Last time, I confessed that I lied when i said that we can’t use std::unique_ptr to manage the registration cookie.

The trick here is that the registration cookie is of type DWORD, which fits in a pointer, so we can smuggle the integer value inside a pointer.

template<typename T>
struct fake_agile_ref
{
private:
    using Smart = std::conditional_t<
        std::is_base_of_v<winrt::Windows::Foundation::IUnknown, T>,
        T, winrt::com_ptr<T>>;

    struct git_deleter                                                                           
    {                                                                                            
        winrt::com_ptr<IGlobalInterfaceTable> m_git;                                             
                                                                                                 
        void operator()(void* p)                                                                 
        {                                                                                        
            m_git->RevokeInterfaceFromGlobal(static_cast<DWORD>(reinterpret_cast<uintptr_t>(p)));
        }                                                                                        
    };                                                                                           

    winrt::com_ptr<IContextCallback> m_context;
    ULONG_PTR m_token = 0;
    std::unique_ptr<void, git_deleter> m_cookie;
    void* m_raw = nullptr;

Our custom deleter holds a pointer to the Global Interface Table and uses it to revoke the cookie on destruction. The cookie is an integer smuggled inside a pointer, so we cast the pointer back to an integer by passing through a uintptr_t to avoid a compiler warning about casting between an integer and pointer of different sizes.

We are relying on the fact that Windows implementations are required to support round-tripping integers through pointers. Macros like MAKEINTRESOURCE rely on it. It’s also codified in Windows with helper functions like PtrToInt and IntToPtr, but I’m writing it out for expository purposes rather than using those helpers.

We can then store the Global Interface Table pointer and the corresponding cookie in the unique_ptr:

    fake_agile_ref(Smart const& p) : m_raw(winrt::get_abi(p))
    {
        if (m_raw) {
            m_context = winrt::capture<IContextCallback>(CoGetObjectContext);
            m_token = get_context_token();
            auto& git = m_cookie.get_deleter().m_git;                                          
            git = winrt::create_instance<IGlobalInterfaceTable>(CLSID_StdGlobalInterfaceTable);
            DWORD cookie;                                                                      
            winrt::check_hresult(git->RegisterInterfaceInGlobal(
                winrt::make<force_marshal<Smart>>(p).get(),
                __uuidof(IUnknown), &m_cookie));
            m_cookie.reset(reinterpret_cast<void*>(static_cast<uintptr_t>(cookie)));
        }
    }

And now that we are letting unique_ptr manage the lifetime of the cookie, we don’t need a custom destructor, which allows us to use the Rule of Zero and simply not have any copy or move constructors or assignment operators.

    // fake_agile_ref(fake_agile_ref&& other) noexcept :
    //     m_context(std::move(other.m_context)),
    //     m_token(std:exchange(other.m_token, 0)),
    //     m_git(std::move(other.m_git)),
    //     m_cookie(std::exchange(other.m_cookie, 0)),
    //     m_raw(other.m_raw)
    // {
    // }

    // fake_agile_ref& operator=(fake_agile_ref&& other) noexcept
    // {
    //     using std::swap;
    //     swap(m_context, other.m_context);
    //     swap(m_token, other.m_token);
    //     swap(m_git, other.m_git);
    //     swap(m_cookie, other.m_cookie);
    //     swap(m_raw, other.m_raw);
    // }

    // ~fake_agile_ref()
    // {
    //     if (m_cookie) {
    //        m_git->RevokeInterfaceFromGlobal(std::exchange(m_cookie, 0));
    //    }
    // }

Since we are storing the cookie in a unique_ptr, we need to adjust the empty method:

    bool empty() const noexcept
    {
        return reinterpret_cast<uintptr_t>(m_cookie.get()) != 0;
    }

Bonus chatter: The Windows Implementation Library (wil) has a class similar to unique_ptr called wil::unique_any that lets you apply cleanup to any data type, not just a pointer.