www.freeOnlineBooks.tk part of www.asadali.tk Download Books for Free Read Books OnlineTesting the Template Classes 18 3 7. In the code editor of your choice, reopen the source file for the code you just created. In this example, the file is named ch31.cpp, although you can use whatever you choose. 2. Append the code from Listing 31-2 to your file. Better yet, copy the code from the source file on this book's companion Web site. Listinc 31-2: THE Test DRIVER FOR THE TEMPLATED CLASS EXAMPLE int main() ( printf("Creating base\n"}; Base fooBase; printf("Creating template as member\n"); TemplateAsMember tempMem; printf("Creating template as base\n"); TemplateAsBase tempBase; printf("Creating template as base tem- plate\n"); Temp lateAsBaseTemplate< Foo, AnotherBase> tempAsBT; fooBase.Print(}: tempMem.Print(); tempBase.Print(): tempAsBT.Print(): return 0; 3. Save the source file in your code editor and close the code editor. 4, Compile the source code with the compiler of your choice, on the operating system of your choice. When the program is run, if you have done every- thing properly, you should see the following output in the shell window: Creating base Void constructor called Creating template as member Creating base with name [Temp] ateAsMember] Creating template as base Creating base with name [TemplateAsBase] Creating template as base template Creating base with name [Temp] ateAsBaseTemplate] Base: Name = Nothing Pointer = Pointer is NULL >1 TemplateAsMember Base: Name = TemplateAsMember Pointer = Pointer is NULL TemplateAsBase: Base: Name = TemplateAsBase Pointer = Pointer is NULL Base: Name = TemplateAsBaseTemplate Pointer = Pointer is NULL Another pointer is NULL The output from this program shows us that each of the various template instantiations works. As you can see, in each case (see, for example, the line marked — 1), the constructor was called and the various member variables assigned proper default values. Looking at the examples, it should be clear that each of the various methods arrives at the same conclusion. Concrete classes that have been made into templates as a specific form of a class are best suited for extension. This is to say, if you have a template class that accepts a particular type of class for its argument, you are better off extending your template class by creating a form of it as a specific class — and then deriv- ing from that specific class. The reason for this is more human than technical: People usually don’t think in terms of templates so much as in terms of class names.184 Technique 31: Extending a Template Class Using Non-class Template Arguments Looking at the four choices in extending base classes, you will probably notice a few things that suggest particular approaches to the process. To utilize methods in a base class being used as a template, you must specify which version of the class the template is to use. The reason is that you could conceivably have a class that inherited from multiple classes of the same template, with different types associated with it. This is a good thing because it allows you to segregate speci functionality into separate classes. Another thing worth noticing is that you may create a templated class that does not require a class as its argument. For example, we could create a template with a numeric argument; the following steps show you how: 1, In the code editor of your choice, create a new file. In this example, the file is named ch3La.cpp, although you can use whatever you choose. 2. Type the code from Listing 31-3 into your file. ListinG 31-3: A TEMPLATE CLASS WITH A NON-CLASS (ARGUMENT template class LessThanTen ( A _element; public: LessThanTen( A entry ) ' set ( entry ); LessThanTent const LessThanTen& aCopy } set( aCopy._element); votd set( A value ) i 33 if ( value > O && walue < 10 ) element = value; 72 t A gett) | return _element; b This code works for a class argument, so long as. that class can be compared to an integer. It can also be used for a non-class argument, such as an integer, long integer, or even a floating point value. With this class shown in Listing 31-3, there is no reason that the template argument should be a class. In fact, it would be implied that a numeric element was used, since the value which is passed into the set method is compared to an integral value of 10 (see the line marked — 2). Add the following code to your source file to test the integer class. This code will test the template class we just defined above. int main(void) { LessThanTen¢int> ten(3)+ >5 printf("The value is &d\n", ten.get() J: ten.set( 23 ); za printf("The value is now d\n", ten.get() 3; return 0; t Save the source file in your code editor and then close the code editor. Compile the source code with the compiler of your choice, on the operating system of your choice. When the program is run, if you have done every- thing properly, you should see the following output in the shell window: