Disabling visual C++ virtual function override warning for certain methods - c++

Question

I would like to enable C4263 (Visual C++) warning on our code base, however, the warning gives out some false positives. We would like to disable the warning such that only the false positives disappear. I tried to simplify the issue with some generic code:
class B {
public:
virtual void funcA();
virtual void funcB();
};
class D : public B
{
virtual void funcA(int);
virtual void funcB(int);
};
With this code we I get following warnings:
void D::funcA(int)' : member function does not override any base class virtual member function
void D::funcB(int)' : member function does not override any base class virtual member function
What I am trying to achieve is to disable the warning for funcA (or funcB) and let the rest of the class be affected by it.
I tried putting
#pragma warning(push)
#pragma warning(disable:4263)
.
.
.
#pragma warning(pop)
around funcA but that does not solve the problem. If the pragmas wrap the whole class that both of the warnings disappear.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

This is a strange error given the documentation for it:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ay4h0tc9.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
'function' : member function does not override any base class virtual
member function
A class function definition has the same name as a virtual function in
a base class but not the same number or type of arguments. This
effectively hides the virtual function in the base class.
The last sentence is the interesting one, and it suggested to me that if you unhide the base class functions, the warning will no longer appear.
And indeed this is the case. The following code does not output C4263:
class B {
public:
virtual void funcA();
virtual void funcB();
};
class D : public B
{
using B::funcA;
using B::funcB;
virtual void funcA(int);
virtual void funcB(int);
};
The warning seems a little strange. If you're dispatching from the base class pointer, it doesn't matter what functions the derived class hides, as they won't be hidden when using a base class pointer. But herein lies the answer!
What's actually happening here is the compiler is guessing your intentions. Because you are introducing a new signature, it means you will be using either polymorphic or non-polymorphic dispatch using a derived pointer (not a base pointer). If you were not doing this, it would be impossible to call your overload. The compiler figures that if you are doing this, you will be hiding the un-overridden functions. And that's what the warning is about.
In an example:
struct Base
{
virtual void DoThing(int)
{
std::cout << "INT " << std::endl;
}
};
struct Derived: public Base
{
virtual void DoThing(char) // Add a function to handle chars
{
std::cout << "CHAR " << std::endl;
}
};
int main()
{
Derived *derived = new Derived;
Base *base = derived;
base->DoThing(1);
derived->DoThing(1);
derived->DoThing('a');
}
This outputs:
INT CHAR CHAR
The intention may have been to add an overload to handle a different case, but instead it's hiding all the existing overloads. The warning is correct given the rules of the language. The warning isn't exact, it's trivial to determine cases where it doesn't get invoked but it should. It in-fact does the opposite of false-warnings :)
To defeat this warning, the using declaration should be used.