Lab #5: Inheritance and Virtual Functions

ECE 244 Programming Fundamentals
Lab #5: Inheritance and Virtual Functions
1. Objectives
This lab is an exercise on inheritance and virtual functions, which are powerful code reuse
mechanisms of C++. More specifically, you will enhance a program that implements database of
shapes that stores, manipulates, and “draws” new shapes that did not exist when the program was
written.
2. Problem Statement
You are provided with a framework that implements a database of shapes, in the form of an
object file. Without changing the code of this framework (you really cannot since you do not
have the source), you will add new functionality simply by adding three new classes (Circle,
Triangle and Rectangle). The framework provides the “higher-level” decision making of
the program, and you add new features by creating new classes that the framework calls when
appropriate, via virtual functions. This is a powerful form of code re-use; the framework is
making use of objects that did not exist when it was written.
3. The Shape Class
The Shape class is an abstract class that serves as a root for inheritance. The definition of this
class is given in the file Shape.h. The class has several protected variables and a number
of abstract virtual functions that must be implemented by derived classes. The implementation of
the class is considered part of the framework, and as such you are only provided with Shape.o.
Please note that you must not modify the file Shape.h in any shape or fashion. Doing so will
result in a mark of 0 for the assignment.
4. The Derived Classes
You will extend the framework to maintain and manipulate three types of shapes: circles,
rectangles and triangles. Thus, you must define and implement three classes: Circle (in
Circle.h and Circle.cpp), Rectangle (in Rectangle.h and Rectangle.cpp) and
Triangle (in Triangle.h and Triangle.cpp). The following figure shows the
inheritance hierarchy.
The definition of the Circle class as well as its implementation are given to you as an example
of how to inherit from Shape and extend its functionality to implement a Circle. Thus, you
can follow this example to define and implement the remaining two classes.
5. The ShapesDB Framework
The ShapesDB framework implements a simple database for shapes. Indeed, it uses the array of
shape pointers you implemented in Assignment 3. As released, it has no specific shapes defined
in it. You will create new shapes (circles, rectangles and triangles) and the framework store and
manipulate these new shapes, even though they did not exist when the framework was written.
The framework accepts and executes a number of commands (see Section 6 below). In addition
to defining new shapes, you will extend the commands the framework accepts and processes.
This is done through a simple “call back” mechanism, where you register your function that
parses a command with the framework and the framework calls back this function when it
receives the corresponding command. An example of doing so is given to you to illustrate this
process and also to demonstrate the type of error checking required.
You are not given the source code for the framework (i.e., the file ShapesDB.cpp is hidden
from you). However, you do get the file ShapesDB.h to see what functionality the framework
provides and the file ShapesDB.o to link with.
6. Command Reference
The following are the commands that you will need to extend the framework with. Text in italics
indicate arguments that should be replaced by the appropriate strings or numbers.
• circle name xcen ycen radius
Create a new Circle object, with the specified name, with a center at (xcen, ycen) and
the specified radius. name is a string (which cannot be a reserved word), while xcen, ycen
and radius are floats. The code to process the circle command is included in the
main function of the program (in Parser.cpp) as an example. You will need to
extend this file to process the rest of the commands in a similar way.
• rectangle name xcen ycen width height
Create a new Rectangle object, with the specified name, a center at (xcen, ycen) and
the specified width and height. name is a string, while xcen, ycen, width and height are
floats.
• triangle name x1 y1 x2 y2 x3 y3
Create a new Triangle object, with the specified name and with 3 vertices given by
(x1, y1), (x2, y2) and (x3, y3). name is a string while x1 through y3 are floats.
The following commands are already implemented in the framework, and you need not
implement them.
• area
Compute the total area of all the shapes in the database and outputs this sum. The
computation is done in float arithmetic and is printed out as a float with two decimal
digits (see the Circle class for doing this).
• draw
“Draws” all the shapes by printing them to cout. For all shapes, the shape type is
printed, followed by a “:”, followed by the shape name, followed by the x and y locations
of the centre of the shape. In the case of a circle the radius follows. In the case of a
rectangle, the width and height follow. Finally, in the case of a triangle, the coordinates of
the vertices follow. Finally, for all shapes the area of the shape is printed. Thus, the
output format for the three shapes is:
circle: name xcen ycen radius area
rectangle: name xcen ycen width height area
triangle: name xcen ycen x1 y1 x2 y2 x3 y3 area
All floats are printed using a fixed floating-point notation with 2 decimal precision.
