static_assert always triggering in constexpr

Question

I wrote the following code to find the first index in a tuple containing a given type.

#include <cstdio>
#include <tuple>
#include <type_traits>
#include <utility>

namespace detail {
    template <typename T, typename Tuple, std::size_t H, std::size_t... I>
    constexpr std::size_t tuple_type_index_impl(Tuple tup, std::index_sequence<H, I...> seq, std::size_t ret = 0) {
        if (std::is_same<T, typename std::tuple_element<H, Tuple>::type>::value)
            ret = H;
        else ret = tuple_type_index_impl<T>(tup, std::index_sequence<I...>{});
        return ret;
    }

    template <typename T, typename Tuple, std::size_t H>
    constexpr std::size_t tuple_type_index_impl(Tuple tup, std::index_sequence<H> seq) {
        static_assert(std::is_same<T, typename std::tuple_element<H, Tuple>::type>::value, "type not in tuple!");
        return H;
    }
}

template <typename T, typename Tuple>
constexpr std::size_t tuple_type_index(Tuple tup) {
    return detail::tuple_type_index_impl<T>(tup, std::make_index_sequence<std::tuple_size<Tuple>::value>{});
}

class a {};
class b {};
class c {};
class d {};

std::tuple<a, b, c> abc;

int main() {

    printf("b is index : %zu\n", tuple_type_index<d>(abc));

    system("pause");
    return 0;
}

The problem that I have is if you try to find the index for any type but c the static_assert will trigger. I'm not even sure why it's going all the way to the ending function when you try to find the index of types a or b.

If you remove the static_assert the return values are correct, but it will return a value for types that are not in the tuple.

---

Inspired by the marked answer, I have reworked my implementation.

It is available on coliru

This version should work on clang++ and g++ instead of just on MSVC.

Answer 1

I suppose that the problem is that you don't write a right terminal (index sequence empty) tuple_type_index_impl() function.

En passant, 0 value (in case of "type not found") isn't a good idea (IMHO) because you could confuse with "first type".

I've modified your example in the following

#include <tuple>
#include <utility>
#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>

namespace detail
 {
   template <typename T, typename Tuple>
      constexpr std::size_t tuple_type_index_impl
         (const Tuple &,
          const std::index_sequence<> &,
          std::size_t ret = std::tuple_size<Tuple>::value)
       { return ret; }

   template <typename T, typename Tuple, std::size_t H, std::size_t ... I>
      constexpr std::size_t tuple_type_index_impl
         (const Tuple & tup,
          const std::index_sequence<H, I...> & seq,
          std::size_t ret = std::tuple_size<Tuple>::value)
       {
         return std::is_same<T, typename std::tuple_element<H, Tuple>::type>::value
            ? H
            : tuple_type_index_impl<T>(tup, std::index_sequence<I...>{}, ret);
       }
 }

template <typename T, typename Tuple>
constexpr std::size_t tuple_type_index (const Tuple & tup)
 {
   return detail::tuple_type_index_impl<T>
      (tup, std::make_index_sequence<std::tuple_size<Tuple>::value>{});
 }

class a {};
class b {};
class c {};
class d {};

int main()
 {
   std::tuple<a, b, c> abc;

   std::cout << "a is index: " << tuple_type_index<a>(abc) << std::endl;
   std::cout << "b is index: " << tuple_type_index<b>(abc) << std::endl;
   std::cout << "c is index: " << tuple_type_index<c>(abc) << std::endl;
   std::cout << "d is index: " << tuple_type_index<d>(abc) << std::endl;

   return 0;
 }

Give me some time and I try to prepare a simpler example.

--- EDIT: added example ---

You're working with types, so there isn't need of create and pass to function tuple (and index sequences) objects.

I've prepared an example based on a (SFINAE based) tupleTypeIndexHelper struct; is working with types only so you use as

tuple_type_index<a, std::tuple<a, b, c>>()

or (when abc is an istantiation of std::tuple<a, b, c>) as

tuple_type_index<b, decltype(abc)>()

The following example works (at least: with g++ 4.9.2 and with clang++ 3.5) with C++11 too

#include <tuple>
#include <utility>
#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>

namespace detail
 {
   template <typename T, typename Tuple, std::size_t Ind>
      struct tupleTypeIndexHelper
       {
         static constexpr std::size_t  dimT { std::tuple_size<Tuple>::value };

         template <std::size_t I = Ind>
            static typename std::enable_if<(I >= dimT), std::size_t>::type func ()
          { return dimT; }

         template <std::size_t I = Ind>
            static typename std::enable_if<(I < dimT), std::size_t>::type func ()
          {
            using typeI = typename std::tuple_element<I, Tuple>::type;

            return std::is_same<T, typeI>::value
               ? I
               : tupleTypeIndexHelper<T, Tuple, I+1U>::func();
          }
       };

 }

template <typename T, typename Tuple>
constexpr std::size_t tuple_type_index ()
 { return detail::tupleTypeIndexHelper<T, Tuple, 0U>::func(); }

class a {};
class b {};
class c {};
class d {};

int main()
 {
   using  t3 = std::tuple<a, b, c>;

   std::cout << "a is index:   " << tuple_type_index<a, t3>() << std::endl;
   std::cout << "b is index:   " << tuple_type_index<b, t3>() << std::endl;
   std::cout << "c is index:   " << tuple_type_index<c, t3>() << std::endl;
   std::cout << "d is index:   " << tuple_type_index<d, t3>() << std::endl;
   std::cout << "int is index: " << tuple_type_index<int, t3>() << std::endl;

   std::tuple<a, b, c> abc;

   std::cout << "a is index: " << tuple_type_index<a, decltype(abc)>() << std::endl;
   std::cout << "b is index: " << tuple_type_index<b, decltype(abc)>() << std::endl;
   std::cout << "c is index: " << tuple_type_index<c, decltype(abc)>() << std::endl;
   std::cout << "d is index: " << tuple_type_index<d, decltype(abc)>() << std::endl;

   return 0;
 }