I'm trying to create a class that uses its own state to operate on the state of an external object that it holds a reference to. The external object can be of class A or B, which are similar, but not controlled by the author. So a sealed class is created to access their common attributes, per this earlier answer from @SimY4.
// *** DOES NOT COMPILE ***
class A { // foreign class whose structure is not modifiable
val prop get()= "some string made the Class-A way"
}
class B { // foreign class whose structure is not modifiable
val prop get()= "some string made the Class-B way"
}
data class ABTool (val obj:AB, val i:Int, val j:Int) {
// class that manipulates i and j and uses them to do
// things with AB's "common" attributes through the sealed class AB
sealed class AB { // substitute for a common interface
abstract val prop: String
abstract val addmagic: String
data class BoxA(val o:A) : AB() {
override val prop get()= o.prop
override val addmagic get() = prop + this@???.magic // HOW TO REFERENCE?
}
data class BoxB(val o:B) : AB() {
override val prop get()= o.prop
override val addmagic get() = this@???.magic + prop // HOW TO REFERENCE?
}
}
val magic get()= "magic: ${i*j}"
}
The problem now is that I've figured out I can't operate on the external object in the way I want, because a sealed class can't refer to its outer class members. Is there a better way to make this work, even if using a different approach (other than sealed class), while:
- not changing foreign classes A or B;
- respecting that A and B (and many others in the real case) are similar, so I'm trying to write one tool that calculates and adds magic to A and B with the same code base; and
- noting that although the ABTool tools are the same, the way they are applied to add magic is slightly different in A vs. B, just as the to access the conceptually common elements of A and B may be different.
Any thoughts on this or a similar workaround? Maybe a more functional approach that I haven't conceived yet?