I have a function which takes three arguments
void replace(const string, const string, string*) ;
My problem is the second argument which I'd like to rewrite so it can be either a string or a Path object (from the Boost Filesystem library, but really any object that can be treated as a string should do) so I don't have to convert paths to strings all over the place.
I know I can overload the function and make two implementations, that's what I do now so I have two implementations of the same function:
void replace(const string, const string, string*) ;
void replace(const string, const path, string*) ;
But that doesn't seem very elegant, even if the second one just converts the path to a string and calls the first (so not much code duplication). I've tried using templates instead, like this:
template <class T>
void replace(const string, const T, string*) ;
But the implementation of the function requires that it is a string, so if it is given a path it needs to be converted to a string within the function, which I'm not sure how to do or if it's even a good thing to do.
To further complicate matters, in the future I might want to expand the function so it can also take a set of strings or a set of paths instead of just one string/path as the second argument.
What is the best way to handle all this? Is there no better way than having more than one implementation of the same function?
Overloaded functions is the best approach for your use case.
I usually go by the following rules:
If you want to perform same actions on different data types then prefer templates.
If you want to perform different actions on different data types then prefer function overloading.
Your use case falls in the second category.