Having trouble with llinker and Undefined reference errors

Im having difficulty compiling this program. I wrote a .h file that includes the class, constructor, mutator, and accessor functions-- a .cpp implementation file that includes the definitions of the functions, and the main .cpp program that tries to utilitze these functions. I've been trying to debug and have not found a solution. I broke down the problem into a simple task just to see if it will work but i still receive the linker error. The final program will have a derived class and its implementation file but i want to try to work in out in sections. In this example, im just trying to get it to work so im just using a single character for the employee name and just integers for the date ,not trying to get the whole string.Here's what i have as of yet:

employee.h

Code:

#ifndef EMPLOYEE_H
#define EMPLOYEE_H

class Employee
{
      private:
              char EmployeeName;// To hold the employee name
              int EmployeeID;// To hold the employee ID
              int HireDate;// To hold the employee hire date
      public:
             // constructor 1
             Employee();
             // constructor 2
             Employee(char,int,int);
             //Mutator function
             void setName(char);
             void setID(int);
             void setDate(int);
             //Accessor function
             const char GetName() const
             {return EmployeeName;}
             int GetID() const
             {return EmployeeID;}
             int GetDate() const
             {return HireDate;}
             };
#endif

employee.cpp(implementation file that has the function definitions)

Code:

#include "Employee.h"
#include<iostream>
#include<cstring>
using namespace std;

// The constructor function definition
Employee::Employee()
{
    EmployeeName = '\0';
    EmployeeID = 0;
    HireDate = 0;
 }

Employee::Employee(char n, int i,int d)
{
    strcpy(EmployeeName, n);
    EmployeeID = i;
    HireDate = d;
}
//Mutator Definitions
void Employee::setName(char n)
{
    strcpy(EmployeeName,n);
}
//------------
 void Employee::setID(int i)
{
    EmployeeID = i;
}
 //-----------
 void Employee::setDate(int d)
 {
    HireDate = d;
}

mainprogram.cpp (The main program file)

Code:

#include<iostream>
#include<cstring>
#include "Employee.h"
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int i,d;
char n;
cout<< "enter a letter";
cin >> n;
cout << "enter your ID";
cin >> i;
cout <<"enter your date";
cin >> d;

Employee pay(n,i,d);
cout << pay.GetID();

system("pause");
return 0;
}

I've only started learning the basics of c++ since last fall. Its becoming more challenging as i progress and would very much appreciate any assistance from the community. Thank you

it looks good. Have you compiled and run it? what are the specific errors that you encountered?

yea, everytime i try to compile i get this error

Linker error- undefined reference to 'Employee::Employee(char,int,int)'
Id returned 1 exit status

Then look at how your ide compile multiple files and linking.

Beyond that, there is the error due to the wrong usage of strcpy. Neither employeename or 'n' is char* which is the arguments type of strcpy. And Employee is not even a C-string so there is no point using strcpy. Just use a simple assignment for your example.

Code:

n = EmployeeName;

Originally Posted by odaness

yea, everytime i try to compile i get this error

Then your program isn't being linked against employee.cpp. If you're compiling from the command line, you should be doing something like:

Code:

g++ mainprogram.cpp employee.cpp

but if you're doing this:

Code:

g++ mainprogram.cpp

then you should expect to get that linker error.

@hunter thanks for pointing out about the strcpy, Ill change that.
@mozza314, hey thanks for the help with the sort functions from before. It works like a charm now. Im using the Bloodshed Dev c++ compiler, no linux. When i compile, i click on an icon in the Dev c++ application where i write the code and it attempts to compile it but it gives me a linker error with

Linker error- undefined reference to 'Employee::Employee(char,int,int)'
Id returned 1 exit status

You could add a

Code:

#include "employee.cpp"

at the end of the header file(or in the main file) to get around this..!
but (I don't know why), that is considered a bad practice. <- (## Could anyone of you clarify about it, please ?)

Originally Posted by odaness

Im using the Bloodshed Dev c++ compiler, no linux. When i compile, i click on an icon in the Dev c++ application where i write the code and it attempts to compile it but it gives me a linker error with

Perhaps you forgot to add this source file to the Dev-C++ project.

Originally Posted by manasij7479

at the end of the header file(or in the main file) to get around this..!
but (I don't know why), that is considered a bad practice. <- (## Could anyone of you clarify about it, please ?)

If you #include "employee.cpp" in a header, then the various functions defined in that source file would be defined each time the header is included, breaking the one definition rule. If you place the include in another source file, that's fine, except that then someone who comes along and decides to compile both source files and link them would get a multiple definition error.

I think i have the proper head files in place...typically just having --#include "Employee.h"--should make it work right..or is there something else im missing...I shouldn't have to download anything extra for the dev c++ compiler.

I would say you need to drop the char (they only hold a single character!) and use std::string.
Your indentation could also be improved somewhat.
Also, know that Dev-C++ is somewhat outdated. If at all possible, you should use a newer IDE/compiler (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik....php?title=IDE).

so pretty much the code i've written is not causing the linker error:

Linker error- undefined reference to 'Employee::Employee(char,int,int)'

rather its dev c++ that im using is whats not working properly?

> rather its dev c++ that im using is whats not working properly?
Well, your inability to set up a project containing more than one source file.

At a rough guess, it would be something like project->settings->source->add source
Anyway, somewhere down there, you'll find "mainprogram.cpp", so add your other files to that list.

> but (I don't know why), that is considered a bad practice. <- (## Could anyone of you clarify about it, please ?)
Unless you are very careful, you run the risk of moving from "missing definition" to "multiple definition" because you somehow managed to include the same source file twice.
The other main reason is that you end up recompiling ALL the code ALL the time, even when you make only trivial changes.

A well defined IDE project (or more traditional makefile) would only recompile the changed source file, then relink the executable.

It would be a quick fix for a small number of files, but as your projects grow into 10's or 1000's of files, #including source code becomes totally unmanageable.

There is one exception to this however, and that is where your .cpp file contains ONLY inline functions and/or template functions. But you might be better off placing such things in .h files, even though they contain "source code".
Edit: oh, now I've seen laserlight's answer as well - oh well.

multiple definitions

Can't preprocessor guards be put to avoid that ?..although I'd admit that I could not set them up precisely..and every time I tried, I ended up deleting them..!

Originally Posted by manasij7479

Can't preprocessor guards be put to avoid that ?

No, because the multiple definitions are across translation units. Your header inclusion guards only prevent those definitions from happening more than once in the same translation unit.

What is a translation unit ?