Something like boost::any

[Chris_F]

I was working out a way to implement some type of generic object, something similar to boost::any. I don't have any boost sources laying around, so I'm not quite sure how they achieve it.

This is what I came up with so far:

template <typename T>
inline const char* TypeOf()
{
	return typeid(T).name();
}

template <typename T>
inline const char* TypeOf(T obj)
{
	return typeid(obj).name();
}

class Object
{
	void* ptr;
	const char* m_type;

public:

	template <typename T> 
	Object(T obj) 
	{
		m_type = TypeOf(obj);
		ptr = new T(obj);
	}

	Object(Object& obj)
	{
		m_type = obj.m_type;
		ptr = obj.ptr;
		obj.ptr = 0;
	}

	~Object()
	{
		if(ptr) delete ptr;
	}

	template <typename T>
	operator T()
	{
		return *((T*)ptr);
	}

	const char* Type() const
	{
		return m_type;
	}
};

int main()
{
	vector<Object> objects;
	objects.push_back(42);
	objects.push_back(88);
	objects.push_back(3.14159f);
	objects.push_back('c');
	objects.push_back(string("Hello!"));
	objects.push_back(1337L);

	auto lambda = [](Object obj)
	{
		if(obj.Type() == TypeOf<int>())
		{
			cout << static_cast<int>(obj) << "\n";
		}
		else if(obj.Type() == TypeOf<float>())
		{
			cout << static_cast<float>(obj) << "\n";
		}
		else if(obj.Type() == TypeOf<char>())
		{
			cout << static_cast<char>(obj) << "\n";
		}
		else if(obj.Type() == TypeOf<string>())
		{
			cout << static_cast<string>(obj) << "\n";
		}
		else
		{
			cout << "Unknown type" << "\n";
		}
	};

	for_each(objects.begin(), objects.end(), lambda);
	system("PAUSE");
	return 0;
}