Horrible include problem

[Ben Taylor]

I've asked about includes before in this group in order to
stop files being #included either twice or not at all, and
somebody said to use extern keyword for global variables
that need to be used in another cpp file, and to also put
all the includes of header files in the stdafx.h file, and
then to have every cpp file just include stdafx and
nothing else.
I've done this, so far with success.
However now I want to create a class A, that manages a
load of objects of type class B on the heap (using a
CTypedPtrList<CObList, ClassB*>, performing various
operations on them and then calling delete on them in its
constructor. However I want to have a variable in the
manager class that the objects can all reference,
consequently all the objects have to have a reference to
the manager class, which means they need to know its
definition. Thus, class A has to be able to 'see' class B,
and class B has to be able to 'see' class A, when
compiling. How do I arrange the include statements so that
it doesn't get either 'redefinition' or 'must have
class/struct/union type'?

 

[lallous]

Searching google for "forward class declaration cpp" returned this:
http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/HeaderFileIncludePatterns.htm
Hope that helps!
Elias

 

[Scott McPhillips]

I've asked about includes before in this group in order to
stop files being #included either twice or not at all, and
somebody said to use extern keyword for global variables
that need to be used in another cpp file, and to also put
all the includes of header files in the stdafx.h file, and
then to have every cpp file just include stdafx and
nothing else.
I've done this, so far with success.

I see you got a good answer, but as an aside... If "somebody" said to
put all the includes in stdafx.h they did you a horrible disservice.
This gives you the exact opposite of object-oriented programming, and it
considerably slows down compilation time (i.e. your time) as well.
Includes are confusing when one is a newbie - but they (usually) become
easy once you understand the compiler's simple-minded needs.

 

[Craig Powers]

I've asked about includes before in this group in order to
stop files being #included either twice or not at all, and
somebody said to use extern keyword for global variables
that need to be used in another cpp file, and to also put
all the includes of header files in the stdafx.h file, and
then to have every cpp file just include stdafx and
nothing else.

You should not put header includes that will change frequently in
stdafx.h. The whole point to it is to allow you to precompile the
headers that don't change, and that will be negated by putting
everything there.

(This is particularly important for the windows headers, which will
change only rarely. They're quite large and they take a significant
amount of time to process. By precompiling them, you realize a
substantial savings on every file you compile that incldues them.)

If you really want a more global include file, do one separately from
stdafx.h.

 

[Ben Taylor]

Yes, cheers Carl. That's essentially exactly what I did in a little test at
work today after seeing lallous's website, although here in your example
you've included ClassA.h and ClassB.h twice - once in each of ClassA.cpp and
ClassB.cpp - would that not cause it to throw a refefinition wobbly? Or do
you need inclusion guards, do these work for classes as well as #defines?
Also please see my response to Craig that I'm not exactly sure how msdev
decides what order the .cpp files should get compiled in.

 

[Ben Taylor]

Excellent, thanks. see response to Craig.

I see you got a good answer, but as an aside... If "somebody" said to
put all the includes in stdafx.h they did you a horrible disservice.
This gives you the exact opposite of object-oriented programming, and it
considerably slows down compilation time (i.e. your time) as well.
Includes are confusing when one is a newbie - but they (usually) become
easy once you understand the compiler's simple-minded needs.

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

It would be normal for both ClassA.cpp and ClassB.cpp to include both header
files: If ClassB is to call member functions on ClassA, then it has to see
the definition of ClassA. Similarly, if ClassA needs to call member
functions of ClassB (including the constructor), then it needs to see the
definition of ClassB.

This doesn't cause any multiple definition problems as long as you haven't
put inappropriate things (like non-inline function definitions) in the
header files.

The include files should have include guards, although nothing in my example
requires them: no .cpp file includes any .h file more than once.

As for the order of compilation, it's completely undefined, except that
"stdafx.cpp" (or whatever your PCH builder is named) is compiled first.
Since each file is compiled individually, the order of compilation has no
effect on the meaning or correctness of the program.

-cd