How To Derive from a singleton

Hi,

Ive got a texture manager class. Its a singleton as I want it to manage all my different texture objects. Its also an abstract class as there are multiple implementations of textures (such as bmp and tga loading etc) that i want to control using a base ptr.

What i want is to derive different classes such as a tgaTexture bmpTexture etc, they dont want to be singletons, as there can be multiple instances at any one time.

My problem is that I can't by the nature of the singleton pattern that I know derive classes from this singleton. Because my constructor of my singleton is private and if it wasnt I would be creating multiple instances of a class that i want lmited to one instance.

Is there any way of having a singleton and aslo deriving from that singleton?

Many Thanks
Alex

Is a texture manager a texture?

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Because my constructor of my singleton is private and if it wasnt I would be creating multiple instances of a class that i want lmited to one instance.

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An object of the child class will also be an object of the singleton class. That's set in stone by how inheritance works. You can make your constructor protected and the child's constructor public and then only the child objects can call the singleton constructor. That still breaks the rules of the singleton, but you're not going to be able to use inheritance if you don't break a rule somewhere.

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Originally Posted by Noir

An object of the child class will also be an object of the singleton class. That's set in stone by how inheritance works. You can make your constructor protected and the child's constructor public and then only the child objects can call the singleton constructor. That still breaks the rules of the singleton, but you're not going to be able to use inheritance if you don't break a rule somewhere.

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offtopic: glad that you're back Noir.

Really? I got the strong vibe that nobody liked me here. But I'm stubborn. :)

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I got the strong vibe that nobody liked me here.

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Nah, welcome back.

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Originally Posted by laserlight

Is a texture manager a texture?

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no, it keeps tabs on current textures and what they are binded to etc. It also provides generic loading but it is never a texture. Possibly it should no be derived from....hmmm

What could I do????

-Alex

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no, it keeps tabs on current textures and what they are binded to etc. It also provides generic loading but it is never a texture

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In that case, why do you use (presumably) public inheritance? You could have a different abstract base class from which tgaTexture bmpTexture etc could be derived, and then use composition with respect to the texture manager.

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Originally Posted by laserlight

In that case, why do you use (presumably) public inheritance? You could have a different abstract base class from which tgaTexture bmpTexture etc could be derived, and then use composition with respect to the texture manager.

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Hi,

Thanks, that sounds like the way to go.

I should really know this, forgive me for my moment of stupidity... :)


Cheers
Alex