Thread: Messaging with composition

*EDIT: a better title probably may have been, "Messaging between objects"*

Suppose I have the following (please forgive syntax errors):

Code:

class Module {
  public:
    Component *getComponent(type) {
      switch (type) {
        case "whatever":
          return new WhateverComponent();
          break;
      }
    }

    virtual String getModuleName();
}

class MyModule : public Module {
  public:
    String getModuleName() { return "MyModule"; }
}

class Component {
  void getContent() {
    ...
    // I want to call Module->getModuleName() here
    ...
  }
}

class SubComponent : public Component {
  ...
}


Module module = new MyModule();
Component component = module->getComponent();
String content = component->getBody();

How do I get the module name (via getModuleName()) inside getContent() in Component to get the name associated with the Module subclass that instantiated the component?

Would a good approach be to pass a pointer or reference to the Module (using "this") in the Component constructor in getComponent() when instantiating the Component?

Code:

class Module {
    ...
    Component *getComponent(type) {
      switch (type) {
        case "whatever":
          return new WhateverComponent(this);
          break;
      }
    }
    ...
}

class Component {
  private:
    Module *module;

  void getContent() {
    ...
    cout << this->module->getModuleName();
    ...
  }
}

Any better approach(es)?