asked on

Template derivation

Hi,

I created a template class :

template<class T>
class CBaseT
{
T *m_pT;
public :
CBase();
~CBase();
T *Get();
void Set(T *pT);
};

And I derived a class from it :

class Derived : public CBaseT<char>
{
public :
Derived() {Set("A");} // Correction, instead of: Set('A');
~Derived();
};

The problem is that I got a link error which says that
the class CBaseT<char> is not found.

My question is : Why is that happened , and how can I
fix it that CBaseT<char> will be found ?

Thanks
Michael

IainHere

Set('A') passes a const char, but your definition of Set() requires a char*.

You could change the definition to

void Set(T pT);

and it should work.

Walluce

Or you could simply pass in "A" instead of 'A'.
"A" will be a char * because it creates a string of two characters (A and \0) whereas 'A' is just one char.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Axter

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Axter

Continuation:

Although the current C++ standards say that you can put the functions in the *.cpp file, most compilers do not support this capability.

If you put the code in the *.cpp file, then only code that includes the *.cpp file can declare new types of your template class.

An alternative to this is to put a special forward declaration for each type that you will use for the template class.

The syntax for this is the following:

template CBaseT<char>;

The above forward declaration would be put into the *.cpp file that has your template function defined.
You would have to do this for each type if you want to use this method.

I do not recommend using the above method unless you really have a good reason for keeping the template function definition inside your *.cpp file.

It is far easier to just keep the template function difinition in the *.h header file, and this is the common method used by most programmers for template classes.

MichaelMaromm

ASKER

Thank you Axter,
You realy helped me.

Michael