Adding New Methods to Already-Declared Classes?

[XeonXT]

Hi,

I would like to know if there is a way to extend the functionality of already-declared classes by adding methods outside of the class declaration?

For example, let's say I wanted to add a new method to std::string that automatically converted the contents to an int. Is there any way to do this without modifying <string> and without creating a derived class? Of course, I know there are other ways to perform such conversions without modifying the class, I'm just asking this as an example.

So, for instance, if I have

struct Foo{
	int size();
	int length();
};

And I would like to add a new method, int Bar() to Foo outside of the Foo declaration, is this in any way possible (without using a derived class)?

Thanks!

[jsmith]

No, your only option is derivation.

[XeonXT]

Everybody loves a happy ending. Well, thanks anyway.