See the sample session below for examples of printing and Circle.cpp for how to
print using the required format.
7. Sample Session Output
The following is a sample session. It illustrates the format of “drawing” the shapes, the response
generated for each command and the various error messages that may arise. Please note that an
example of error checking is given in Parser.cpp and you can just mimic it for the other
classes. Your code will not be tested for any other errors. The “>” is the prompt printed by the
command parser.
> circle c1 1 1 4
created circle
> rectangle r1 5 5 4 8
created rectangle
> triangle t1 8 8 10 10 12 8
created triangle
> draw
circle: c1 1.00 1.00 4.00 50.27
rectangle: r1 5.00 5.00 4.00 8.00 32.00
triangle: t1 10.00 8.67 8.00 8.00 10.00 10.00 12.00 8.00 4.00
> area
Total area = 86.27
> circles c2 1 1 1
Error: invalid command
> circle triangle 1 1 1
Error: triangle is a reserved word
> triangle r1 10 10 20 20 40 30
Error: a shape with the name r1 already exists
Please note that rounding may cause some variations between the sum of the rounded areas of
the shapes and the total area printed. Here is an example:
> triangle t2 1.00 1.00 2.00 2.00 0.00 3.00
created triangle
> triangle t3 1.30 4.10 0.10 9.90 3.41 3.14
created triangle
> triangle t4 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.99 0.45 0.13
created triangle
> draw
triangle: t2 1.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 2.00 0.00 3.00 1.50
triangle: t3 1.60 5.71 1.30 4.10 0.10 9.90 3.41 3.14 5.54
triangle: t4 0.15 0.37 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.99 0.45 0.13 0.22
> area
Total area = 7.27
The sum of the rounded areas of the three triangles is 7.26. However, the total area is 7.28. The
same variations may happen across platforms (Windows, MacOS and Linux). This is acceptable
in both cases.
8. Procedure
Download the release zip file from Quercus and unzip it in your ece244 directory. This will
create a subdirectory for the assignment that contains the various source/object files as well as a
Makefile. Specifically, the release contains: Shape.h, Circle.h and ShapesDB.h,
which you must not modify. It also contains the object files Shape.o and ShapesDB.o.
Finally, it contains the files Rectangle.h and Rectangle.cpp, in which you should define
and implement the Rectangle class, and Triangle.h and Triangle.cpp, in which you
should define and implement the Triangle class. There is some skeletal code in each of these
files. The Makefile is used by NetBeans to separately compile your project. Do not modify
this file either.
You are to implement two classes, Rectangle and Triangle in the respective .h and
.cpp files within the release. You may use the definition/implementation of Circle as a guide.
You will also have to add a small amount of code to Parser.cpp to parse and create new
Rectangle, and Triangle objects after parsing the rectangle and triangle commands,
respectively.
The centre point of a triangle is computed as follows. The x coordinate of the centre point is the
average of the x coordinates of its three vertices. Similarly, the y coordinate of the centre point is
the average of the y coordinates of its three vertices. You may want to look up how to calculate
the area of a triangle from its three vertices (e.g., https://sciencing.com/area-triangle-its-vertices8489292.html).
If you wish, you may include cmath (#include <cmath>) to aid with the calculations.
The ~ece244i/public/exercise command will also be helpful in testing your program.
You should exercise the executable, i.e., Parser.exe, using the command:
~ece244i/public/exercise 5 Parser.exe
As with previous assignments, some of the exercise test cases will be used by the autotester
during marking of your assignment. We will not provide all the autotester test cases in
exercise, however, so you should create additional test cases yourself and ensure you fully meet
the specification listed above.
Your program must not leak memory. Please use valgrind to test for memory leaks and
eliminate them. Programs that leak memory will be penalized.
9. Deliverables
Submit your Rectangle.h, Rectangle.cpp, Triangle.h, Triangle.cpp and
Parser.cpp using the command:
~ece244i/public/submit 5