Cast from dyn Any to other trait objects

• no_std no alloc support
• No proc macros
• No unsafe code

Usage

[dependencies]
crosstrait = "0.1"

Then use the register!{ Type => Trait } declarative macro and the Cast traits.

For embedded, the linker needs to be informed of the type registry.

Example

use core::any::Any;
use crosstrait::{Cast, Castable, CastableRef, entry, register, REGISTRY, Registry};

// Some example traits to play with
use core::{fmt::{Debug, Formatter, Write}, ops::{AddAssign, SubAssign}};

// Add types and trait implementations to the default registry
// Implementation status is verified at compile time
register! { i32 => dyn Debug }

// Registering foreign types and traits works fine
// Serialization/deserialization of `dyn Any` is a major use case
// register! { i32 => dyn erased_serde::Serialize }

// If a type is not Send + Sync, it can't cast as Arc.
// `no_arc` accounts for that
register! { Formatter => dyn Write, no_arc }

// Check for trait impl registration on concrete type
assert!(i32::castable::<dyn Debug>());

// Check for trait impl registration on Any
let any: &dyn Any = &42i32;
assert!(any.castable::<dyn Debug>());

// SubAssign<i32> is impl'd for i32 but not registered
assert!(!any.castable::<dyn SubAssign<i32>>());

// Cast ref
let a: &dyn Debug = any.cast().unwrap();
println!("42 = {a:?}");

// Cast mut
let mut value = 5i32;
let any: &mut dyn Any = &mut value;
let v: &mut dyn AddAssign<i32> = any.cast().unwrap();
*v += 3;
assert_eq!(value, 5 + 3);

// Cast Box
let any: Box<dyn Any> = Box::new(0i32);
let _: Box<dyn Debug> = any.cast().unwrap();

// Cast Rc
use std::rc::Rc;
let any: Rc<dyn Any> = Rc::new(0i32);
let _: Rc<dyn Debug> = any.cast().unwrap();

// Cast Arc
use std::sync::Arc;
let any: Arc<dyn Any + Sync + Send> = Arc::new(0i32);
let _: Arc<dyn Debug> = any.cast().unwrap();

// Explicit registry usage
let any: &dyn Any = &0i32;
let _: &dyn Debug = REGISTRY.cast_ref(any).unwrap();

// Custom non-static registry
let myreg = Registry::new(&[entry!(i32 => dyn Debug)]);
let _: &dyn Debug = myreg.cast_ref(any).unwrap();

// Autotraits and type/const generics are distinct
let a: Option<&(dyn Debug + Sync)> = any.cast();
assert!(a.is_none());

// Registration in the default registry can happen anywhere
// in any order in any downstream crate
register! { i32 => dyn AddAssign<i32> }

Related crates

• intertrait: source of ideas for crosstrait, similar goals, similar features, std, proc macros
• miniconf: provides several ways to get dyn Any from nodes in heterogeneous nested data structures, no_std, no alloc
• erased_serde: Serialize/Serializer/Deserializer trait objects
• downcast/downcast-rs: support dyn Trait -> Type
• linkme: linker magic used here to build distributed static type registry

Limitations

Registry size on no_std

Currently the size of the global registry on no_std is fixed and arbitrarily set to 128 entries.

Auto traits

Since adding any combination of auto traits (in particular Send, Sync, Unpin) to a trait results in a distinct trait, all relevant combinations of traits plus auto traits needs to be registered explicitly.

Global registry

A custom non-static Registry can be built and used explicitly but the Cast traits will not use it.

used_linker

The unstable used_with_arg feature may be required to keep the linker from optimizing away the items in the registry. Enable it using the used_linker crate feature and use a nightly toolchain.

Registry keys

The registry keys are size_of::<[TypeId; 2]>() = 32 bytes large. Hashing and key storage/comparison is not tuned for performance.