passing an ifstream variable

OK this is probably really simple, but for some reason when I pass through the ifstream variable inStream, the counter doesn't work...

when the counter is included in the OpenFile function it works fine...but when I place it in its proper function, and pass through inStream it doesn't. BTW elements is a private member of the class,

Code:

//FILE NAME: readfile.cpp

/*
 * definitions for class ReadFile
 */

//=====================================
ReadFile::ReadFile()
{
	elements = 0;
}


//=====================================
void ReadFile::openFile( string fileName )
{
	ifstream inStream;	

	inStream.open( fileName.c_str() ); //open user chosen file

	//check if filed open correctly, if not
	//show error message, and terminate
	if ( inStream.fail() ) {	
		cout << "Input file opening for " << fileName << " failed.  Exiting...\n\n";
		exit(-1);
	}
  
	countElements( inStream );
	
	inStream.close();
}

//=====================================
void ReadFile::countElements( ifstream inStream )
{
	string temp;	//dummy var to keep the line

	//start counting elements procedure
	if(inStream.good())
	{  
		while(!inStream.eof() && inStream.good())
		{		
			getline(inStream,temp);
			elements++;
		}
	}
	
	/*****************************************
	ERROR CHECKING - DELETE
	******************************************/
	cout << "There are " << elements << " elements." << endl;
	
	inStream.close(); //close file
}

this is the class definition

Code:

//FILE NAME: readfile.h

/*
 * File that reads in the file:
 * -the first pass, counts the number of elements in the file
 * -the second pass puts the file into the map
 * -the third pass makes the adjecency list
 */

class ReadFile
{
public:	
	ReadFile();

	//function declarations
	void openFile( string fileName );	
	void countElements( ifstream inFile );
	void readIntoMap();
	void readIntoList();

private:
	int elements; //number of elements
};

#include "readFile.cpp"

nevermind....stupid VC++!

hehe, actually it was a vc++ error, for some reason it wasn't compiling that file....go figure....it works now.