I'd like to extend those sub-classes of components into a new set of classes, and be able to extend the features with another couple of useful generic functions.
So I've created another base class XmlSupportingObject which I want to use to extend the framework classes into new sub-classes, e.g.
MyNewSliderWithXmlFeatures : public Slider, public XmlSupportingObject { … };
Now I want to make a generator routine which returns a pointer to the base class(es): I want to use with this point features from Component as well as XmlSupportingObject class.
Is returning a component and typecasting when I want to call the XmlSupportingObject features the right solution? It seems ugly!
Thoughts? This is part of a master plan for managing parameters.
I could just edit the Component base class, but that doesn't seem like the right solution either!