Untitled

Retrieving pointers from a vector
std::vector<smart_pointer<node_base> > nodes;
nodes.push_back( node );
//"node" is a smart pointer of a derived type from node_base

for ( ... )
{
    MyClass::member_node_ref = static_cast<node_type>( ( *vector_node_iterator ));
    //member_node_ref is a smart pointer of the derived node type
    //vector_node_iterator is an iterator of the vector<node_base> object
}