Issue overloading stream Operator/Manipulator

I've got an interesting issue trying to make an ofstream container class. For the moment, I'm trying to just pass through the << operator to the underlying ofstream object, as such

Code:

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class CfgFile
 {
  .....
  template <typename _T>
    CfgFile& operator<< (_T arg);
  .....
 };

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But this causes problems when using...

Code:

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OutputFile << endl;

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...per the following error.

Code:

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error: no match for ‘operator<<’ in ‘OutputFile << std::endl’

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However, overloading the operator manually, as follows, without templating, eliminates the error.

Code:

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CfgFile& operator<< (bool& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (short& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (unsigned short& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (int& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (unsigned int& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (long& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (unsigned long& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (float& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (double& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (long double& arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (const void* arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (char arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (signed char arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (unsigned char arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (const char* arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (const signed char* arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (const unsigned char* arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (streambuf* arg);
CfgFile& operator<< (ostream& ( *arg )(ostream&));
CfgFile& operator<< (ios& ( *arg )(ios&));
CfgFile& operator<< (ios_base& ( *arg )(ios_base&));

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Can anyone who knows templating a little better than I do shed some light?

Thanks in advance.

~ Jake

Custom operator<<'s should be nonmember friends. But I think a bigger problem is why do you need an ofstream container class? What is CfgFile supposed to do that ofstream can not do? There is probably a better solution to the problem than what you are doing now. :)

FWIW, your _T identifier runs afoul of the rules for such things:

Quote:

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7.1.3 Reserved identifiers

Each header declares or defines all identifiers listed in its associated subclause, and optionally declares or defines identifiers listed in its associated future library directions subclause and identifiers which are always reserved either for any use or for use as file scope identifiers.

• All identifiers that begin with an underscore and either an uppercase letter or another underscore are always reserved for any use.

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when calling ostream::operator << endl, it resolves to this:

Code:

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        _Myt& __CLR_OR_THIS_CALL operator<<(_Myt& (__cdecl *_Pfn)(_Myt&))
                {        // call basic_ostream manipulator
                _DEBUG_POINTER(_Pfn);
                return ((*_Pfn)(*this));
                }

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which, in this case, is equivalent to your overload:

Code:

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CfgFile& operator<< (ostream& ( *arg )(ostream&));

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