Forward declaration of nested types/classes in C++
Asked Answered
N

7

242

I recently got stuck in a situation like this:

class A
{
public:
    typedef struct/class {…} B;
…
    C::D *someField;
}

class C
{
public:
    typedef struct/class {…} D;
…
    A::B *someField;
}

Usually you can declare a class name:

class A;

But you can't forward declare a nested type, the following causes compilation error.

class C::D;

Any ideas?

Nynorsk answered 4/6, 2009 at 15:20 Comment(3)
Why do you need that? Note that you can forward declare if it's a member of the same class being defined: class X { class Y; Y *a; }; class X::Y { };Lipstick
This solution worked for me (namespace C { class D; };): #22390284Electroluminescence
I found a solution linkCordwain
S
271

You can't do it, it's a hole in the C++ language. You'll have to un-nest at least one of the nested classes.

Skirmish answered 4/6, 2009 at 15:23 Comment(6)
Thanks for the answer. In my case, they're not my nested classes. I was hoping to avoid a huge library header file dependency with a little forward reference. I wonder if C++11 fixed it?Caenogenesis
Oh. Just what I didn't want google to show up. Thanks anyway for the concise answer.Keese
Same here ... does someone know why it is not possible ? It seems there is valid use cases, and this lack prevents architecture consistency in some situations.Harbour
You can use friend. And just put a comment in that you're using it to work around the hole in C++.Cruz
Whenever I encounter such needless flaws in this ersatz language, I am torn between laughing and cryingPyroxylin
Yeah, I just tried forward declaring top and nested classes, hoping that would "work": class C; class C::D; Google led me here. :-\Gramme
C
41
class IDontControl
{
    class Nested
    {
        Nested(int i);
    };
};

I needed a forward reference like:

class IDontControl::Nested; // But this doesn't work.

My workaround was:

class IDontControl_Nested; // Forward reference to distinct name.

Later when I could use the full definition:

#include <idontcontrol.h>

// I defined the forward ref like this:
class IDontControl_Nested : public IDontControl::Nested
{
    // Needed to make a forwarding constructor here
    IDontControl_Nested(int i) : Nested(i) { }
};

This technique would probably be more trouble than it's worth if there were complicated constructors or other special member functions that weren't inherited smoothly. I could imagine certain template magic reacting badly.

But in my very simple case, it seems to work.

Caenogenesis answered 7/11, 2011 at 1:22 Comment(3)
In C++11 you can inherit constructors by using basename::basename; in the derived class, thus no problem with complicated ctors.Retroversion
Nice trick, but it will not work if pointer to IDontControl::Nested used within same header (where it forward declared) and accessed from external code which also includes full definition of IDontControl. (Because compiler will not match IDontControl_Nested and IDontControl::Nested). Workaround is to perform static cast.Condorcet
I'd recommend doing the opposite and having the class outside, and just use typedef inside the classBrassbound
P
6

If you really want to avoid #including the nasty header file in your header file, you could do this:

hpp file:

class MyClass
{
public:
    template<typename ThrowAway>
    void doesStuff();
};

cpp file

#include "MyClass.hpp"
#include "Annoying-3rd-party.hpp"

template<> void MyClass::doesStuff<This::Is::An::Embedded::Type>()
{
    // ...
}

But then:

  1. you will have to specify the embedded type at call time (especially if your function does not take any parameters of the embedded type)
  2. your function can not be virtual (because it is a template)

So, yeah, tradeoffs...

Phagocytosis answered 16/4, 2012 at 12:56 Comment(2)
What the heck is an hpp file?Garrard
lol, an .hpp header file is used in C++ projects to distinguish it from a C header file which typically ends with .h. When working with C++ and C in the same project some people prefer .hpp and .cpp for C++ files, to make it explicitly with what type of files their dealing with, and .h and .c for C files.Marcellus
O
2

If you have access to change the source code of classes C and D, then you can take out class D separately, and enter a synonym for it in class C:

class CD {

};

class C {
public:

    using D = CD;

};

class CD;
Oswald answered 22/4, 2019 at 7:46 Comment(0)
C
1

I would not call this an answer, but nonetheless an interesting find: If you repeat the declaration of your struct in a namespace called C, everything is fine (in gcc at least). When the class definition of C is found, it seems to silently overwrite the namspace C.

namespace C {
    typedef struct {} D;
}

class A
{
public:
 typedef struct/class {...} B;
...
C::D *someField;
}

class C
{
public:
   typedef struct/class {...} D;
...
   A::B *someField;
}
Chadchadabe answered 4/6, 2009 at 15:48 Comment(3)
I tried this with cygwin gcc and it doesn't compile if you try to reference A.someField. C::D in the class A definition actually refers the the (empty) struct in the namespace, not the struct in the class C (BTW this doesn't compile in MSVC)Tommyetommyrot
It gives the error: "'class C' redeclared as different kind of symbol"Nynorsk
Looks like a GCC bug. It seems to think a namespace name can hide a class name in the same scope.Lipstick
C
0

This would be a workaround (at least for the problem described in the question -- not for the actual problem, i.e., when not having control over the definition of C):

class C_base {
public:
    class D { }; // definition of C::D
    // can also just be forward declared, if it needs members of A or A::B
};
class A {
public:
    class B { };
    C_base::D *someField; // need to call it C_base::D here
};
class C : public C_base { // inherits C_base::D
public:
    // Danger: Do not redeclare class D here!!
    // Depending on your compiler flags, you may not even get a warning
    // class D { };
    A::B *someField;
};

int main() {
    A a;
    C::D * test = a.someField; // here it can be called C::D
}
Caliper answered 3/6, 2017 at 2:15 Comment(0)
C
0

This can be done by forward declare the outer class as a namespace.

Sample: We have to use a nested class others::A::Nested in others_a.h, which is out of our control.

others_a.h

namespace others {
struct A {
    struct Nested {
        Nested(int i) :i(i) {}
        int i{};
        void print() const { std::cout << i << std::endl; }
    };
};
}

my_class.h

#ifndef MY_CLASS_CPP
// A is actually a class
namespace others { namespace A { class Nested; } }
#endif

class MyClass {
public:
    MyClass(int i);
    ~MyClass();
    void print() const;
private:
    std::unique_ptr<others::A::Nested> _aNested;
};

my_class.cpp

#include "others_a.h"
#define MY_CLASS_CPP // Must before include my_class.h
#include "my_class.h"

MyClass::MyClass(int i) :
    _aNested(std::make_unique<others::A::Nested>(i)) {}
MyClass::~MyClass() {}
void MyClass::print() const {
    _aNested->print();
}
Cordwain answered 31/5, 2018 at 7:46 Comment(2)
It may work, but it is undocumented. The reason why it work is that a::b is mangled the same way, no matter if a is class or namespace.Frolic
Doesn't work with Clang or GCC. It says that the outer class was declared as something different than a namespace.Trondheim

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