Hi, I have no idea if the title makes any sense but I can't find the right words to descibe my "problem" in one line. Anyway, here is my problem. There is an interface for a search:

template <typename InputType, typename ResultType> class Search {
public:
    virtual void search (InputType) = 0;
    virtual void getResult(ResultType&) = 0;

};

and several derived classes like:

template <typename InputType, typename ResultType> 
    class XMLSearch : public Search<InputType, ResultType> {
public:
    void search (InputType) { ... };
    void getResult(ResultType&) { ... };

};

The derived classes shall be used in the source code later on. I would like to hold a simple pointer to a Search without specifying the template parameters, then assign a new XMLSearch and thereby define the template parameters of Search and XMLSearch

Search *s = new XMLSearch<int, int>();

I found a way that works syntactically like what I'm trying to do, but it seems a bit odd to really use it:

template <typename T> class Derived;

class Base {
public:
 template <typename T>
 bool GetValue(T &value) {
  Derived<T> *castedThis=dynamic_cast<Derived<T>* >(this);
  if(castedThis)
   return castedThis->GetValue(value);
  return false;
 }
 virtual void Dummy() {}
};

template <typename T> class Derived : public Base {
public:
 Derived<T>() {
  mValue=17;
 }

 bool GetValue(T &value) {
  value=mValue;
  return true;
 }
 T mValue;
};

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
 Base *v=new Derived<int>;
 int i=0;
 if(!v->GetValue(i))
  std::cout<<"Wrong type int."<<std::endl;
 float f=0.0;
 if(!v->GetValue(f))
  std::cout<<"Wrong type float."<<std::endl;
 std::cout<<i<<std::endl<<f;
 char c;
 std::cin>>c; 
 return 0;
}

Is there a better way to accomplish this?