Overloading -> and * operators

[iangoldby]

I have a strange problem with overloading the -> and * operators. I'm trying to do this to make dereferencing a pointer to the class intrinsically safe. I think the problem is the same in both cases, so I'll describe the * operator:

In myreal.h:

  const CMyReal& operator * (void);

and in myreal.cpp

const CMyReal& CMyReal::operator * (void)
{
  if (this)
    return *this;
  else
    return CMyReal::Bad;
}

where CMyReal::Bad is a static object representing Not-A-Number.

Now, when I write:

  CMyReal *myreal = NULL;
  float x = (myreal->operator *()).value();

it calls my overloaded operator function and I get Not-A-Number, as expected.

But if I write

  float x = (*myreal).value();

it doesn't call the overloaded operator function but tries to dereference the NULL pointer directly and I get an access violation error.

Similarly, (myreal->operator ->())->value() is ok, but myreal->value() fails with an access violation.

Any idea what I am doing wrong?