overloaded "=" equality does not get called when making obj2 = obj1 ...

Question

hello, i have this class called MemoryManager,

it is supposed to implement a simple smart pointer, (count reference);
i have a vector where i store the requested pointers,and i return the index of the pointer to the caller..

when a user creates a pointer of type MemoryManager he calls an initializer function called modified_malloc(size_t) , create a MemoryManager obj, alloc a memory space and store it into data,increase count, and store the object into global_MM_vecotr , and return the index as a pointer , when the use tries to use indirection ( ->) i return the appropriate real pointer from the vector, according to the index value..

class MemoryManager
{
public:
 //operators overloading prototypes

private:
 void*  data;
 int count ;
};

 std::vector<MemoryManager*> global_MM_vecotr; 
  void* MemoryManager::operator=( void* x)
 {
   // some code here
 }

the problem i am facing is that i overloaded a couple of operators, however when i try to run the code below the "=" operator doesn't get called.. can some1 point the problem out to me..

  //the main code 
 {

MemoryManager* obj1 = (MemoryManager*) x->fun1(4); //fun1 returns an index to a MemoryManager obj in a vector;
MemoryManager* obj2 =  obj1 ;
   }

Edit: already tried the following , no change

  {  
        MemoryManager*obj1 = (MemoryManager*) x->fun1(4); //fun1 returns an index to a Class obj in a vector;
MemoryManager*obj2 ;
*obj2 =  *obj1;
  }


 {
     MemoryManager* obj1  = ( MemoryManager*) x-> fun1(4);
MemoryManager* obj2;
obj2.operator =(*obj1);
}

Answer 1

See spec, you cannot override pointer basic operations.

Answer 2

Might be a technicality, but you're not assigning a ClassA, you're assigning a ClassA* (ie, a pointer). I might be way off here, but this is where I'd lay the blame.

Answer 3

From you code, you have defined operator= for the MemoryManager class taking a void* .

Your example code is initializing ClassA pointers and not assigning to MemoryManager instances.

There are three reasons why your code is not being called.

• You are initializing not assigning, so if anything a constructor would be called rather than an assignment operator.
• You are initializing pointers and not objects, pointers are basic types and you cannot provide overloaded operators for them.
• You are using ClassA and not MemoryManager which you have actually provided the operator= for.

Answer 4

I suspect you're using the void pointer so that you can enter any kind of object. I'd recommend using a template instead combined with the boost::check library.