Time label in MEDCoupling

Time label is a non instantiable class whose each object consuming potentially big amount of memory inherits from. The class that incarnates this concept is MEDCoupling::TimeLabel.

Here are some of examples of classes that inherit from TimeLabel class :

• MEDCoupling::DataArrayInt, MEDCoupling::DataArrayDouble
• MEDCoupling::MEDCouplingMesh
• MEDCoupling::MEDCouplingFieldDouble
• ...

This class is in charge of storing a 32 bits unsigned integer called the time label, that allows the user to know easily, if an heavy object in memory has been modified or not.

The usage is simple :

• Call MEDCoupling::TimeLabel::getTimeOfThis a first time to retrieve a reference. Store the returned unsigned integer.
• When you need to know if the instance inheriting from MEDCoupling::TimeLabel has changed or not simply invoke MEDCoupling::TimeLabel::getTimeOfThis again and compare with the stored value. If the value is different, the instance has changed, if not the instance has not changed.

The virtual call to MEDCoupling::TimeLabel::updateTime changes the behaviour of MEDCoupling::TimeLabel::getTimeOfThis ; it is a bug, so please notify the bug on the SALOME forum.