Check if the Type of an Object is inherited from a specific Class

Question

In C++, how can I check if the type of an object is inherited from a specific class?

class Form { };
class Moveable : public Form { };
class Animatable : public Form { };

class Character : public Moveable, public Animatable { };
Character John;

if(John is moveable)
// ...

In my implementation the if query is executed over all elements of a Form list. All objects which type is inherited from Moveable can move and need processing for that which other objects don't need.

Answer 1

What you need is dynamic_cast. In its pointer form, it will return a null pointer if the cast cannot be performed:

if( Moveable* moveable_john = dynamic_cast< Moveable* >( &John ) )
{
    // do something with moveable_john
}