Rule Definition
Avoid using static_cast on pointers because static_cast does not do any run time checking of the types involved, which means that unless you know what you are doing, they could be very unsafe. Consider replacing use of static_cast with its more powerful relative dynamic_cast. There is an overhead in doing so, but it is not worth taking the risk of using static_cast.

Remediation
Use dynamic_cast.

Violation Code Sample

class B {};
class D : B {};
B* b = new B();
D* d1 = static_cast<D*>b; // Invalid! => VIOLATION
D* d2 = dynamic_cast<D*>b; // Valid, but d2 is now a null pointer

Now d1 will point to a data segment of type D*, but the actual data is B*, and will lead to memory issues and corruption. d2 on the other hand will be a null pointer and can be checked for and handled correctly.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c36yw7x9(VS.80).aspx http://my.safaribooksonline.com/0321113586/ch93 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/28002/regular-cast-vs-staticcast-vs-dynamiccast http://codeidol.com/cpp/cpp-coding-standards/Avoid-using-static_cast-on-pointers/