How to merge the same method of different classes in the clean way

[Danielc]

Hi everybody..

I'm developing an application using Qt, but I need some advices regarding sharing class members.
I am working with some collections (QHash) of project-specific structs and I created a polymorphic class to manage those collections. A derived class also manage some UI components (shared through pointers or references) so it can automatically represent those structs in the UI.. It's something like this:

Main class

class ArmyEditor : public QMainWindow
{
//.... some specific functions ...

private:
    Ui::ArmyEditor *ui;

    // Specific structs
    QHash<QString, GameCategory> categories;
    QHash<QString, Column> columns;
    QHash<QString, GameProperty> properties;
    QHash<QString, UnitOption> commonOptions;
    QHash<QString, UnitOption> inheritedOptions;
    QHash<QString, GameItem> items;
    QHash<QString, GameItem> inheritedItems;
    QHash<QString, GlobalText> globalTexts;
    QHash<QString, GlobalText> inheritedGlobalTexts;
    QHash<QString, Unit> units;
};

Base class for collection managing..

class StructManager : public QObject {
    Q_OBJECT
public:

    explicit StructManager(QWidget* parent = 0);

    // ...Functions that perform actions in shared components...

protected:
    QWidget *parent;
    QHash<QString, GameCategory> *categories;
    QHash<QString, Column> *columns;
    QHash<QString, GameProperty> *properties;
    QHash<QString, UnitOption> *commonOptions;
    QHash<QString, GameItem> *commonItems;
    QHash<QString, GlobalText> *globalTexts;
    QHash<QString, Unit> *units;
};

Derived class for UI management and so on

class StructEditor : public StructManager
{
    Q_OBJECT
public:

    StructEditor(QWidget* parent = 0);

    // ...Overriden functions to automatically represent structs in the shared members..

protected:
    QTreeWidget *catList;
    QListWidget *colList;
    QTreeWidget *propList;
    QTreeWidget *optList;
    QListWidget *optActionList;
    QTreeWidget *itemList;
    QListWidget *itemActionList;
    QTableWidget *globalTextsGrid;
    QTreeWidget *unitTree;
    QComboBox *optCategory;
    QComboBox *itemCategory;
    QComboBox *unitCategory;
    QComboBox *optAmountColumn;
    QComboBox *optSetColumn;
};

And I share some UI members in the constructor of the MainWindow class..

ArmyEditor::ArmyEditor(QWidget *parent) :
    QMainWindow(parent),
    ui(new Ui::ArmyEditor)
{
    ui->setupUi(this);
    
    // Setup Army Struct Manager

    armyManager = new StructEditor(this);

    armyManager->setCatList(ui->catList);
    armyManager->setOptList(ui->optList);
    armyManager->setOptActionList(ui->optActionList);
    armyManager->setItemList(ui->itemList);
    armyManager->setItemActionList(ui->itemActionList);
    armyManager->setGlobalTextsGrid(ui->globalTextsGrid);
    armyManager->setUnitTree(ui->unitTree);
    armyManager->setOptCategory(ui->optCategory);
    armyManager->setItemCategory(ui->itemCategory);
    armyManager->setUnitCategory(ui->unitCategory);
    armyManager->setOptAmountColumn(ui->optAmountColumn);
    armyManager->setOptSetColumn(ui->optSetColumn);
    armyManager->setCategories(&categories);
    armyManager->setOptions(&commonOptions);
    armyManager->setItems(&items);
    armyManager->setGlobalTexts(&globalTexts);

    //.. some other code ..
};

I call the functions from the StructEditor class when I need to add a new Category or something like that..
My project consists of three applications, those of which use almost the same methods for managing these structs, so I decided to use a class with the methods to add, update, remove and represent the structs in the UI sharing some member pointers with the MainWindow class. But now I'm thinking it is a bit dirty and I should not share these members because the MainWindow loses control over them. I was thinking I could create the collections of my structs in the Base class and make a method so I can read (securely) members of those collections in the MainWindow class, but my problem is with UI members. I could use signals and manage those members directly in the MainWindow class, but then I would have to duplicate a lot of code and it would complicate (a bit) the code changes, which is the main reason I decided to unify those methods in a class.

So, my question is: Is there any way to 'unify' those methods without having to share members or using ugly global variables? I would like to have those methods in a separated file.

Thanks and greetings!

[D_Drmmr]

My project consists of three applications, those of which use almost the same methods for managing these structs, so I decided to use a class with the methods to add, update, remove and represent the structs in the UI sharing some member pointers with the MainWindow class. But now I'm thinking it is a bit dirty and I should not share these members because the MainWindow loses control over them. I was thinking I could create the collections of my structs in the Base class and make a method so I can read (securely) members of those collections in the MainWindow class, but my problem is with UI members. I could use signals and manage those members directly in the MainWindow class, but then I would have to duplicate a lot of code and it would complicate (a bit) the code changes, which is the main reason I decided to unify those methods in a class.

Seems like you are mixing GUI code with your application logic, i.e. there is no clear separation between GUI and non-GUI design/code. That's why you have to pass so many pointers to other classes. If you instead put all your data and application logic in a class (or set of classes) that are totally independent of the GUI, all you need in your GUI classes is a pointer to the non-GUI class(es).

Have a look at the Model-View-Controller pattern and it's many variants. They differ in the way that user actions are handled and relayed to the model and view, but they all have a model that contains no GUI code.

[Amleto]

dont post same thread in multiple places, please

http://www.codeguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=519351

[Danielc]

I'm sorry.. I will report this post to be deleted. Maybe I thought I hadn't posted it here.

Maybe the moderator con merge D_Drmmr's answer with the other post and delete this.

Greetings!