Question

I have a question about an error I’m getting when trying to compile a card game I am making.
I have a class named Player which takes a const char* as a parameter for it’s constructor.
I am trying to create 4 instances of Player in a struct called GameState however it is giving me this error.

In file included from testfile.cc:5:0:
gamestate.h:22:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:22:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:23:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:23:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:24:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:24:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:25:18: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:25:18: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
In file included from player.cc:3:0:
gamestate.h:22:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:22:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:23:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:23:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:24:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:24:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:25:18: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:25:18: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
In file included from game_functions.cc:3:0:
gamestate.h:22:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:22:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:23:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:23:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:24:17: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:24:17: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant
gamestate.h:25:18: error: expected identifier before string constant
gamestate.h:25:18: error: expected â,â or â...â before string constant

The code for GameState is

#ifndef __GAMESTATE_H__
#define __GAMESTATE_H__

#include <gtk/gtk.h>
#include "deck.h"
#include "player.h"
#include "trick.h"

using namespace std;

struct GameState
{
    GtkWidget *ai1_hand_image;
    GtkWidget *ai2_hand_image;
    GtkWidget *ai3_hand_image;
    GtkWidget *play_area;
    GtkWidget *info_label;
    GtkWidget *pass_button;
    GtkWidget *play_card_button;
    GtkWidget *player_hand;

    Player ai1( "ai1" );
    Player ai2( "ai2" );
    Player ai3( "ai3" );
    Player user( "user" );
    Deck deck();
    Trick current_trick;
    int trick_num;
    bool hearts_broken;
};

#endif

The header file for Player is

#ifndef __PLAYER_H__
#define __PLAYER_H__

class GameState;

#include <vector>
#include "card.h"

using namespace std;

class Player
{
    public:
    Player( const char *_name );
    void add_to_hand( Card _card);
    void remove_from_hand( Card _card );
    bool hand_contains( Card _card );
    void set_valid_cards( GameState *game_state );
    vector < Card > get_valid_cards();
    const char *get_name();
    private:
    const char *name;
    vector < Card > hand;
    vector < Card > valid_cards;
};
#endif

However when I make them Pointers in the struct it works fine. Also creating instances of Player outside of GameState also works.

This works:

Player *ai1;
Player *ai2;
Player *ai3;
Player *user;

and this when it is in testfile.cc:

Player user( "user" );

Can anyone tell me why I get those errors when I create them inside GameState.
Thanks alot guys!

Answer 1

You can’t declare objects inside a class (or struct) definition. You have to do it in a function.

Either use a special function that initializes the objects, or better yet have a constructor do it (in C++ a struct is just a special class where all members are public by default):

struct GameState
{
    Gamestate()
        : ai1( "ai1" ), ai2( "ai2" ), ai3( "ai3" ), user( "user" ), deck()
        { }

    // The other fields...

    Player ai1;
    Player ai2;
    Player ai3;
    Player ai4;
    Player user;
    Deck deck;
};