Reflecting LuaBridge classes from Lua scripts

Question

Before April 2019, it was possible for a Lua script to reflect the methods and properties of a LuaBridge class using string keys __parent, __class, __propget, and __propset. This was an incredibly useful tool for creating test scripts and development tools to maintain a large class framework exported into Lua.

From looking through the release notes of LuaBridge, it seems the string keys were removed for security reasons. But I find myself placing more priority on the ability to reflect classes from scripts than on whether scripts can muck around in the object model. Especially in dev mode.

The LuaBridge Reference Manual implies there is a way for a C/C++ program to expose the metatables, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do it. I am quite new to interfacing between C and Lua (or LuaBridge), so I'm not surprised that I am perplexed. If anyone could share an example of how to do this, I would appreciate it.

Answer 1

Since no one seems to have a good suggestion, I realized I could roll my own reflection of the names of properties, methods, and constants. For my purposes I don't really need to execute or access them.

So rather than muck around inside LuaBridge I added __class, __propget, and __propset static properties to every class in my framework. These return a table implemented with std::map which LuaBridge supports. The tables simple have the names as keys and a dummy value.

One caveat I discovered is that you have to add static properties to derived classes when creating the derived class with deriveClass. If you try to add them later (using beginClass), LuaBridge throws an assert.