program variables

Hello..

Im working on a class that would store different variables for my application..

Code:

class datalist {
public:
	datalist() {}

	char *name;
	unsigned short type;
	void *p;
	datalist *next;
};

It would be possible to store char * (string), char ** (string list), and integer.
type 0 = integer, 1 = string, 2-> = string list (the number of strings)

p is the pointer to data.

Is it smart doing things like that?

I want a function that would return string (if char*) or first string (if char**)

Code:

int readdata(datalist *read) {
	char *value = 0;
	if (read && read->type) {
		if (read->type > 1) 
			value = (char **)(read)->p; // <- problem
		else
			value = (char *)(read)->p;

		printf("value: %s\n", value);
	}
	return 0;
}

The code is not okay, I get error if I cast (char**)(read)->p[0] - "'void *' : unknown size".. Im not sure how should I do it? Is it smart doing things that way?

> Is it smart doing things like that?
I would suggest you look up how to do templates, which allow you to create instances of your class suited to whatever data type(s) you're interested in storing.

Also you do't need to store an abstract representation of types. You can use typeid().

Code:

int x = 0;
double y = 0;
int* ptr = &x;
int z = 0;

if( typeid(int) == typeid(x) ) std::cout << "Match!\n"; else std::cout << "No Match!\n";
if( typeid(int) == typeid(y) ) std::cout << "Match!\n"; else std::cout << "No Match!\n";
if( typeid(int*) == typeid(ptr) ) std::cout << "Match!\n"; else std::cout << "No Match!\n";

//or by comparing objects directly...

if( typeid(x) == typeid(z) ) std::cout << "Match!\n"; else std::cout << "No Match!\n";

Originally Posted by Salem

> Is it smart doing things like that?
I would suggest you look up how to do templates, which allow you to create instances of your class suited to whatever data type(s) you're interested in storing.

Im not used to templates, and I would prefer to do it that way.

Well, were you used to classes before you practiced them or learned them? I think not. So all salem was doing was giving you one of the better, and easier ways of doing what you want. Now if you know classes templates are not but a baby step further. I would also suggest learning templates as they make life as a programmer much easier in the long run

If you don't know how to create templated code, you could just use existing templated code that already has implemented what you are trying to achieve. Look up boost::variant. Your variant can hold an int, string, or vector<string>. You can store these variants in an std::list or std::vector. All these tools are already made, tested and debugged and are a much smarter option than attempting to implement this yourself. That comment includes the use of string instead of char* and std::list or std::vector (or some other container) instead of your own liked list implementation.