Question

For my current project I am using a boost::ptr_vector to hold Objects polymorphically, and it was all working fine until one of my builds VS2010 throw that it could not clone the object so I went, and looked up cloning, and implemented the new_clone() method as requested by boost, and followed the c++ FAQ made it pure virtual, but now VS2010 is throwing this shanagin at me saying that it cannot use clone on an abstract class.

1>c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\clone_allocator.hpp(34): error C2259: 'Object' : cannot instantiate abstract class
1>          due to following members:
1>          'Object *Object::new_clone(void) const' : is abstract
1>          c:\...\Object.h(36) : see declaration of 'Object::new_clone'
1>          c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\clone_allocator.hpp(68) : see reference to function template instantiation 'T *boost::new_clone<U>(const T &)' being compiled
1>          with
1>          [
1>              T=Object,
1>              U=Object
1>          ]
1>          c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\detail\reversible_ptr_container.hpp(110) : see reference to function template instantiation 'U *boost::heap_clone_allocator::allocate_clone<Object>(const U &)' being compiled
1>          with
1>          [
1>              U=Object
1>          ]
1>          c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\detail\reversible_ptr_container.hpp(99) : while compiling class template member function 'Object *boost::ptr_container_detail::reversible_ptr_container<Config,CloneAllocator>::null_clone_allocator<allow_null_values>::allocate_clone(const Object *)'
1>          with
1>          [
1>              Config=boost::ptr_container_detail::sequence_config<Object,std::vector<void *,std::allocator<void *>>>,
1>              CloneAllocator=boost::heap_clone_allocator,
1>              allow_null_values=false
1>          ]
1>          c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\detail\reversible_ptr_container.hpp(276) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::ptr_container_detail::reversible_ptr_container<Config,CloneAllocator>::null_clone_allocator<allow_null_values>' being compiled
1>          with
1>          [
1>              Config=boost::ptr_container_detail::sequence_config<Object,std::vector<void *,std::allocator<void *>>>,
1>              CloneAllocator=boost::heap_clone_allocator,
1>              allow_null_values=false
1>          ]
1>          c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\detail\reversible_ptr_container.hpp(275) : while compiling class template member function 'void boost::ptr_container_detail::reversible_ptr_container<Config,CloneAllocator>::null_policy_deallocate_clone(const Object *)'
1>          with
1>          [
1>              Config=boost::ptr_container_detail::sequence_config<Object,std::vector<void *,std::allocator<void *>>>,
1>              CloneAllocator=boost::heap_clone_allocator
1>          ]
1>          c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\ptr_sequence_adapter.hpp(132) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::ptr_container_detail::reversible_ptr_container<Config,CloneAllocator>' being compiled
1>          with
1>          [
1>              Config=boost::ptr_container_detail::sequence_config<Object,std::vector<void *,std::allocator<void *>>>,
1>              CloneAllocator=boost::heap_clone_allocator
1>          ]
1>          c:\program files\boost\boost_1_49_0\boost\ptr_container\ptr_vector.hpp(35) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::ptr_sequence_adapter<T,VoidPtrSeq,CloneAllocator>' being compiled
1>          with
1>          [
1>              T=Object,
1>              VoidPtrSeq=std::vector<void *,std::allocator<void *>>,
1>              CloneAllocator=boost::heap_clone_allocator
1>          ]
1>          c:\general\dev\senior\tankbattle3d\tankbattle3d\tankbattle3d\room.h(28) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::ptr_vector<T>' being compiled
1>          with
1>          [
1>              T=Object
1>          ]

Does this mean that in order to have boost be able to clone things I have to throw abstract base class away?

---

NOTES:

• At no time should an object of the abstract base class ever exist in the program, but almost everything will be treated as such.
• When I make the clone method non-virtual, and give it the means to actually return something (providing a constructor/copy constructor which would mean that they could exist which goes against design) then the compiler throws that all of the dirived classes need a default constructor. which not having them is by design.

EDIT: I do not implement a delete_clone() (was unaware that that was explicitly required, and I think that the destructor will do fine)

class Object{
public :
    ObjectType  superType;
    bool toBeRemoved;
    virtual void performAction(int action, Object& source){}
    virtual void updateObject(float duration){}
    virtual ~Object(){}
    virtual Object * new_clone(void)const = 0;      // Object.h[36]
    bool operator==(const Object& _other)const;
    bool operator!=(const Object& _other)const;
};

Answer 1

What you want is a free-standing (non-member) new_clone() function that will get picked up by the compiler in preference to the one in Boost’s clone_allocator.hpp:

class Object{
public :
    ObjectType  superType;
    bool toBeRemoved;
    virtual void performAction(int action, Object& source){}
    virtual void updateObject(float duration){}
    virtual ~Object(){}
    bool operator==(const Object& _other)const;
    bool operator!=(const Object& _other)const;

private:
    virtual Object * do_clone() const = 0;
};

// in the same namespace as `class Object`:
//  so it will get picked up instead of Boost's default 
//  implementation

inline
Object* new_clone( const Object& o)
{
    return o.do_clone();
}