Question

This program runs without any exception. Can you please explain why the dynamic cast and static casts are successful? And how C++ manages to resolve the required virtual function?

class Shape 
    {
    private :
        string helperFunction();

    public : 
        virtual void draw() = 0;
        virtual void type();
    };

void Shape::type()
    {
    cout << "Shape Type";
    }

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

class Circle : public Shape
    {
    private: 
    string circlething;

    public :
        virtual void draw();
        virtual void type();
        void CircleFunction();
    };

void Circle::draw()
    {
    cout <<"Circle Draw" << endl;
    }

void Circle::type()
    {
    cout <<"Circle Type" << endl;
    }

void Circle::CircleFunction()
    {
    circlething = "Circle Thing";
    cout << circlething;
    cout << "Circle Function" << endl;
    }


class Square : public Shape
    {
    private :
        string  squarething;
    public :
        virtual void draw();
        virtual void type();
        void SquareFunction();
    };

void Square::draw()
    {
    cout <<"Square Draw" << endl;
    }

void Square::type()
    {
    cout <<"Square Type" << endl;
    }

void Square::SquareFunction()
    {
    squarething = "Square Thing";
    cout << squarething;
    cout << "Square Function" << endl;
    }
// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------


int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
    {
    vector<Shape *> shapes;
    Circle circle;
    Square square;
    shapes.push_back(&circle);
    shapes.push_back(&square);

    vector<Shape *>::const_iterator i;

    for (i = shapes.begin(); i < shapes.end(); ++i)
        {

        cout << "\n*** Simple Type ***\n" << endl;
        (*i)->type();
        (*i)->draw();

        cout << "---Static Cast Circle--" << endl;
        Circle* circle = static_cast<Circle*>(*i);
        circle->type();
        circle->draw();
        circle->CircleFunction();

        cout << "---Static Cast Square--" << endl;
        Square* square = static_cast<Square*>(*i);
        square->type();
        square->draw();
        square->SquareFunction();

        cout << "---Static Cast Circle to Shape --" << endl;
        Shape* shape1 = static_cast<Shape*> (circle);
        shape1->type();
        shape1->draw();

        cout << "--- Dynamic Cast Circle to Shape --" << endl;
        Shape* shape2 = dynamic_cast<Shape*> (circle);
        shape2->type();
        shape2->draw();

        cout << "--- Static Cast Square to Shape --" << endl;
        Shape* shape3 = static_cast<Shape*> (square);
        shape3->type();
        shape3->draw();

        cout << "--- Dynamic Cast Square to Shape --" << endl;
        Shape* shape4 = dynamic_cast<Shape*> (square);
        shape4->type();
        shape4->draw();

        }
    int x;
    cin >> x;
    return 0;
    }

Answer 1

Let’s start with why it isn’t throwing any exceptions, since it’s pretty simple: dynamic_cast throws an exception when you try to cast a reference type, and it fails. When you use dynamic_cast on pointers, it will return a pointer if it succeeds, or a null pointer if it fails.

As for why you’ve never getting a failed cast, all your dynamic_cast are up the hierarchy, to produce a Shape *. Since all the objects in question are derived from Shape, this will always succeed — and in fact, that conversion can be done implicitly.

To demonstrate what dynamic_cast is really intended to do, let’s write some slightly different code:

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

using namespace std;

class Shape {
public : 
    virtual void draw() = 0;
};

class Circle : public Shape
{
public :
    virtual void draw() { cout << "Circle Draw\n"; }
    void circlefunc() { cout << "circle func\n"; }
};

class Square : public Shape
{
public :
    virtual void draw() { cout << "Square Draw\n"; }
    void squarefunc() { cout << "Square Func\n"; }
};

int main() {
    vector<Shape *> shapes;
    Circle circle;
    Square square;
    shapes.push_back(&circle); // implicit conversion from Circle * to Shape *
    shapes.push_back(&square); // implicit conversion from Square * to Shape *

    Circle *c;
    Square *s;
    for (int i=0; i<shapes.size(); i++) {
        shapes[i]->draw(); // draw polymorphically
        if (c = dynamic_cast<Circle *>(shapes[i])) // try to cast to Circle *
            c->circlefunc();               // if it worked, invoke circlefunc
        else if (s = dynamic_cast<Square *>(shapes[i])) // likewise for square
            s->squarefunc();
    }
    return 0;
}

This time we’re using the dynamic_cast to get from Shape * to Square * or Circle *. This will succeed if and only if the dynamic type of the pointee object is that type. Otherwise it’ll produce a null pointer. If and only if we get a non-null pointer, we invoke the member function for that specific type.

To summarize: When you have a pointer/reference to a derived object, you can convert to a pointer/reference to the base class implicitly. You don’t need dynamic_cast (or any explicit cast at all) because this is always safe.

When you convert from pointer/reference to base to get a pointer/reference to derived, then you normally want to use a dynamic_cast. This will succeed/fail based on whether the actual type of the pointee object (i.e., the dynamic type) is the desired target (or a base of it) or not. In this case, failure is signaled differently depending on whether you’re working with pointers or references. For a reference, failure will throw an exception. For a pointer, failure will produce a null pointer.