Method chaining + inheritance don't play well together?

Question

Consider:

// member data omitted for brevity

// assume that \"setAngle\" needs to be implemented separately
// in Label and Image, and that Button does need         


        

Answer 1

C++ does support return value covariance on virtual methods. So you could get something like what you want with a little work:

#include 
using std::string;

// member data omitted for brevity

// assume that "setAngle" needs to be implemented separately
// in Label and Image, and that Button does need to inherit
// Label, rather than, say, contain one (etc)


struct Point
{
    Point() : x(0), y(0) {};
    Point( int x1, int y1) : x( x1), y( y1) {};

    int x;
    int y;
};

struct Widget {
    virtual Widget& move(Point newPos) { pos = newPos; return *this; }
    virtual ~Widget() {};

    Point pos;
};

struct Label : Widget {
    virtual ~Label() {};
    virtual Label& move( Point newPos) { Widget::move( newPos); return *this; }

    // made settext() virtual, as it seems like something 
    // you might want to be able to override
    // even though you aren't just yet
    virtual Label& setText(string const& newText) { text = newText; return *this; }
    virtual Label& setAngle(double newAngle) { angle = newAngle; return *this; }

    string text;
    double angle;
};

struct Button : Label {
    virtual ~Button() {};
    virtual Button& move( Point newPos) { Label::move( newPos); return *this; }
    virtual Button& setAngle(double newAngle) {
        //backgroundImage.setAngle(newAngle);
        Label::setAngle(newAngle);
        return *this;
    }
};

int main()
{
    Button btn;

    // this works now
    btn.move(Point(0,0)).setText("Hey");

    // this works now, too
    btn.setText("Boo").setAngle(.5); 

  return 0;
}

Note that you should use virtual methods for doing something like this. If they aren't virtual methods, then the 'reimplemented' methods will result in name-hiding and the method called will depend on the static type of the variable, pointer or reference so it might not be he correct method if a base pointer or reference is being used.