CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++abstract-class
C.S.
C.S.

Reputation: 181

Calling derived class function using abstract pointer

I am using pure virtual functions and interfaces for the first time but having some troubles, probably because i did not fully understand some of the basics.

In the main function, i am trying to create an object "a" of a derived class which is creating another object "obj" inside the class and sets a member variable of obj to some value. Later in the main function, i want to print the member variable of obj.

The Error class "AbstractB" has no member "setVar" occurs in DerivedA.h . The setVar function is not part of the abstract class because in different derived classes var may have different data types.

AbstractA.h

class AbstractA
{
public:
    AbstractA() {}
    virtual ~AbstractA() {}

    virtual void buildObj() = 0;
    AbstractB* getObj() { return obj; }

protected:
    AbstractB* obj;
};

AbstractB.h

class AbstractB
{
public:
    AbstractB() {}
    virtual ~AbstractB() {}

    virtual void doSthWithVar() = 0;

    // All derived classes have a private member variable var of varying data types
};

DerivedA.h

 class DerivedA: public AbstractA
 {
 public:
    // buildObj() creates some numbers e.g. 1
    void buildObj() { obj->setVar( 1 ); } // Error due to calling the function using the abstract class instead of the derived one
 };

DerivedB.h

class DerivedB
{
public:
    void setVar( int i ) { var = i; }
    void doSthWithVar(){ std::cout << var << std::endl; }

private:
    int var;
};

main.cpp

int main()
{
    DerivedA a;
    a.buildObj(); // Creating a DerivedB object which is holding a variable var

    // I want to do something like this
    AbstractB* obj = a.getObj();
    obj->doSthWithVar(); // Should print 1
}

Is there any way to call the setVar() function in DerivedA.h to allow later retrieval of var without disturbing the structure of the abstract classes?

EDIT:

I implemented the solution from Robert Andrzejuk in the following way:

class DerivedA: public AbstractA
{
public:
    void buildObj() 
    { 
        DerivedB* b = new DerivedB();
        b->setVar( 1 );
        obj = b;
    }
};

Upvotes: 1

Views: 161

Answers (1)

Robert Andrzejuk
Robert Andrzejuk

Reputation: 5222

I don't see where You have created an instance of DerivedB?

The most logical place looks like in DerivedA. And that's where You have all the info to call the needed functions.

class DerivedA: public AbstractA
{
   DerivedB b;
public:
   // buildObj() creates some numbers e.g. 1
   void buildObj() 
   { 
        b.setVar( 1 );
        obj = &b; 
   }
};

Upvotes: 1

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