Writing a C++ wrapper for a C library
A C++ wrapper is not required - you can simply call the C functions from your C++ code. IMHO, it's best not to wrap C code - if you want to turn it into C++ code - fine, but do a complete re-write.
Practically, assuming your C functions are declared in a file called myfuncs.h then in your C++ code you will want to include them like this:
extern "C" {
#include "myfuncs.h"
}
in order to give them C linkage when compiled with the C++ compiler.
I usually only write a simple RAII wrapper instead of wrapping each member function:
class Database: boost::noncopyable {
public:
Database(): handle(db_construct()) {
if (!handle) throw std::runtime_error("...");
}
~Database() { db_destruct(handle); }
operator db_t*() { return handle; }
private:
db_t* handle;
};
With the type conversion operator this can be used with the C functions:
Database db;
db_access(db, ...); // Calling a C function with db's type conversion operator
I think it only makes sense to write a wrapper if it makes the use of the library simpler. In your case, you're making it unnecessary to pass a LIB* around, and presumably it will be possible to create LIB objects on the stack, so I'd say this is an improvement.