[fpc-pascal]Question on OOP programming...

[Rainer Hantsch]

Hello, everybody!

I have a very interesting problem with my programming and I hope there is
somebody here who knows a solution.

I wrote a "Database Unit", which offers a basic oDB object for a special
form of text-based databases. This oDB includes currently everything I
need for ReadOnly operation. It is kept absolutely neutral, reads the
whole database file into a list of string on the heap, and allows to
access the fields by name (so I can add as many fields as I want with the
same oDB) and moving within this list.

Now I must add editing, and this includes Sorting. Sorting must be split
into Sort() which does the basic/physical sorting and KeyGen(), a function
which creates a sort string out of the currently selected data record.

To stay neutral at this level, I can only implement Sort() into oDB and
(possibly) a dummy version of KeyGen(), which must be overloaded later in
any way inside the client instance.

It is simple to overload a function from the client view by
defining it "virtual". From outside access this is ok, but I must
access this client version of KeyGen() from the parent!!!


Haw can I do that or something similar? I know that I can fix that with
workarounds, but this is not my target. I want to keep the internal list
of records "private" and to offer only methods for accessing it.

Please, if you know a solution, let me know!


Thanks in advance,

  Ing. Rainer Hantsch


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