Automatic static invocation of derived types

Question

Does anyone know of a way to make derived classes automatically instantiate a static variable with a template type (this either has to require nothing from the writer of the der

Answer 1

If anyone is still interested, I figured it out. Static template member variables are not automatically instantiated unless they are used. I needed it to be instantiated before the constructor was called, so I couldn't make it a static local. The solution is to make it a static template member variable, and then use it (just call an empty function on it if you want) in a member function (I use the constructor). This forces the compiler to instantiate the static for every template parameter ever declared, because the instantiated constructor code uses it, for example:

My registry class, with its blank function for calling

template 
class Registrar
{
    public:
        Registrar();
        void check(){}
};

My class I want registered.

template 
class AbstractFactory: public AbstractFactoryBase
{
    public:
        AbstractFactory();
        ~AbstractFactory();
    private:
        static Registrar registrar;
};

The registrar's constructor

template 
Registrar::Registrar()
{
    std::cout << DerivedType::name() << " initialisation" << std::endl;
    g_AbstractFactories.registerFactoryType(DerivedType::name());
}

And my classes constructor

template 
AbstractFactory::AbstractFactory()
{
    registrar.check();
}