Interface Inheritance in C++

Question

I have the following class structure:

class InterfaceA
{ 
   virtual void methodA =0;
}

class ClassA : public InterfaceA
{
   void methodA();
}

class InterfaceB : public InterfaceA
{
   virtual void methodB =0;
}

class ClassAB : public ClassA, public InterfaceB
{ 
   void methodB(); 
}

Now the following code is not compilable:

int main()
{
    InterfaceB* test = new ClassAB();
    test->methodA();
}

The compiler says that the method methodA() is virtual and not implemented. I thought that it is implemented in ClassA (which implements the InterfaceA). Does anyone know where my fault is?

Answer 1

That is because you have two copies of InterfaceA. See this for a bigger explanation: https://isocpp.org/wiki/faq/multiple-inheritance (your situation is similar to 'the dreaded diamond').

You need to add the keyword virtual when you inherit ClassA from InterfaceA. You also need to add virtual when you inherit InterfaceB from InterfaceA.