Overloading casts

I want to make an object that has many faces. By overloading typecasts, the object can show many faces. What I am wondering, however, is whether there is a way to have C++ assume the casts, rather than me haivng to type them in. Let me show you what I mean.

Code:

---

class CRYPTSTATE
{
 public:
        CRYPTSTATE(string name_in,int value_in) : name(name_in),value(value_in) {}
        CRYPTSTATE() : value(-1) {}
        operator string() {return name;}
        operator int() {return value;}
        bool operator == (CRYPTSTATE &other) {return (value == static_cast<int>(other));}
        bool operator == (int &other) {return (value == other);}
        bool operator == (string &other) {return (name == static_cast<string>(other));}
        bool operator == (char* other)
            {
              string temp(other);
              return (name == other);
            }
           
 private:
        string name;
        int value;
};

CRYPTSTATE CRYPT_FAIL("CRYPT_FAIL",0);

string afunction(bool def)
{
 return (def) ? "This is the default output of afunction()" : CRYPT_FAIL;
}

---

Now, this code will not compile. because

Code:

---

return (def) ? "This is the default output of afunction()" : CRYPT_FAIL;

---

CRYPT_FAIL is not a string. If I static_cast<string> it, of course, it works. Is there a way the function can just assume the cast, since it's returning a string?

Usually it will cast implicitly. The ternary conditional operator, however, is a special case where user-defined implicit casts simply won't work. Sorry.

On the other hand, a design with so many cast operators is not exactly ideal anyway. Casts, because they are implicit, are part of what I call "hidden code execution" and thus make a program harder to understand.

Gotchya.