Getting parent class and properties

Development Programming & Scripting C++
1

It’s one of those things that’s probably really simple but my brain just isn’t seeing it right now.

I’ve created an item class based off of AActor. I’ve created a C++ subclass from this item class but want to be able to access the components on the base class.

Here’s my code:

if (UClass* ParentClass = StaticClass()->GetSuperClass())
{
UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT(“Banana Parent Class is %s”), ParentClass->GetName())
if (AHDItems* ParentActor = Cast<AHDItems>(ParentClass))
{
ParentActor->ItemMesh->SetCollisionResponseToAllChannels(ECR_Overlap);
UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT(“Banana Succesfully got parent class for %s”), *GetName());
}
else
{
UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT(“Banana Failed to get parent class for %s”), *GetName());
}
}

ParentClass is correctly being set but the cast is failing. I just don’t know why. I hope someone can help.

2

I think you’re having trouble understanding inheritance in C++. You item is based off of AActor, and it IS and AActor. You don’t need to “find the parent class”. A class is the type of object, and there is only one of each of your object. So, no casting is necessary.

There is no seperate “parent actor”, your object is a:

  • UObjectBase
  • UObjectBaseUtility
  • UObject
  • AActor

…all at the same time. It’s called polymorphism

So, instead of doing this:

if (AHDItems* ParentActor = Cast<AHDItems>(ParentClass))
{
    ParentActor->ItemMesh->SetCollisionResponseToAllChannels(ECR_Overlap);
    UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT(“Banana Succesfully got parent class for %s”), *GetName());
}

You need to do this:

ItemMesh->SetCollisionResponseToAllChannels(ECR_Overlap);

That’s it.

All of the properties, functions, and components from every parent class are available to your object (with the exception of private ones).

I hope this helps, I can explain more if you need it.

2 Likes
3

The UClass type is only for describing classes, not objects. So you can’t cast an object to a class or vice versa.

4

Thank you so much. I was very clearly overthinking that one and didn’t even consider I could just access all of the parent class components and variables without a reference. :+1:

5

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

6

Glad I could help :smiley: