3. String Class Varieties

The string class is the one of the most vital objects in programming, and string manipulations are most extensively used. There is a lot of varieties of string classes. Of course, you can build your own string class by simply inheriting from these string classes -

• String class given in this document Appendix A String.h
• Standard C++ Library string class (ANSI/ISO string class at http://www.msoe.edu/eecs/cese/resources/stl/string.htm and http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/basic_string.html
• The external library Qt, has a Qt String class at http://doc.trolltech.com/qstring.html mirror at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~dmartin/qt/qstring.html
• If none of these are suitable, you can build your own string class. You can start with one or more of the pre-built classes listed above (by using single or multiple inheritance.)

3.1 Multiple Inheritance - Sample Custom String class

As mentioned above, you can build your own custom string class from the pre-built classes by single or multiple inheritance. In this section we will build a sample custom string class by using multiple inheritance, inheriting the standard C++ library string class and the String class presented in Appendix A.

Start by downloading the sample file 'string_multi.h' from Appendix A .

That file is reproduced below:

// ******************************************************************
// Sample program to demonstrate constructing your own string class
// by deriving from the String class and stdlib's "string" class
// ******************************************************************

#ifndef __STRING_MULTI_H_ALDEV_
#define __STRING_MULTI_H_ALDEV_

#include <string>
#include "String.h"
#include "StringBuffer.h"

#ifdef NOT_MSWINDOWS
#else
using namespace std;  // required for MS Visual C++ compiler Version 6.0
#endif

// Important Notes: In C++ the constructors, destructors and copy 
//       operator are NOT inherited by the derived classes!!
//       Hence, if the operators like =, + etc.. are defined in
//       base class and those operators use the base class's contructors
//       then you MUST define equivalent constructors in the derived 
//       class. See the sample given below where constructors mystring(), 
//       mystring(char[]) are defined.
//
//       Also when you use operator as in atmpstr + mstr, what you are really
//       calling is atmpstr.operator+(mstr). The atmpstr is declared a mystring

class mystring:public String, string
{
        public:
                mystring():String() {}  // These are needed for operator=, +
                mystring(char bb[]):String(bb) {}  // These are needed for operator=, +
                mystring(char bb[], int start, int slength):String(bb, start, slength) {}
                mystring(int bb):String(bb) {}  // needed by operator+
                mystring(unsigned long bb):String(bb) {}  // needed by operator+
                mystring(long bb):String(bb) {}  // needed by operator+
                mystring(float bb):String(bb) {}  // needed by operator+
                mystring(double bb):String(bb) {}  // needed by operator+
                mystring(const String & rhs):String(rhs) {}  // Copy Constructor needed by operator+
                mystring(StringBuffer sb):String(sb) {}  // Java compatibility
                mystring(int bb, bool dummy):String(bb, dummy) {}  // for StringBuffer class

                int mystraa; // customizations of mystring
        private:
                int mystrbb; // customizations of mystring
};

#endif // __STRING_MULTI_H_ALDEV_