Interface inheritance

Hi,

Suppose I have 3 interfaces :

IStats
IEngine
ICreateCar

each derives from IUnknown

then when I query object that implements those interfaces for IUnknown
interface I need to do two casts:

return (IUnknown*)(IStats*)this;

Is there no difference if I would write : (IUnknown*)(IEngine*)this ? these
are pure abstract interfaces, only pure virtual methods, suppose I had there
some data, would it then make any difference?

Thanks for any help, my COM book just dont get too deep with C++ OOP.

Martin posted:

> Hi,
>
> Suppose I have 3 interfaces :

By "interface", I'm assuming you mean:

A class,

- which has no member variables or member objects.

- which has no member functions, except pure virtual ones.

- which is not derived from any class which qualifies as an
"interface".


> IStats
> IEngine
> ICreateCar
>
> each derives from IUnknown
>
> then when I query an object that implements those interfaces for IUnknown
> interface I need to do two casts:
>
> return (IUnknown*)(IStats*)this;

By "query", I'm assuming you mean either

A) Access a member variable or member object.

B) Access a member function.


You don't need those casts. Take them out and (try) compile it. If the
classes trully are derived from one another, then it will work.


> Is there no difference if I would write : (IUnknown*)(IEngine*)this ?
> these are pure abstract interfaces, only pure virtual methods, suppose
> I had there some data, would it then make any difference?

Again casting is not necessary if the classes are derived from one another.


Let's say for instance that the casts *were* necessary, ie. that
"IPowerfulEngine" was not actually derived from "IEngine", like as follows:

class IEngine : public IUnknown {};

class IPowerfulEngine {};


Even in this case, in writing:

SomeFunc( (IUnknown*)(IEngine*)&powerful_engine_object );

You're just wasting your time typing.

What you *could* have written was simply:

(IUnknown*)&powerful_engine_object;

or better:

reinterpret_cast< IUnknown* > (&powerful_engine_object);


-JKop

"JKop" <NULL@NULL.NULL> wrote in message
news:ZpIid.40967$Z14.15884@news.indigo.ie...
> Martin posted:
> 
>
> By "interface", I'm assuming you mean:
>
>   A class,
>
>       - which has no member variables or member objects.
>
>       - which has no member functions, except pure virtual ones.
>
>       - which is not derived from any class which qualifies as an
> "interface".
>
> 
IUnknown 
>
> By "query", I'm assuming you mean either
>
> A) Access a member variable or member object.
>
> B) Access a member function.
>
>
> You don't need those casts. Take them out and (try) compile it. If the
> classes trully are derived from one another, then it will work.
>

You do need (IStats*) because IStats, IEngine and ICreateCar all derive from
IUnknown so the conversion is ambiguous without any casts. But you don't
need the (IUnknown*) cast.

> 
>
> Again casting is not necessary if the classes are derived from one
another.
>

The OP has multiple IUnknown objects, so if those objects had some state
then it could make a difference.

john

>
> Thanks for any help, my COM book just dont get too deep with C++ OOP.
>

Buy 'Understanding COM' by Don Box. It sounds like it is exactly what you
need. It is also the COM book for C++ programmers.

john

Użytkownik "JKop" <NULL@NULL.NULL> napisał w wiadomości
news:ZpIid.40967$Z14.15884@news.indigo.ie...

> By "interface", I'm assuming you mean:
>
>  A class,
>
>      - which has no member variables or member objects.
>      - which has no member functions, except pure virtual ones.
>      - which is not derived from any class which qualifies as an
> "interface".

Actually it can derive from other interfaces, and I think this is why those
casts are needed, this is multiple inheritance with some of the base classes
being the same (like IUnknown).

> By "query", I'm assuming you mean either
>
> A) Access a member variable or member object.
>
> B) Access a member function.

By query I mean to cast object to one of its base classes (interfaces)

> You don't need those casts. Take them out and (try) compile it. If the
> classes trully are derived from one another, then it will work.
>
> 
>
> Again casting is not necessary if the classes are derived from one
> another.
>
>
> Let's say for instance that the casts *were* necessary, ie. that
> "IPowerfulEngine" was not actually derived from "IEngine", like as
> follows:
>
> class IEngine : public IUnknown {};
>
> class IPowerfulEngine {};
>
>
> Even in this case, in writing:
>
> SomeFunc( (IUnknown*)(IEngine*)&powerful_engine_object );
>
> You're just wasting your time typing.
>
> What you *could* have written was simply:
>
> (IUnknown*)&powerful_engine_object;

Yes, but base classes (interfaces) of powerful_engine_object class all
derive from IUnknown. So I think compiler just wants clarification to
resolve ambiguous situation. Here is some code :

//
class IStats : public IUnknown
{};
class IEngine : public IUnknown
{};
class CoCar : public IEngine, IStats
{};

//
STDMETHODIMP CoCar::QueryInterface(REFIID riid, void **ppvInt)
{
*ppvInt = NULL;
if (riid == IID_IUnknown)
{
*ppvInt = (IUnknown*)(IEngine*)this;  //this is ok

//*ppvInt = (IUnknown*)this;
// gives : error C2594: 'type cast' : ambiguous conversions from
'CoCar *const ' to 'IUnknown *'
}
else if (riid == IID_IStats)
{
*ppvInt = (IStats*)this;
}
else if (riid == IID_IEngine)
{
*ppvInt = (IEngine*)this;
}
((IUnknown*)(*ppvInt))->AddRef();
return S_OK;
}

 


Should've written:

- which is not derived from any class which does not qualifiy as an
"interface".


-JKop

Martin wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Suppose I have 3 interfaces :
>
> IStats
> IEngine
> ICreateCar
>
> each derives from IUnknown
>
> then when I query object that implements those interfaces for IUnknown
> interface I need to do two casts:
>
> return (IUnknown*)(IStats*)this;
>
> Is there no difference if I would write : (IUnknown*)(IEngine*)this ? thes
e
> are pure abstract interfaces, only pure virtual methods, suppose I had the
re
> some data, would it then make any difference?
>
> Thanks for any help, my COM book just dont get too deep with C++ OOP.
>
>

As a side note, do not, repeat DO NOT use C-style casts in this sort of
situation.  You need to use static_cast<> or dynamic_cast<>.