I'm working with the following (simplified) factory design to create objects of some inheritance hierarchy, shouldn't be anything special:
// class to create
class Class
{
public:
Class(Type type, Foo foo);
};
// Simple creator class.
// Used in practice to do some runtime checks about whether or not construction is allowed.
class Creator
{
public:
Class* create( Type type, Foo foo ) const
{
return new Class( type, foo );
}
};
class Factory
{
public:
Factory
{
// fill object creator map on construction
_map[ "name" ] = new Creator<Class>;
}
Class* create( const std::string& name, Type type, Foo foo )
{
// fowards to map entry
return _map[name]->create( type, foo );
}
private:
std::map<std::string, Creator*> _map;
}
// client code
int main()
{
Factory f;
factory.create(name, type, foo);
}
Now I run into problems once I want to create subclasses which have a different constructor signature because the factory imposes a fixed signature on the entire inheritance hierarchy. I.e. for the following class I have no way of specifying the new 3rd parameter via the factory construction without imposing this extended signature on all other class of my hierarchy again.
class ExtClass : public Class
{
public:
Class(Type type, Foo foo, NewMember nm)
: Class(type, foo),
_nm(nm)
private:
NewMember _nm;
};
Is there a way to make this work with my current design without making pricinpal changes? I'm thinking of using templates or bind objects to make varying argument calls possible. Or would you in this case suggest a different solution than the factory design?