I have a factory that pumps out objects based on configurations loaded from a file. I have a case where I load a certain file and expect to recieve a certain object from the factory. How can I be sure I have the correct class? do I try a dynamic_cast and see if it trips an exception? crappy psudo: class CObject (Basetype). class CSurface : public CObject CObject* Obj = Factory(File); try{ CSurface* Surface = dynamic_cast(Obj); catch(bad cast){ //error in surface file! //Assume this now works Surface->GetType() Is that about right? Or is there a better way?

		CFileImage SurfaceFile(m_LightwaveObject.Tags.c_str());		CSurface* Surface = 0;		CObject* Object = XML::Load(SurfaceFile);		try		{			Surface = dynamic_cast(Object);		}		catch(bad_cast)		{			Log << "ERROR : Error in surface file. Incorrect object type." << Endl;			return;		}		a_Model.Surfaces = Surface;<br> </pre> <br>Actual code…  </i>  

according to msdn, dynamic_cast only throws the bad_cast exception when the target type is a reference. Otherwise, it simply returns the value 0 (or NULL) for a bad cast.

To account for this, you need to add

if(!Surface)
    throw bad_cast;

after the dynamic cast

Thanks. That works for me...