Working with Legacy interfaces

In case we are working with a legacy/unsafe interface, we may need to extract the numerical value of a quantity and pass it to some third-party legacy unsafe interfaces.

In such situations we can use .numerical_value_in(Unit) member function:

void legacy_check_speed_limit(int speed_in_km_per_h);

legacy_check_speed_limit((180 * km / (2 * h)).numerical_value_in(km / h));

Such a getter will explicitly enforce the usage of a correct unit required by the underlying interface, which reduces a significant number of safety-related issues.

The above code will not compile in case value truncation may happen. To solve the issue, we need to either use a value-preserving representation type or force the truncating conversion with .force_numerical_value_in(Unit):

legacy_check_speed_limit((140 * mi / (2 * h)).force_numerical_value_in(km / h));

The getters mentioned above always return by value as a quantity value conversion may be required to adjust it to the target unit. In case a user needs a reference to the underlying storage .numerical_value_ref_in(Unit) should be used:

void legacy_set_speed_limit(int* speed_in_km_per_h) { *speed_in_km_per_h = 100; }

quantity<km / h, int> speed_limit;
legacy_set_speed_limit(&speed_limit.numerical_value_ref_in(km / h));

This member function again requires a target unit to enforce safety. This overload does not participate in overload resolution if the provided unit has a different scaling factor than the current one.