Array of different objects

Question

Alright so what I am trying to do is basically this.

I have an Account class, then I have a CheckingAccount and SavingsAccount class that inherit from the Account class.

In my program I have an array called accounts. It is going to hold objects of both types of accounts.

Account** accounts;
accounts = new Account*[numAccounts];


accountFile >> tempAccountNum >> tempBalance >> tempTransFee;
CheckingAccount tempAccount(tempBalance, tempAccountNum, tempTransFee);
accounts[i] = tempAccount;

I get an error when trying to assign tempAccount to the accounts array.

No suitable conversion function from "CheckingAccount" to "Account" exists.

How do I make the accounts array hold both kinds of objects?

Joseph Mansfield · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-08 20:00:37Z

2

Each element in accounts is an Account*. That is, a "pointer to Account". You're trying to assign an Account directly. Instead, you should be taking the address of that account:

accounts[i] = &tempAccount;

Remember that this pointer will be pointing at an invalid object once tempAccount has gone out of scope.

Consider avoiding arrays and pointers. Unless you have a good reason not to, I would use a std::vector of Accounts (not Account*s):

std::vector<Account> accounts;

accountFile >> tempAccountNum >> tempBalance >> tempTransFee;
accounts.emplace_back(tempBalance, tempAccountNum, tempTransFee);

answered Apr 8, 2013 at 20:00

Joseph Mansfield

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2 Comments

user2234688 Over a year ago

ok, so now I am at the problem you said I would end up at. Where as soon as I close my accounts file. The accounts array becomes NULL. How would I be able to keep these objects in the array after closing the file?

Joseph Mansfield Over a year ago

@user2234688 You should post a new question. I'm not avoiding it- that's just generally how things are done here!

GLNN.LRSN · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-08 21:41:42Z

0

I believe that you need to assign the address of tempAccount into the accounts array.

accounts[i] = &tempAccount;

Because, when dealing with polymorphism in C++, you use the address of the object rather than the object itself.

edited Apr 8, 2013 at 21:41

answered Apr 8, 2013 at 20:03

GLNN.LRSN

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