Question

Basically, I have a large project that uses a custom utility class c_string that inherits from std::basic_string<char>. For numerous reasons, I would like to edit this class so that

1. It does not derive from std::basic_string<char>
2. I do not have to re-implement all the functions
3. I do not have to touch every file that uses c_string

So I want to change from:

class c_string : public std::basic_string<char>
{
public:
    typedef std::basic_string<char> Base;

    c_string() : Base() {}
}

To:

class c_string
{

...

public:

    ...

    c_string() {...}
}

So, I’m wondering if anyone has a good strategy for making this change with minimal impact.

Answer 1

If your class adds custom functionality (that your project needs) over std::string, then you’re out of luck: you will either have to encapsulate std::string (and implement all methods to forward to std::string implementation) or inherit from std::string (inheriting from std::string is not a good idea in general).

If your class doesn’t add extra functionality over std::string, then replace class c_string { ... } with typedef std::string c_string;.