[Bro] On Modifying Bro tables in C++

[José María González]

Hi, 

The following problem is probably easy, but my knowledge 
of C++ is pretty limited. 

I have a table defined in Bro, and I want to modify it 
(add/delete terms) in C++. Actually, I want to modify the 
table *only* in C++, but this is another subject. 

I use internal_val() to get a Val* from the table's Bro name. 
When I want to read the table, I access to the table 
underneath using my_table->AsTable() or, if I want to 
do further casting, using my_table->AsTable()->AsTableVal(). 
Everything works fine. 

Problem is when I want to write. AsTable() is defined in 
Val.h as a const accessor, but not as a non-const one. This 
means that my_table->AsTable() returns actually a "const 
TableEntryValPDict" object. Therefore, any access to Insert() 
or Remove() causes a "discards qualifiers" compiler error. 

While I can do brute-force cast and turn my "const 
TableEntryValPDict" into a simple TableEntryValPDict, I've 
read in Val.h that  "Accessors for mutable values are called 
AsNonConst* and are protected to avoid external state 
changes." This seems to state that there is a valid reason 
to avoid doing what I'm doing. "Avoid external state 
changes" is not descriptive enough for me. 

Can somebody provide advice on this? 

TIA. 
-Chema