Template question

[Technocrat]

Is there a way to tell what type of VAR comes in through a template function?

like this for example

template <typename T>
void Combine(T &a, T &b)  
{
  if int or long
    a = a + b;
  if string
    a += b;
  if char
   strcpy(a,b);
  etc..
} 

I though I saw somewhere how to do this, but I can't find it.

Thanks

[parksie]

typeid might help you here...

But for this, you're best specialising:

template<typename T>
void Combine(T &target, const T &ref) {
    target += ref;
}

Combine<char*>(char *&target, const char *&ref) {
    strcat(target, ref);
}

...or something.

[kedaman]

the template argument T you are using is the type
If you don't want to implement functionality within T you can call a functor and partial specialize for each T you desire, ex:

template<typename T>
struct ftr{
static inline char* name(){return "no specific T";}
};
template<>
struct ftr<int>{
static inline char* name(){return "T is int";}
};
etc...

template<typename T>
void Combine(T &target, const T &ref) {
...
ftr<T>::name
...
}

[CornedBee]

typeid works only for classes with virtual functions when RTTI is enabled.