object in bool context

Well ... first please see this example using C++ ifstream:

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  if (argc != 2)
  {
    cout << "Please give a file name." << endl;
    return 1;
  }

  ifstream in(argv[1]);
  if (in)
  {
    cout << "Success!" << endl;
    in.close();
  }
  if (!in)
  {
    cout << "Failure!" << endl;
    return 2;
  }
 
  return 0;
}

---

My question is how does ifstream object behave like a bool value in above code?
I want to write my own class. And I wish it's objects would behave in the same way.
Can you please tell me how can I write such a class?

There are several ways of doing this, but some ways are better than others. This article explains the differences between the different methods, and why some are better than others.

Oh My GOD!
I didn't even know about

Code:

---

operator bool() { ... }

---

:shock:
And I experimented with

Code:

---

operator int() { ... }

---

This also worked fine.
Wow! Thanks!

Wow!
All of this works fine! And I never knew it!

Code:

---

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class Cool
{
  bool bval;
  int ival;
  const char* pval;
public:
  operator bool() { return bval; }
  operator int() { return ival; }
  operator const char*() { return pval; }

  Cool& operator =(bool b) { bval = b; return *this; }
  Cool& operator =(int i) { ival = i; return *this; }
  Cool& operator =(const char* p) { pval = p; return *this; }
};

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  Cool val;
  val = false;
  cout << boolalpha << static_cast<bool>(val) << endl;
  val = 55555;
  cout << static_cast<int>(val) << endl;
  val = "Amazing!";
  cout << static_cast<const char*>(val) << endl;
  return 0;
}

---

No, no, no! No abuse of implicit conversion. It leads to horrible code.

Ok CornedBee.
I was just excited about this new (for me) feature of C++ :D
I will not abuse this feature. I was just testing ...