[c++] C++ cast to derived class

How can i cast to a derived class? The below approaches all give the following error:

Cannot convert from BaseType to DerivedType. No constructor could take the source type, or constructor overload resolution was ambiguous.

BaseType m_baseType;

DerivedType m_derivedType = m_baseType; // gives same error

DerivedType m_derivedType = (DerivedType)m_baseType; // gives same error

DerivedType * m_derivedType = (DerivedType*) & m_baseType; // gives same error

First of all - prerequisite for downcast is that object you are casting is of the type you are casting to. Casting with dynamic_cast will check this condition in runtime (provided that casted object has some virtual functions) and throw bad_cast or return NULL pointer on failure. Compile-time casts will not check anything and will just lead tu undefined behaviour if this prerequisite does not hold.
Now analyzing your code:

DerivedType m_derivedType = m_baseType;

Here there is no casting. You are creating a new object of type DerivedType and try to initialize it with value of m_baseType variable.

Next line is not much better:

DerivedType m_derivedType = (DerivedType)m_baseType;

Here you are creating a temporary of DerivedType type initialized with m_baseType value.

The last line

DerivedType * m_derivedType = (DerivedType*) & m_baseType;

should compile provided that BaseType is a direct or indirect public base class of DerivedType. It has two flaws anyway:

1. You use deprecated C-style cast. The proper way for such casts is
   static_cast<DerivedType *>(&m_baseType)
2. The actual type of casted object is not of DerivedType (as it was defined as BaseType m_baseType; so any use of m_derivedType pointer will result in undefined behaviour.

dynamic_cast should be what you are looking for.

EDIT:

DerivedType m_derivedType = m_baseType; // gives same error

The above appears to be trying to invoke the assignment operator, which is probably not defined on type DerivedType and accepting a type of BaseType.

DerivedType * m_derivedType = (DerivedType*) & m_baseType; // gives same error

You are on the right path here but the usage of the dynamic_cast will attempt to safely cast to the supplied type and if it fails, a NULL will be returned.

Going on memory here, try this (but note the cast will return NULL as you are casting from a base type to a derived type):

DerivedType * m_derivedType = dynamic_cast<DerivedType*>(&m_baseType);

If m_baseType was a pointer and actually pointed to a type of DerivedType, then the dynamic_cast should work.

Hope this helps!

You can't cast a base object to a derived type - it isn't of that type.

If you have a base type pointer to a derived object, then you can cast that pointer around using dynamic_cast. For instance:

DerivedType D;
BaseType B;

BaseType *B_ptr=&B
BaseType *D_ptr=&D;// get a base pointer to derived type

DerivedType *derived_ptr1=dynamic_cast<DerivedType*>(D_ptr);// works fine
DerivedType *derived_ptr2=dynamic_cast<DerivedType*>(B_ptr);// returns NULL