Question

I got an elegant answer yesterday for my question regarding polymorphic object members.

But now I am facing the problem that the variable isn’t really behaving the way I expected it to. The following code is being used:

#include <iostream>
#include <math.h>

using std::cin;
using std::cout;
using std::endl;


class Com
{
    public:
        virtual void setReady()
        {
            cout << "Com" << endl;
        }
};

class DerivedCom : public Com
{
    public:
        void setReady()
        {
            cout << "DCom" << endl;
        }

        void somethingElse()
        {
            cout << "else" << endl;
        }

};

class BaseClass
{
    public:
        Com* com;

    public:
        BaseClass(Com* c = new Com) : com(c)
        {
        }

        virtual void setReady()
        {
            com->setReady();
        }
};

class DerivedClass : public BaseClass
{
    // the call to somethingElse() won't compile if I leave out this declaration
    protected:
        DerivedCom* com;

    public:
        DerivedClass() : BaseClass(new DerivedCom) 
        {
        }

        void setReady()
        {
            // This line causes a segfault if I put in the declaration earlier
            this->com->setReady();

            // This line won't compile if I leave out the declaration earlier
            this->com->somethingElse();
        }
};

int main()
{
    DerivedClass* inst = new DerivedClass();

    inst->setReady();
    return 0;
}

The problem is, that DerivedClass::com is in fact of type DerivedCom but I can’t access any DerivedCom-specific methods as the compiler won’t find them. If I put in an extra re-declaration DerivedCom* com, the compiler will find the methods but I get segmentation faults.

Answer 1

Remove that extra declaration.

If you are sure that a Com* is a DerivedCom* then you can static_cast it.

static_cast<DerivedCom*>(this->com)->somethingElse();

This will likely crash it you’re wrong however. So if you are not sure then you can dynamic_cast it

DerivedCom* dcom = dynamic_cast<DerivedCom*>(this->com);
if (dcom)
    dcom->somethingElse();

dynamic_cast will return NULL if the object isn’t of the type you asked for.