension is missing, the program will likely crash. Note that enabling more
advanced extensions implies that more basic ones are also available.

Examples
Tagging

// example of tagging an object with a uuid

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// see boost/libs/uuid/test/test_tagging.cpp

#include <boost/uuid/uuid.hpp>
#include <boost/uuid/uuid_generators.hpp>

class object
{
public:
object()
: tag(boost::uuids::random_generator()())
, state(0)
{}

explicit object(int state)

: tag(boost::uuids::random_generator()())
, state(state)
{}

object(object const& rhs)

: tag(rhs.tag)
, state(rhs.state)
{}

bool operator==(object const& rhs) const {

return tag == rhs.tag;
}

object& operator=(object const& rhs) {

tag = rhs.tag;
state = rhs.state;
}

int get_state() const { return state; }

void set_state(int new_state) { state = new_state; }

private:
boost::uuids::uuid tag;

int state;
};

object o1(1);
object o2 = o1;
o2.set_state(2);
assert(o1 == o2);

object o3(3);
assert(o1 != o3);
assert(o2 != o3);

POD Eiciencies

This library implements a UUID as a POD allowing a UUID to be used in the most eicient ways,
including using memcpy, and aggregate initializers. A drawback is that a POD can not have any
constructors, and thus declaring a UUID will not initialize it to a value generated by one of the
dened mechanisms. But a class based on a UUID can be dened that does initialize itself to a
value generated by one of the dened mechanisms.

Note that boost::is_pod is specialized for boost::uuids::uuid and depends on Boost.TypeTraits. Dene
BOOST_UUID_NO_TYPE_TRAITS before including boost/uuid/uuid.hpp to remove the dependency on
Boost.TypeTraits.

// example using memcpy and aggregate initializers

// example of a class uuid see boost/libs/uuid/test/test_uuid_class.cpp

#include <boost/uuid/uuid.hpp>
#include <boost/uuid/uuid_generators.hpp>

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{ // example using memcpy

unsigned char uuid_data[16];
// fill uuid_data

boost::uuids::uuid u;

memcpy(&u, uuid_data, 16);

}

{ // example using aggregate initializers

boost::uuids::uuid u =
{ 0x12 ,0x34, 0x56, 0x78
, 0x90, 0xab
, 0xcd, 0xef
, 0x12, 0x34
, 0x56, 0x78, 0x90, 0xab, 0xcd, 0xef
};
}

// example of creating a uuid class that

// initializes the uuid in the constructor
// using a defined mechanism

class uuid_class : public boost::uuids::uuid

{
public:
uuid_class()
: boost::uuids::uuid(boost::uuids::random_generator()())
{}

explicit uuid_class(boost::uuids::uuid const& u)

: boost::uuids::uuid(u)
{}

operator boost::uuids::uuid() {
return static_cast<boost::uuids::uuid&>(*this);
}

operator boost::uuids::uuid() const {

return static_cast<boost::uuids::uuid const&>(*this);
}
};

uuid_class u1;
uuid_class u2;

assert(u1 != u2);

Byte Extraction

It is sometimes useful to get at the 16 bytes of a uuid directly. Typical use is as follows:

boost::uuids::uuid u;
std::vector<char> v(u.size());
std::copy(u.begin(), u.end(), v.begin());

Note: boost::uuids::uuid::size() always returns 16.

Reference
boost/uuid/uuid.hpp

Synopsis

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namespace boost {
namespace uuids {

class uuid {
public:
typedef uint8_t value_type;
typedef uint8_t& reference;
typedef uint8_t const& const_reference;
typedef uint8_t* iterator;
typedef uint8_t const* const_iterator;
typedef std::size_t size_type;
typedef std::ptrdiff_t difference_type;

static constexpr size_type static_size() noexcept;

// iteration
iterator begin() noexcept;
iterator end() noexcept;
const_iterator begin() const noexcept;
const_iterator end() const noexcept;

constexpr size_type size() const noexcept;

bool is_nil() const noexcept;

enum variant_type {
variant_ncs, // NCS backward compatibility
variant_rfc_4122, // defined in RFC 4122 document
variant_microsoft, // Microsoft Corporation backward compatibility
variant_future // future definition
};
variant_type variant() const noexcept;

enum version_type {
version_unknown = -1,
version_time_based = 1,
version_dce_security = 2,
version_name_based_md5 = 3,
version_random_number_based = 4,
version_name_based_sha1 = 5
};
version_type version() const noexcept;

// Swap function
void swap(uuid& rhs) noexcept;

uint8_t data[static_size()];
};

