Question

I declared vector<test*> test1; as a private, and I’d like to create getter and setter for this. I tried,

void setV(vector<test*> test1)
{
    test1 = test1;
}

vector<test*> getV()
{
    return test1;
}

It works, but it works very strange. Is there another way to do it?

Thanks

Answer 1

Look at the assignment statement in setV:

test1 = test1;

The private variable test1 is shadowed by the function parameter of the same name, and you’re assigning that parameter to itself.

You should define setV like this:

void setV(vector<test*> const &newTest1) {
  test1 = newTest1;
}

That way you’re really assigning the parameter to the private variable, and using a const reference for the parameter avoids an unnecessary temporary copy.

---

Also, you should define getV as const, and returning a const reference:

vector<test*> const &getV() const {
  return test1;
}

That way it can be called on a const instance of your class, and it avoids making an unnecessary copy for the return value.

(You can also define another getV, without the consts, if you want the caller to be able to modify the vector of a non-const instance of your class.)