Calling custom constructor of element in array whose class has const members?

If I have an array of some class, and that class has const members, is there some way I can call a custom constructor on elements of the array?

I can't seem to reinitialize an element in foos in the example below. A thread on stack overflow mentioned the copy constructor show allow it, but I get "no match for call to '(Foo) (Foo&)'" when I try it.

Code:

---

class Foo
{
public:
  Foo();

  Foo(int x, int y);

  Foo(const Foo &foo);

private:

  const int m_x;
  const int m_y;
};

Foo::Foo() : m_x(0),
            m_y(0)
{
}

Foo::Foo(int x, int y) : m_x(x),
                        m_y(y)
{
}

Foo::Foo(const Foo &foo) : m_x(foo.m_x),
                          m_y(foo.m_y)
{
}

int main()
{
  Foo foo;
  Foo foo2(2, 3);
  Foo foos[10];

  foos[0](foo2);
  foos[0](2, 3);
  foos[0] = Foo(2,3);

  return 0;
}

---

Is there a reason these variables need to be const?

Jim

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jimblumberg

Is there a reason these variables need to be const?

Jim

---

The only time they are intended to be set is during initializing the object. Technically this is being done when the array is created, but that doesn't do much good because everything is set to the same value. The point of the array, for me, is just to reserve space in memory. I want to (and really only can, since I'm not aware of any syntax that lets me define an array where each element uses a different constructor) initialize it later.

Have you thought of using vector instead of arrays?

Jim

Um, do this:

Code:

---

Foo foo;
Foo foo2(foo);

Foo foos[10] = {
  foo, foo2,
};

---

It doesn't really have anything to do with constness, but if foos itself is const, then you must do code like the above. The const data members of a Foo object - as in a Foo array element - would be initialized by any of the constructors in the class. In the example code, the first two foos were premade, the rest will be the result of the default Foo constructor.