Bind existing C variable to Lua using Lua C API

Question

Few years ago I used luabind for binding C++ objects to Lua and vice versa. There was a way to bind existing (allocated through new operator in C++ code) object to Lua and using it in a script like:

binded_object.property = new_value

Now I am working on a new project where I would like to add some scripting. For the sake of simplicity no boost or any heavy templates are desired. So my question is how to do it using only Lua C Api?

Unfortunately, all examples I encountered show how to bind custom C++ type to Lua and then create a new object of that type in the script and finally return the object to C++.

Answer 1

You want SWIG . No Boost, no heavy templates, just all the bindings you could ever want, autogenerated for your convenience.

Now, your question isn't totally clear: by "only Lua C Api", you might mean "making all the Lua C API calls manually in code I write myself". If that's what you mean, take it from someone who's been there: you don't actually want to do that . It's difficult and unrewarding, and you get nothing whatsoever in exchange. Use SWIG. If you want, you can manually edit the bindings it generates, but use SWIG.