Nested templates with dependent scope
What is dependent scope and what is the meaning of typename in the context of the following error?
$ make
g++ -std=gnu++0x main.cpp
main.cpp:18:10: error: need 'typename' before 'ptrModel<std::vector<Data> >::Type' because 'ptrModel<std::vector<Data> >' is a dependent scope
make: *** [all] Error 1
/*
* main.cpp
*/
#include <vector>
#include <memory>
template<typename T>
struct ptrModel
{
typedef std::unique_ptr<T> Type;
};
template<typename Data>
struct ptrType
{
typedef ptrModel< std::vector<Data> >::Type Type;
};
int main()
{
return 0;
}
The compiler told you exactly what to do. Write typename
before ptrModel<std::vector<Data> >::Type
, like so:
typedef typename ptrModel<std::vector<Data> >::Type Type;
The reason for this requirement is that the compiler doesn't at this point know whether ptrModel<std::vector<Data> >::Type
describes a member variable or a nested type. It can't even figure that out by looking at the definition of ptrModel
because there might be a specialization of ptrModel
for std::vector<Data>
somewhere else in the program that it hasn't gotten to yet which changes which of these things ::Type
refers to. So you need to tell it explicitly.
The name ptrModel<std::vector<Data> >::Type
has a "dependent scope" because it is in a scope that depends on the instantiation of a template.