Thread: C++ Runtime Decisions

Hello,

suppose i have something like this

Code:

class Storage
{
public:
	Storage(int storageType)
	{
		switch(storageType)
		{
			case TYPE1:
				data = new DerivedType1();
				break;
			case TYPE2:
				data = new DerivedType2();
				break;
		}
	}

	~Storage(void)
	{
		delete data;
	}

private:
	BaseType *data;
};

What i don't like about this is that it is decided at runtime which type is allocated. Is doing this common, or is there any way to do this better? I mean i could use an enumeration for the storageType.

As i know the type at compiletime, i could use templates to specify the type, which would be a class.

What is better from a design perspective, runtime decision or using templates?

Best regards

EDIT: figured out how to pass classes as types to templates