Slicing problem with inherited classes.

[Swerve]

Hi there,

I'm trying to store pointers in a Vector, but the inherited classes datamembers are being lost.

I believe this is due to Slicing, but I'm unable to see where I'm going wrong, so what hoping someone may be able to point out where my mistake is.

I've included my programs code. It does compile.

Header file (diary.h) :

using namespace std;
#include <string>

class Diary
{
public:

	Diary(string mainname, string mainaddress, string  mainpostcode, string maintelno, string maindetails);

private:

protected:

	string m_Name;
	string m_Address;
	string m_PostCode;
	string m_TelNo;
	string m_Details;

};

Diary::Diary(string mainname, string mainaddress, string  mainpostcode, string maintelno, string maindetails) 
{
	m_Name = mainname;
	m_Address = mainaddress;
	m_PostCode = mainpostcode;
	m_TelNo = maintelno;
	m_Details = maindetails;	
}

//----------------------------------------------------------------
class Leads : public Diary
{
public:

	Leads(string m_Name, string m_Address, string m_PostCode, string m_TelNo, string m_Details, string m_MainDate, string m_MainTime);

private:

protected:

	string m_MainDate;
	string m_MainTime;

};
Leads::Leads(string mainname, string mainaddress, string mainpostcode, string maintelno, string maindetails, string maindate, string maintime) : Diary(mainname, mainaddress, mainpostcode, maintelno, maindetails) 
{
	m_MainDate = maindate;
	m_MainTime = maintime;
}

main.cpp :

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include "diary.h"

using namespace std;

int main ()
{
	vector<Diary *>vectorname;

	do{
		int choice = 0;
		cout << "Choose one of the options below:" << endl;
		cout << "1) Enter a lead" << endl;
		cout << "2) Exit the program" << endl;
		cin >> choice;
		cin.ignore();

		switch(choice)
		{
		case 1:
			{
				cout << "You chose to enter a lead" << endl;
				//---------------------
				//Collect the leads details
				//---------------------
				string mainname;
				cout << "Name? " << endl;
				getline (cin, mainname);

				string mainaddress;
				cout << "Address? " << endl;
				getline (cin, mainaddress);

				string mainpostcode;
				cout << "Post Code? " << endl;
				getline (cin, mainpostcode);

				string maintelno;
				cout << "Telephone Number? " << endl;
				getline (cin, maintelno);

				string maindetails;
				cout << "Details? " << endl;
				getline (cin, maindetails);

				string maindate;
				cout << "Date ? DDMMYY " << endl;
				getline (cin, maindate);

				string maintime;
				cout << "Time? 24hr HHMM " << endl;
				getline (cin, maintime);

				cout << "All questions asked" << endl;

				try
				{
					Leads *ptr = new Leads(mainname, mainaddress, mainpostcode, maintelno, maindetails, maindate, maintime);
					vectorname.push_back( ptr );
				}
				catch (bad_alloc& ba)
				{
					cerr << "bad_alloc caught: " << ba.what() << endl;
				}

				cout << "past push Lead to list and before deletion" << endl;
				break;
			}

		case 2:
			{
				cout << "You chose to exit the program" << endl;
				//save all the objects to the text file
				//itarate over the vector to delete all the pointers.
				//exit the program
				break;
			}
		}
	}
	while(true);

	system ("PAUSE");

	return 0;
}

As always, your help is really appreciated with my queries.

Thanks a lot.

[tabstop]

I guess the question is how are you determining that slicing is going on, since I don't see you trying to read from the vector here; or for that matter can I determine how you would read from the vector (since you have no "get" functions, nor do you have public variables). If you are trying to access variables from the derived class, you will have to do a reinterpret_cast on the pointer you hold beforehand.

[bithub]

There is no object slicing in your code, and I cannot see what would lead you to believe that any data members are being lost.

[bithub]

If you are trying to access variables from the derived class, you will have to do a reinterpret_cast on the pointer you hold beforehand.

Why's that?

[laserlight]

Why's that?

tabstop probably meant dynamic_cast and/or static_cast rather than reinterpret_cast.

[tabstop]

Why's that?

Because C++ has this concept called "types". The type Base* and the type Derived* are not the same.

class Base {
    public: int x;
};

class Derived : public Base {
    public: int y;
};

int main() {
    Base *ptr = new Derived;
    ptr->y = 5;
}

gives

H:\temp.cpp||In function `int main()':|
H:\temp.cpp|11|error: 'class Base' has no member named 'y'|
||=== Build finished: 1 errors, 1 warnings ===|

EDIT: Or if your point is as Laserlight says, then never mind. dynamic_cast is what I had in mind.

[Swerve]

Thanks very much for the help.

The reason I though Slicing was occurring was because when I viewed Locals in my IDE, the inherited datamembers were not visible in the vector:

Screen Shot:
http://i35.tinypic.com/2u8i7w7.jpg

If slicing is not occurring, is that because I'm storing Base Class pointers?

If it's normal not to see the inherited datamembers, then that's great. I'm new to this, and so was expecting to see the complete list of datamembers.

Glad it's looks right, really happy about that!

Nice one