Objected oriented approach to structure inside structure [closed]

Question

This is for C++ but should apply to any OO language.

Trying to figure out the correct object oriented apporach to do the following (this is what I do in C).

struct Container {
  enum type;
  union {
     TypeA a;
     TypeB b;
  };
}

The type field determines if it TypeA or TypeB object.

I am using this to handle responses coming back from a connection, they get parsed and get put into this structure and then based on the message type the appropriate fields get filled in.

e.g.

struct Container parseResponse(bufferIn, bufferLength);

Is there an OO approach for doing this?

Answer 1

You can have abstract parent class and derived classes for each type, and a factory who creates derived class based on type, but returns parent class. But it very depends on what you are trying to fix. If it's not broken do not fix it.