Get derived type via base class virtual function

Question

I am trying to get the derived type of an object via a base class virtual function. I have written this, which does not compile:

struct base {
  virtual base& get_this() {
    return *this;
  }
};

struct derived : base {
  virtual derived& get_this() override {
    return *this;
  }

  void fn();
};


int main () {
  base* pd = new derived();
  derived& x = pd->get_this(); /*ERROR*/
  x.fn();
  return 0;
}

... giving me an error that: I cannot initialize a derived& from a base. Since get_this is virtual, why does pd->get_this() return a base& instead of a derived&? Thanks in advance!

EDIT:

Thanks everyone for their useful answers and apologies for my late reply. I should have specified in the original post that I am also interested in a solution to my problem rather than just figuring out why the above does not compile. My main problem is that fn is unique to the derived class and cannot be called via the base class. Using casts sure solves the problem but I hate writing code with if else constructs just to get the right type (also Scott Meyers advise against casts :)) . The answers seem to indicate that casts are the way to go, which in a way is at least reassuring that I am not neglecting a more 'elegant' solution to my problem. Thanks again!

Answer 1

C++ covariant return types support will only work, as long you already know the derived type. To downcast a base class to a possibly derived class, simply use dynamic_cast<derived>(base_ref) to determine if base_ref matches the actual derived type:

int main () {
    base* pd = new derived();
    derived& x = dynamic_cast<derived&>(*pd); // Will throw an exception if pd 
                                          // isn't a 'derived'
    x.fn();
    return 0;
}

Or alternatively:

int main () {
    base* pd = new derived();
    derived* x = dynamic_cast<derived*>(pd); // Will return nullptr if pd isn't
                                         // a 'derived'
    if(x) {
        x->fn();
    }
    else {
        // dynamic_cast<derived*> failed ...
    }
    return 0;
}

c++ supports covariant return types for derived classes, but as the other answers describe you cannot get it via calling the base class (pd->get_this()) here.

You might also consider static polymorphism to check type compliance at compile time, if you can't use RTTI, exception handling or want tight type binding (without vtable overhead).

Answer 2

The static type of pd is base *. Thus, when the compiler looks for the member function get_this(), it finds only base::get_this(). The return type of base::get_this() is base&, which is not convertible to derived&. Hence the error.