Thread: Linking files

  1. #1
    Back after 2 years Panopticon's Avatar
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    Linking files

    How do you link files in MSVC++6? (i.e. I want to keep certain class declarations separate from main() for size management purposes) and do i have to declare objects, functions and variables extern if they are defined in a separate file? if so, how?
    thanks in advance
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    and do i have to declare objects, functions and variables extern if they are defined in a separate file? if so, how?
    I wondered this same thing a little while back.

    Here's how it works (just a dumb example):

    SomeHeader.H
    Code:
    void myFunction()
    {
    cout << "\nHello World!";
    }
    MySourceFile.CPP
    Code:
    #include <iostream.h>
    #include "SomeHeader.h"
    
    void myFunction();
    
    int main()
    {
    myFunction;
    return 0;
    }
    See the bold-italic text in the source code? It wont work without that. Even though the function is already defined in a header file which is included in the build, your program wont know what myFunction() is, or what it does. So, you must put a function prototype in there before you call it, so that your program knows what to expect when it calls the function (Hmm... was that a good way to word it?)


    Variables and other things work similarly.

    If you initialize a variable in a header file, you must write it's type into any other files that it'll be used in:

    Header1.H
    Code:
    int x = 5;
    Then, (for example) if you want to print out x's value in some other header file, you'd do the following:

    Header2.H
    Code:
    int x ;
    cout << x;
    Once again, you must include the int x; line in Header2.H, or else when you try to display x, your program wont know what/where to look for.

    Hope that helps
    Last edited by Krak; 01-14-2003 at 08:16 PM.

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