MATLAB: OOP: How to let a bunch of methods behave differently depending in the type of input

abstractclassMATLABoopoverloading

Let's imagine we have a Class called OOP_Base and lots of subclasses like "OOP_Mult5" that implement the "Apply" Method defined "abstract" in the OOP_Base class.
I like to convert accidental char inputs for all those classes to double. I don't want to implement a isa(in,'char') in all hundred methods "OOP_Mult5" and so on.
Is it possible to put the "isa()"-query and a str2num() if the input is char in the OOP_Base for all subclasses?
% OOP_Base:
classdef OOP_Base
    methods (Abstract = true)
        result = Apply(in)
    end
end
classdef OOP_Mult5 < OOP_Base
    methods (Static = true)
        function result = Apply(in)
            result = 5*in;
        end
    end
end
P.S.: This is just an example to illustrate my problem. In reality I have to deal with lots of filters that should work with a special "Image"-class but also with simple R,G,B vectors.
Thank you very much in advance for your help,
Jan

Best Answer

Instead of making Apply() abstract, make it call abstract functions:
classdef OOP_Base
     methods result=Apply(in)
       if ischar(in), in=str2num(in); end
       result=ApplyMain(in);
     end
      methods (Abstract = true)
          result = ApplyMain(in)
      end
end
classdef OOP_Mult5 < OOP_Base
    methods (Static = true)
        function result = ApplyMain(in)
            result = 5*in;
        end
    end
end
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