Question

For a code like this:

class foo {
  protected:
    int a;
  public:
    class bar {
      public:
        int getA() {return a;}   // ERROR
    };
    foo()
      : a (p->param)
};

I get this error:

 invalid use of non-static data member 'foo::a'

currently the variable a is initialized in the constructor of foo.

if I make it static, then it says:

 error: 'int foo::a' is a static data member; it can only be initialized at its definition

However I want to pass a value to a in the constructor.
What is the solution then?

Answer 1

In C++, unlike (say) Java, an instance of a nested class doesn’t intrinsically belong to any instance of the enclosing class. So bar::getA doesn’t have any specific instance of foo whose a it can be returning. I’m guessing that what you want is something like:

    class bar {
      private:
        foo * const owner;
      public:
        bar(foo & owner) : owner(&owner) { }
        int getA() {return owner->a;}
    };

But even for this you may have to make some changes, because in versions of C++ before C++11, unlike (again, say) Java, a nested class has no special access to its enclosing class, so it can’t see the protected member a. This will depend on your compiler version. (Hat-tip to Ken Wayne VanderLinde for pointing out that C++11 has changed this.)