Thread: Compiler says I didn't declare a type, even though I have.

I am not new to programming, but I am new to c++, I have a strong Java background. So I am struggling a little bit with some of the more specific syntax (ie required whitespaces at end of file, using * and &)

If it isn't obvious this is a simple Maze game, there is a maze, and aguy who wants to get from point a to point b (the maze runner)

When I go to compile, this is the error I get:

Code:

<command line>:1:17: warning: ISO C requires whitespace after the macro name

In file included from c:/Users/Danny/dev/NetBeansProjects/MazeGame/Maze.h:13,

                 from c:/Users/Danny/dev/NetBeansProjects/MazeGame/Maze.cpp:8:

c:/Users/Danny/dev/NetBeansProjects/MazeGame/MazeRunner.h:27: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of `Maze' with no type

c:/Users/Danny/dev/NetBeansProjects/MazeGame/MazeRunner.h:27: error: expected `;' before '*' token

Here is Maze.h

Code:

#ifndef _MAZE_H
#define	_MAZE_H

#include "Tile.h"
#include "MazeRunner.h"
#include <vector>

namespace mazegame
{

        class Maze 
        {
        private:
                unsigned int maze_rows;
                unsigned int maze_cols;
                std::vector<std::vector<char> > maze_char;
                unsigned int starting_location;
        public:
                Maze(unsigned int _maze_rows, unsigned int _maze_cols);
                Maze(const Maze& orig);
                virtual ~Maze();
                void generateMaze();
                void clearMaze();
                void printMaze();
                std::vector<mazegame::Tile*> getTiles();
                MazeRunner* getMazeRunner(unsigned short _player_num);


        };
};

#endif	/* _MAZE_H */

and here is MazeRunner.h

Code:

#include "Maze.h"

#ifndef _MAZERUNNER_H
#define	_MAZERUNNER_H

namespace mazegame
{        

        class MazeRunner
        {
        public:
                enum Input
                {
                        MOVE_UP,
                        MOVE_DOWN,
                        MOVE_LEFT,
                        MOVE_RIGHT
                };
        private:
                Maze* maze;
                unsigned int xloc;
                unsigned int yloc;
        public:
                MazeRunner(unsigned int _xloc, unsigned int _yloc);
                MazeRunner(const MazeRunner& orig);
                virtual ~MazeRunner();
                void processInput(Input input);
                unsigned int getX();
                unsigned int getY();
        };
};

#endif	/* _MAZERUNNER_H */

I could compile and run my program just fine until I added the below code into MazeRunner.h

Code:

#include "Maze.h"

.
.
.
.
private:
                Maze* maze;

which causes the compile error above. I believe I am following everything correctly, and this is pretty much driving me mad.

Any assistance in helping me find the answer to my problem would be greatly appreciated.

edit: after looking again, I think the issue might be that I need to include MazeRunner.h in Maze.h and I need to include Maze.h in MazeRunner.h, so one of them (in this case MazeRunner) is being declared before Maze gets the chance because of the order in how the files are included. Though I am not sure how to rectify this.... I think I may have hit a chicken and egg type problem.

It looks like MazeRunner.h includes Maze.h and Maze.h includes MazeRunner.h. That simply will not do. Rather, you need to break this cycle of inclusion with a forward declaration.

Looking at the MazeRunner class, I see that it only stores a pointer to a Maze. As such, you could declare within the mazegame namespace:

Code:

class Maze;

Then you remove the inclusion of Maze.h, moving it to the source file that contains the function definitions of the MazeRunner class.

Actually, looking at the Maze class, I see that it too does not actually store a MazeRunner object. Likewise, you can remove the inclusion of MazeRunner.h (moving it to the corresponding source file), and declare in the mazegame namespace:

Code:

class MazeRunner;

By the way, names that begin with an underscore followed by an uppercase letter are reserved to the implementation for any use. Therefore, you might want to rename your inclusion guards from _MAZE_H and _MAZERUNNER_H to say, MAZE_H_ and MAZERUNNER_H_ respectively.

>> Would be be considered "ok" If I were to adopt a practice of always writing

It's up to you. It's not a bad idea, naturally.

>> Actually scratch that, it seems my .h files shouldn't be including any files, I should only be making forward dependencies in .h files... then I would include necessary .h files within my .cpp files.

It depends. Sometimes it's necessary, but yes, if it can be avoided then go that route. The main 'rule' for headers is that they shouldn't contain any code (eg: function definitions) except for inline functions. Some people do it anyway, but it's considered bad form.

Originally Posted by misterdanny

Ah that seems to have done the trick.

Would be be considered "ok" If I were to adopt a practice of always writing

Code:

class Xxx;

before the includes of all my header files?

Before or after, it should not matter if those header files were written properly. What matters is that if you do have it, it is before the point where you use the name.

Originally Posted by misterdanny

for instance making Maze.h look like this

The forward declaration of Maze should be within the mazegame namespace. You might still want to take heed my advice concerning _MAZE_H.

Note that if the MazeRunner class did store an object of the Maze class, or created an object in a function defined in MazeRunner.h that created an object of the Maze class, a forward declaration would not be good enough. You would need to Maze class definition, and so you would include the Maze.h header.