// standard operators
bool operator==(uuid const& lhs, uuid const& rhs) noexcept;
bool operator!=(uuid const& lhs, uuid const& rhs) noexcept;
bool operator<(uuid const& lhs, uuid const& rhs) noexcept;
bool operator>(uuid const& lhs, uuid const& rhs) noexcept;
bool operator<=(uuid const& lhs, uuid const& rhs) noexcept;
bool operator>=(uuid const& lhs, uuid const& rhs) noexcept;

void swap(uuid& lhs, uuid& rhs) noexcept;

std::size_t hash_value(uuid const& u) noexcept;

}} // namespace boost::uuids

Size

The size of a uuid (in bytes) can be obtained either by calling the function boost::uuids::uuid::size()
or by calling the static function boost::uuids::uuid::static_size(), both always return 16.

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boost::uuids::uuid u;
assert(16 == u.size());
assert(16 == boost::uuids::uuid::static_size());

Iteration

Both iterators and constant iterators are provided.

boost::uuids::uuid u;
for (boost::uuids::uuid::const_iterator it=u.begin(); it!=u.end(); ++it) {
boost::uuids::uuid::value_type v = *it;
}
for (boost::uuids::uuid::iterator it=u.begin(); it!=u.end(); ++it) {
*it = 0;
}

Nil uuid

The function, boost::uuids::uuid::is_nil() returns true if and only if the uuid is equal to
{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}.

Variant

Three bits of a uuid determine the variant.

boost::uuids::uuid u;
boost::uuids::uuid::variant_type v = u.variant();

Version

Four bits of a uuid determine the variant, that is the mechanism used to generate the uuid.

boost::uuids::uuid u;
boost::uuids::uuid::version_type v = u.version();

Swap

Both boost::uuids::uuid::swap() and boost::uuids::swap() are provided.

boost::uuids::uuid u1, u2;

u1.swap(u2);
swap(u1, u2);

Operators

All of the standard numeric operators are dened for the uuid class. These include:

operator==
operator!=
operator<
operator>
operator<=

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operator>=

Hash Function

This function allows uuids to be used with boost::hash

boost::hash<boost::uuids::uuid> uuid_hasher;
std::size_t uuid_hash_value = uuid_hasher(boost::uuids::uuid());

boost/uuid/uuid_generators.hpp

Synopsis

This le includes all the uuid generators for convenience.

#include <boost/uuid/nil_generator.hpp>
#include <boost/uuid/string_generator.hpp>
#include <boost/uuid/name_generator.hpp>
#include <boost/uuid/random_generator.hpp>

boost/uuid/nil_generator.hpp

Synopsis

namespace boost {
namespace uuids {

struct nil_generator {
typedef uuid result_type;

uuid operator()() const;

};
uuid nil_uuid();

}} //namespace boost::uuids

Nil Generator

The boost::uuids::nil_generator class always generates a nil uuid.

boost::uuids::nil_generator gen;
boost::uuids::uuid u = gen();
assert(u.is_nil() == true);

// or for convenience
boost::uuids::uuid u = boost::uuids::nil_uuid();
assert(u.is_nil() == true);

boost/uuid/string_generator.hpp

Synopsis

namespace boost {
namespace uuids {

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struct string_generator {
typedef uuid result_type;

template <typename ch, typename char_traits, typename alloc>

uuid operator()(std::basic_string<ch, char_traits, alloc> const& s) const;
};

}} //namespace boost::uuids

String Generator

The boost::uuids::string_generator class generates a uuid from a string.

boost::uuids::string_generator gen;
boost::uuids::uuid u1 = gen("{01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef}");
boost::uuids::uuid u2 = gen(L"01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef");
boost::uuids::uuid u3 = gen(std::string("0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef"));
boost::uuids::uuid u4 = gen(std::wstring(L"01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef"));

boost/uuid/name_generator.hpp

Synopsis

namespace boost {
namespace uuids {

class name_generator {
public:
typedef uuid result_type;

explicit name_generator(uuid const& namespace_uuid);

uuid operator()(const char* name) const;

uuid operator()(const wchar_t* name) const;
tempate <typename ch, typename char_traits, typename alloc>
uuid operator()(std::basic_string<ch, char_traits, alloc> const& name) const;
uuid operator()(void const* buffer, std::size_t byte_count) const;
};

}} //namespace boost::uuids

Name Generator

The boost::uuids::name_generator class generates a name based uuid from a namespace uuid and a
name.

