Re: [DUG]: How do I copy the state of one object to another?

[Phil Middlemiss]

Dave,   as strange as it may seem, you are not far off. The pattern that is used widely in the VCL is having an Assign method. For example   TAnimal = class(TObject)     procedure Assign(Source : TObject); virtual;     property LegCount etc     property Colour etc end;   TDog = class(TAnimal)     procedure Assign(Source : TObject); override;     property BarkDB etc     property Breed etc end;   ....   procedure TAnimal.Assign(Source : TObject); begin   if Source is TAnimal then     begin     LegCount := TAnimal(Source).LegCount;     Colour := TAnimal(Source).LegCount;     end   else     raise some kind of exception end;   procedure TDog.Assign(Source : TObject); begin   inherited Assign(Source);   if Source is TDog then     begin     BarkDB := TDog(Source).BarkDB;     Breed := TDog(Source).Bark.DB;     end   else     raise some kind of exception end;     You could try using a generic RTTI routine but these can get messy, hard to read later, and outdated by changed in the compiler.   Phil. ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list delphi Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 4:50 PM Subject: [DUG]: How do I copy the state of one object to another? Hi all   I want to copy the state (variables) of one instance object of a class, to another instance object of the same class. Eg. Class TDog, instance Dog1 and Dog2. I could do the following: Dog2.Colour := Dog1.Colour; Dog2.Breed := Dog1.Breed;    etc. But this seems a little silly. How do I do this in OO?   If knowing more would be helpful, here's what I'm doing:   I'm using ICS to connect to an smtp server and want to make multiple connections so that I can offload 4000 emails as quickly as possible, leaving the smtp server to send them out. (No I'm not a spammer, this is a report - email with pdf attachment).   I've just run a test and I can paste multiple ICS components on my form i.e. SmtpCli1, SmtpCli2, SmtpCli3, etc. And I can assign my email details into SmtpCli1 as my "holder' object. When I go to send, I see if SmptCli2 is in a ready state - if so, I copy all of the details from SmtpCli1 to SmtpCli2 and send via Cli2. Else, I try SmtpCli3, etc. Using this method, and keeping 5 sessions active, I found it sped up my job 5 fold - so seems worth it.   So this all works but it's very manual with lots of code. How do I do this with OO elegance?   Cheers Dave Jollie Developer, TOWER NZ IT (: 09 368 4259 �: 09 306 6801 *: [EMAIL PROTECTED] .: 46 Parnell Rd, Parnell, Auckland