Once we understand how to build and use class relationships, we can begin constructing programs incorporating many classes connected by any appropriate relationships. This version of the Actor example starts with the three-level inheritance hierarchy developed in the Actor 1 example and adds two classes illustrating two kinds of whole-part relationships. Class Address is embedded inside class Person while class Date is made a part of Person with a pointer. The UML class diagram in the following figure shows the relationships between all the program classes:
UML class diagram with inheritance, composition, and aggregation. The hollow arrow connector denotes inheritance (the arrowhead attaches to the superclass and the plain end to the subclass). The solid diamond connector denotes composition created by embedding (the diamond attaches to the whole and the plain end to the part). Finally, the hollow diamond denotes aggregation created with a pointer (the diamond attaches to the whole and the plain end to the part). There are five important differences between the UML class diagram presented here and the first Actor class diagram:
The Address class is added and forms a composition relationship with Person by embedding an Address in the Person class (i.e., Person is the whole class and Address is the part class)
The Date class is added and forms an aggregation relationship with Person through a pointer member variable in the Person class (i.e., Person is the whole class and Date is the part class)
A destructor, ~Person(), is added to Person to manage dynamic memory when a Person is destroyed
A setter function, setDate, is added to the Person class to initialize the aggregation relationship
The constructors for Star, Actor, and Person have additional arguments for the data passed up the inheritance hierarchy from Star to Person and is then used to initialize the Address object embedded in Person
The Actor 3 Part Classes
Class developers can implement a whole-part relationship with composition or aggregation. Both are one-way relationships, meaning that the part class "does not know about" the whole class. The source code for the part classes in this example reflects this situation by not referencing the whole class - the name Person does not appear in either class specification.
Address.h
Date.h
#pragma once
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Address
{
private:
string street;
string city;
public:
Address(string s, string c) : street(s), city(c) {}
void display()
{
cout << street << " " << city << endl;
}
};
#pragma once
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Date
{
private:
int year;
int month;
int day;
public:
Date(int y, int m, int d)
: year(y), month(m), day(d) {}
void display()
{
cout << year << " " << month <<
" " << day << endl;
}
};
The Actor 3 Address and Date classes. Address and Date are terminal classes in the sense that they are parts of the Person class but do not participate in other relationships. The program pushes data into them through their constructors and pulls them through their display functions, but the constructors and display functions are not chained (i.e., do not call) other problem-domain functions. (Actor 3 treats the string class as a fundamental or built-in type.)
Actor 3 Person class
#pragma once // ensures the header file is only processed once
#include "Address.h" // includes the part classes specifications
#include "Date.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Person
{
private:
string name;
Address addr; // builds a composition relationship
Date* date = nullptr; // builds an aggregation relationship
public:
Person(string n, string s, string c) // a general constructor
: addr(s, c), name(n) {} // composition must be established when building the whole
Person(Person& p) // copy constructor
: name(p.name),
addr(p.addr),
date(new Date(*p.date)) {}
~Person() { delete date; } // destructor
void setDate(int y, int m, int d) // aggregation setter
{
delete date; // prevent a memory leak
date = new Date(y, m, d); // install a new Date
}
void display()
{
cout << name << endl; // name is a Person member
addr.display(); // uses composition
if (date != nullptr) // it's an error to call a function with nullptr
date->display(); // uses aggregation
}
};
Actor 3 Person.h file. In the Person/Address and Person/Date relationships, Person plays the role of the whole class, while it is the superclass to the Actor and Star classes. The example highlights composition-related code in coral and aggregation-related code in blue.
Composition represents a strong or tight binding, demanding that programs simultaneously create the whole and part objects. If the part class does not have a default constructor, the whole class constructor must call the part class constructor in its initializer list and pass to it the data needed to build the part object: addr(c, s).
Aggregation represents a loose or weak binding, allowing programs to create the part object and the relationship whenever convenient. The whole constructor can call the part constructor, or the whole class can define a setter function to build aggregation. If the whole constructor does not establish aggregation, programmers must initialize the pointer variable to nullptr in the class specification or the initializer list.
void Person::setDate(int y, int m, int d)
{
if (date != nullptr)
delete date;
date = new Date(y, m, d);
}
void Person::setDate(Date* d)
{
if (date != nullptr)
delete date;
date = d;
}
(a)
(b)
Aggregation setter function options. Programmers can create two kinds of setter functions to manage aggregation:
Creates a new Date object from "raw" data.
Install an existing Date object passed in by pointer.
Although classes can include both versions as overloaded functions, they typically only need one, and the problem determines which is most appropriate. Modern C++ compilers make the if-test, if (date != nullptr), optional.
Actor 3 Inheritance
The inheritance syntax in the Actor 3 example is unchanged from Actor 1. However, the number of constructor parameters is different. The example begins when the program instantiates a Star object, passing the initializing data through a chain of constructor calls. In the current example, the data now includes values to initialize the part objects instantiated from Address and Date.
#pragma once
#include "Person.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Actor : public Person
{
private:
string agent;
public:
Actor(string n, string a, string s, string c) : Person(n, s, c), agent(a) {}
void display()
{
Person::display();
cout << agent << endl;
}
};
The Actor 3 Actor class. The Actor class illustrates a class that is simultaneously a subclass (of Person) and a superclass (of Star). Inheritance is a one-way relationship, from the subclass to the superclass, so an Actor "knows about" a Person but not about a Star. Furthermore, Address and Date are only related and "known" to Person. The #include directives at the top of the header file reflect this "knowledge" or navigability: Person is the only application class specification Actor needs.
Programmers build the inheritance relationship as part of the subclass specification: : public Person.
The program passes four data items to the Actor constructor. The constructor uses one item to initialize the agent member and passes the other items to the Person superclass by calling its constructor: Person(n, s, c).
The Actordisplay function calls the corresponding superclass function using the superclass name and the scope resolution operator: Person::display();.
#pragma once
#include "Actor.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Star : public Actor
{
private:
double balance;
public:
Star(string n, string a, double b, string s, string c) : Actor(n, a, s, c), balance(b) {}
void display()
{
Actor::display();
cout << balance << endl;
}
};
The Actor 3 Star class. Significantly, Star only "knows about" Actor. We see this "knowledge" reflected in the #include directives, the inheritance syntax, the chained constructor call, and the call to the Actordisplay function.
Downloadable Code
Tab stops are set at 4 spaces - the default for the Visual Studio editor.
