Namespaces and declarations

[kk565]

Apologies if this has been asked already, but my searches have turned up
nothing.

I have a class declaration inside a header file similar to this:

struct MyClass
{
class mytype_a *m1;
class mynamespace1::mynamespace2::mytype_b *m2;
};

Whereas just mytype_a compiles just fine, at the second member
declaration the compiler (GCC 4) gives the error:
‘mynamespace1’ has not been declared

My assumption was that since this is a just a pointer declaration, the
compiler would not need to know the actual details of the type (at least
at this stage)

To fix this, does it mean that I have to include the header file
containing the mytype_b type (and all namespace declarations)? or is
there a way of just letting the compiler know about these namespaces
without including the actual declarations?

Also my first instinct was to use something like this
struct MyClass
{
using namespace mynamespace1;
};

however this appears not be valid C++. Is there anyway of declaring used
namespaces or components from namespaces within a class
declaration/implementation?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alf P. Steinbach]

* kk565:

Apologies if this has been asked already, but my searches have turned up
nothing.

I have a class declaration inside a header file similar to this:

struct MyClass
{
class mytype_a *m1;
class mynamespace1::mynamespace2::mytype_b *m2;
};

Whereas just mytype_a compiles just fine, at the second member
declaration the compiler (GCC 4) gives the error:
‘mynamespace1’ has not been declared

My assumption was that since this is a just a pointer declaration, the
compiler would not need to know the actual details of the type (at least
at this stage)

To fix this, does it mean that I have to include the header file
containing the mytype_b type (and all namespace declarations)? or is
there a way of just letting the compiler know about these namespaces
without including the actual declarations?

The following compiles fine with three compilers:


class mytype_a;

namespace mynamespace1
{
namespace mynamespace2
{
class mytype_b;
}
}

struct MyClass
{
class mytype_a *m1;
class mynamespace1::mynamespace2::mytype_b *m2;
};

int main() {}


However, the "class" keyword is superfluous, write just


struct MyClass
{
mytype_a *m1;
mynamespace1::mynamespace2::mytype_b *m2;
};


By the way, since that indicates that you're new to C++: it's generally
not a good idea to use raw pointers directly. Depending on what you're
using them for consider library classes such as std::vector or smart
pointers such as boost::shared_ptr. That takes care of a lot of
problems, including the ambiguity about what the pointers are used for.

Also my first instinct was to use something like this
struct MyClass
{
using namespace mynamespace1;
};

however this appears not be valid C++. Is there anyway of declaring used
namespaces or components from namespaces within a class
declaration/implementation?

No, but you can (for example) define a namespace alias outside of the class:


namespace blah = mynamespace1::mynamespace2;

struct MyClass
{
mytype_a *m1;
blah::mytype_b *m2;
};


Cheers, & hth.,

- Alf