boost::uuids::uuid dns_namespace_uuid; // initialize to {6ba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8}

boost::uuids::name_generator gen(dns_namespace_uuid);
boost::uuids::uuid u = gen("boost.org");

boost/uuid/random_generator.hpp

Synopsis

namespace boost {

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namespace uuids {

template <typename UniformRandomNumberGenerator>

class basic_random_generator {
public:
typedef uuid result_type;

basic_random_generator();
explicit basic_random_generator(UniformRandomNumberGenerator& gen);
explicit basic_random_generator(UniformRandomNumberGenerator* pGen);

uuid operator()();
};
typedef basic_random_generator<mt19937> random_generator;

}} // namespace boost::uuids

Random Generator

The boost::uuids::basic_random_generator class generates a random number based uuid from a random
number generator (one that conforms to the UniformRandomNumberGenerator concept).

//default construct the random number generator and seed it

boost::uuids::basic_random_generator<boost::mt19937> gen;
boost::uuids::uuid u = gen();

//for convenience boost::uuids::random_generator

//is equivalent to boost::uuids::basic_random_generator<boost::mt19937>
boost::uuids::random_generator gen;
boost::uuids::uuid u = gen();

//use an existing random number generator

//pass either a reference or a pointer to the random number generator
boost::mt19937 ran;
boost::uuids::basic_random_generator<boost::mt19937> gen(&ran);
boost::uuids::uuid u = gen();

boost/uuid/uuid_io.hpp

Synopsis

namespace boost {
namespace uuids {

template <typename ch, typename char_traits>

std::basic_ostream<ch, char_traits>& operator<<(std::basic_ostream<ch, char_traits> &os, uuid const& u);

template <typename ch, typename char_traits>

std::basic_istream<ch, char_traits>& operator>>(std::basic_istream<ch, char_traits> &is, uuid &u);

std::string to_string(uuid const& u);

std::wstring to_wstring(uuid const& u);

}} // namespace boost::uuids

Stream Operators

The standard input and output stream operators << and >> are provided by including boost/uuid
/uuid_io.hpp. The string representation of a uuid is hhhhhhhh-hhhh-hhhh-hhhh-hhhhhhhhhhhh where h is a
hexidecimal digit.

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boost::uuids::uuid u1; // initialize uuid

std::stringstream ss;
ss << u1;

boost::uuids::uuid u2;
ss >> u2;

assert(u1, u2);

One can also use boost::lexical_cast.

boost::uuids::uuid u1; // initialize uuid

std::string s = boost::lexical_cast<std::string>(u);
boost::uuids::uuid u2 = boost::lexical_cast<boost::uuids::uuid>(s);

assert(u1 == u2);

To String

The functions to_string and to_wstring are provided as a convenience to convert a uuid to a string.
They are also likely faster than the stream operators or using boost::lexical_cast.

boost::uuids::uuid u; // initialize uuid

std::string s1 = to_string(u);

std::wstring s2 = to_wstring(u);

boost/uuid/uuid_serialize.hpp

Synopsis

namespace boost {
namespace uuids {

BOOST_CLASS_IMPLEMENTATION(boost::uuids::uuid, boost::serialization::primitive_type)

}} // namespace boost::uuids

Serialization

Serialization is accomplished with the Boost Serialization library. A uuid is serialized as a

primitive type, thus only the uuid value will be saved to/loaded from an archive.

Include boost/uuid/uuid_serialize.hpp to enable serialization for uuids.

Design notes
The document, http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com17/oid/X.667-E.pdf, was used to design
and implement the boost::uuids::uuid struct.

The boost::uuids::basic_random_generator class' default constructor seeds the random number

generator with a SHA-1 hash of a number of dierent values including std::time(0), std::clock(),
uninitialized data, value return from new unsigned int, etc..

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Using Valgrind produces a number of false positives with the default constructor of
boost::uuids::basic_random_generator. One solution is to suppress the errors as described in Valgrind's
documentation. Another solution is to use a dierent constructor of
boost::uuids::basic_random_generator and explicitly pass in a random number generator.

boost::mt19937 ran;
ran.seed(time(NULL)); // one should likely seed in a better way
boost::uuids::basic_random_generator<boost::mt19937> gen(&ran);
boost::uuids::uuid u = gen();

The boost::uuids::name_generator class uses the SHA-1 hash function to compute the uuid.

All functions are re-entrant. Classes are as thread-safe as an int. That is an instance can not be
shared between threads without proper synchronization.

History and Acknowledgements

A number of people on the boost.org mailing list provided useful comments and greatly helped to
shape the library.

Revised February 6, 2010

Copyright Andy Tompkins, 2006

Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying le
LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)

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