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From: Matthew Heaney <matthew_heaney@acm.org>
Subject: Re: Can't export object of private type
Date: 1999/02/28
Message-ID: <m3iucm188w.fsf@mheaney.ni.net>#1/1
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References: <7b1k4h$13k6@news3.newsguy.com> <F7p7Dq.DE1@syd.csa.com.au>
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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 14:16:31 PDT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1999-02-28T00:00:00+00:00
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fraser@synopsys.like.how.smart.are.email.greppers.anyway.com writes:

> What about a parameterless function that returns that type?  The only
> down side being that you'd have to override it for each extension.
> Or maybe that's not a down side, depending on what you want to do.
> 
> package Test is
> 
>    type T is tagged private;
>    procedure Do_Something (With_T : T);
> 
>    function P return T;
>     --  function P return T'Class might also be what you want.
> 
> private
> 
>    type T is tagged null record;
> 
> end Test;


This will only work if you don't have to modify the object.  To do that,
you need to return a reference to the object:

  function Ref return T_Access;

and then say 

    Op (Ref.all);

so refer to the actual object.