How to implement multiple inheritance in delphi?

Question

I\'m doing a full rewrite of an old library, and I\'m not sure how to handle this situation (for the sake of being understood, all hail the bike analogy):

I have the

Answer 1

Delphi does not support Multiple Inheritance. But classes can support / implement multiple interfaces and you can delegate interface implementation, so you can kinda simulate multiple inheritence.

Answer 2

Use polymorhism to implment each 'thing' as an object hierarchy in its own right and then add object properties to that object in turn. So, create a hierarchy of wheels, and a hierarchy of bikes. Then add wheels to bikes as fields in the ancestor bike object. See below.

  TBikeWheel = class
  TBikeWheelXYZ = class( TBikeWheel ) 

  TBike = class
    FFrontWheel : TBikeWheel;
    property FrontWheel : TBikeWheel
      read FrontWhell  

  TBikeABC = class( TBike)
    constructor Create;
  end;

  constructor TBikeABC.Create;
  begin
    inherited;
    FFrontWheel := TBikeWheel.Create;
  end;

  TBikeXYZ = class( TBike)
    constructor Create;
  end;

  constructor TBikeXYZ.Create;
  begin
    inherited;
    FFrontWheel := TBikeWheelXYZ.Create;
  end;

Answer 3

Sorry, Delphi does not support Multiple Inheritance.

Answer 4

you can try this way, if you do not want to repeat the code several times and want a decoupled code.

type
   TForm1 = class(TForm)
    btnTest: TButton;
    procedure btnTestClick(Sender: TObject);
   private
      { Private declarations }
   public
      { Public declarations }
   end;

   TBike = class
   end;

   IBikeWheel = interface
      procedure DoBikeWheel;
   end;

   TBikeWheel = class(TInterfacedObject, IBikeWheel)
   public
      procedure DoBikeWheel;
   end;

   IBikeWheelFront = interface
      procedure DoBikeWheelFront;
   end;

   TBikeWheelFront = class(TInterfacedObject, IBikeWheelFront)
   public
      procedure DoBikeWheelFront;
   end;

   IBikeWheelBack = interface
   end;

   TBikeWheelBack = class(TInterfacedObject, IBikeWheelBack)
   end;

   TBikeWheelFrontXYZ = class(TInterfacedObject, IBikeWheel, IBikeWheelFront)
   private
      FIBikeWheel: IBikeWheel;
      FBikeWheelFront: IBikeWheelFront;
   public
      constructor Create();
      property BikeWheel: IBikeWheel read FIBikeWheel implements IBikeWheel;
      property BikeWheelFront: IBikeWheelFront read FBikeWheelFront implements IBikeWheelFront;
   end;

var
   Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.DFM}

{ TBikeWheel }

procedure TBikeWheel.DoBikeWheel;
begin
   ShowMessage('TBikeWheel.DoBikeWheel');
end;

{ TBikeWheelFrontXYZ }

constructor TBikeWheelFrontXYZ.Create;
begin
   inherited Create;
   Self.FIBikeWheel := TBikeWheel.Create;
   Self.FBikeWheelFront := TBikeWheelFront.Create;
end;

{ TBikeWheelFront }

procedure TBikeWheelFront.DoBikeWheelFront;
begin
   ShowMessage('TBikeWheelFront.DoBikeWheelFront');
end;

procedure TForm1.btnTestClick(Sender: TObject);
var
   bikeWhell: TBikeWheelFrontXYZ;
begin
   bikeWhell := nil;
   try
      try
         bikeWhell := TBikeWheelFrontXYZ.Create;
         IBikeWheelFront(bikeWhell).DoBikeWheelFront;
         IBikeWheel(bikeWhell).DoBikeWheel;
      except
         on E: Exception do
         begin
            raise;
         end;
      end;
   finally
      if Assigned(bikeWhell) then FreeAndNil(bikeWhell);
   end;                                          
end;

Answer 5

A variation of Brian Frost's suggestion:

  TBikeWheel = class
  TBikeWheelXYZ = class( TBikeWheel ) 

  TBike = class
    FFrontWheel : TBikeWheel;
  protected
    function CreateWheel: TBikeWheel; virtual;
  public
    property FrontWheel : TBikeWheel
      read FrontWheel  
  end;

  TBikeABC = class( TBike)
  protected
    function CreateWheel: TBikeWheel; override;
  end;

  function TBikeABC.CreateWheel: TBikeWheel;
  begin
    result := TBikeWheel.Create;
  end;

  TBikeXYZ = class( TBike)
  protected
    function CreateWheel: TBikeWheel; override;
  end;

  function TBikeXYZ.CreateWheel: TBikeWheel;
  begin
    result := TBikeWheelXYZ.Create;
  end;

Answer 6

Basically - you CAN'T. Delphi does not support multiple inheritance.

So left with that dilemma, the question is: could you possibly refactor that library in such a way that you can get away with using interface? Is the multiple inheritance mostly about functions and methods? If so - use interfaces. Delphi can support multiple interfaces on a class.

If the multi-inheritance is more about inheriting actual functionality in the classes, then you're probably looking at a bigger scale refactoring, I'm afraid. You'll need to find a way to break up those functional dependencies in such a way you can make it inherit from a single base class, possibly with some additional interfaces thrown in.

Sorry I can't provide an easy answer - that's just the reality of it.

Marc