c++ - 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 to inherit
// Label, rather than, say, contain one (etc)

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

struct Label : Widget {
    Label& setText(string const& newText) { text = newText; return *this; }
    Label& setAngle(double newAngle) { angle = newAngle; return *this; }
};

struct Button : Label {
    Button& setAngle(double newAngle) {
        backgroundImage.setAngle(newAngle);
        Label::setAngle(newAngle);
        return *this;
    }
};

int main() {
    Button btn;

    // oops: Widget::setText doesn't exist
    btn.move(Point(0,0)).setText("Hey");

    // oops: calling Label::setAngle rather than Button::setAngle
    btn.setText("Boo").setAngle(.5); 
}

Any techniques to get around these problems?

Example: using template magic to make Button::move return Button& or something.

edit It has become clear that the second problem is solved by making setAngle virtual.

But the first problem remains unsolved in a reasonable fashion!

edit: Well, I guess it's impossible to do properly in C++. Thanks for the efforts anyhow.

Answer 1

You can extend CRTP to handle this. monjardin's solution goes in the right direction. All you need now is a default Label implementation to use it as a leaf class.

#include <iostream>

template <typename Q, typename T>
struct Default {
    typedef Q type;
};

template <typename T>
struct Default<void, T> {
    typedef T type;
};

template <typename T>
void show(char const* action) {
    std::cout << typeid(T).name() << ": " << action << std::endl;
}

template <typename T>
struct Widget {
    typedef typename Default<T, Widget<void> >::type type;
    type& move() {
        show<type>("move");
        return static_cast<type&>(*this);
    }
};

template <typename T = void>
struct Label : Widget<Label<T> > {
    typedef typename Default<T, Widget<Label<T> > >::type type;
    type& set_text() {
        show<type>("set_text");
        return static_cast<type&>(*this);
    }
};

template <typename T = void>
struct Button : Label<Button<T> > {
    typedef typename Default<T, Label<Button<T> > >::type type;
    type& push() {
        show<type>("push");
        return static_cast<type&>(*this);
    }
};

int main() {
    Label<> lbl;
    Button<> btt;

    lbl.move().set_text();
    btt.move().set_text().push();
}

That said, consider whether such an effort is worth the small added syntax bonus. Consider alternative solutions.