I previously wrote about how the following:

console::formatter() << "some text" << 15 << a_variable << and so on...;

was a common pattern in and when using the foobar2000 SDK, but wasn't standards-compliant C++, as it made use of a Visual C++ language extension allowing rvalues to bind to non-const lvalues. Clang, and now Visual C++ in standards-conforming (/permissive-) mode, both reject such code.

The workaround I used at the time was simple – just use a non-temporary object:

console::formatter formatter;
formatter << "some text" << 15 << a_variable << and so on...;

(As the destructor of console::formatter calls console::print(), a persistent instance of console::formatter won't work. Console viewers automatically append a newline to messages that don't end with one, so multiple calls to console::print() won't work.)

C++17, however, gives us another solution in the form of fold expressions. C++11 gave us a safe way to pass a variable number of arguments of differing type to a function by using parameter packs. However, it was difficult to iterate over a parameter pack. C++17 fold expressions, however, allow you to reduce (or fold) a parameter pack in various ways. Using a template parameter pack and a fold expression, we can define a function that takes a varying number of arguments (each potentially of a different type) and then reduces the arguments using console::formatter's << operator:

template <typename... Args>
void print_to_console(Args&&... args)
{
    console::formatter formatter;
    (formatter << ... << args);
}

The expression (formatter << ... << args) may look a bit odd, but effectively it expands out to formatter << arg1 << arg2 << ... << argN. (Note that the round brackets in the expression are required.)

Using the helper function is simple. For example:

print_to_console("some text", "text", 15, variable_1, variable_2, variable_3);

Other operators and types of folding are also possible, as outlined in the article on cppreference.com. For example, a similar helper function can be written using the , operator and console::formatter::add_string():

template <typename... Args>
void print_to_console(Args&&... args)
{
    console::formatter formatter;
    (formatter.add_string(args), ...);
}

(Note that this is not a direct replacement for the previous helper function, because console::formatter::add_string() only accepts strings and does not have the same overloads as the << operator.)

While the Visual Studio docs say that Visual Studio 2017 15.5 supports fold expressions, only the second form of the helper function compiles in Visual Studio 2017 15.5. The first form compiles under Visual Studio 2017 15.6, however.

(Using a string-formatting library such as fmt would, of course, be another solution. However, I'm happy with my helper function for now 🙂)