Initialize and modify class variables in derived classes - class

Question

I want to initialize a variable class for my Base class and modify it only in some children classes.
The initialization of this class variable is in the header:
class Base{
public:
Base();
int a = 1;
The header of my derived class is:
class ChildA : public Base{
public:
ChildA ();
int a = 2;
}
Problem
I tried to run this:
Base classe*;
classe = new ChildA();
std::cout << classe->a << std::endl;
The problem is that, instead of printing 2 as I expected, it prints 1 (value initialized in my parent class). For other derived classes, I want classe->a to still return 1.
How can I solve this?

Answer 1

What you are seeing are the results of upcasting - having a base class point to a derived class object.
I highly recommend you read more on the topic, but a simplified picture is that the base class "carries" the whole object (base and derived content), but can access only it's original, own content. This is why you see a value from the base class rather than the derived class.
Lippman's C++ Primer has a very comprehensive explanation of upcasting, downcasting, object slicing, and other inheritance-related concepts. This includes implementing virtual functions which give you the functionality to invoke derived class functions through an interface that's common with base.

Answer 2

|----------------|-----------------|
| a (for Base) | a (for ChildA) |
|----------------|-----------------|
\________________/
^
|_ classe
Sorry if my drawing is not that good! As you can see in the above picture, when you create an object of type ChildA, this object contains a part for keeping the data members of the base class (i.e. Base) and another part for the data members of derived class (i.e. ChildA). Considering the fact that you have a pointer to the base class (i.e. classe), this pointer only allows you to access the base member variables and methods. So calling classe->a, returns the Base::a for you, that is 1.
If you change the type of classe pointer into ChildA, in that case calling classe->a will return 2, because it refers to the a inside the derived class, i.e. ChildA::a.
For other derived classes, I want classe->a to still return 1. How can
I solve this?
If you need in some derived classes to access different as, it is better to have a virtual function in the base class and override the base function if needed:
class Base {
public:
Base() {}
virtual int getA() { return a; }
private:
int a = 1;
};
class ChildA : public Base
{
public:
ChildA() {}
int a = 2;
};
class ChildB : public Base
{
public:
ChildB() {}
int getA() { return a; }
private:
int a = 2;
};
Now by calling getA() on a pointer of Base or ChildA, you will have 1, but calling getA on an object of type ChildB will return 2.