Question

I have two classes, one inherited from the other. When I compile, I get the following errors:

Entity.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "public: __thiscall Utility::Parsables::Base::Base(void)" (??0Base@Parsables@Utility@@QAE@XZ) referenced in function "public: __thiscall Utility::Parsables::Entity::Entity(void)" (??0Entity@Parsables@Utility@@QAE@XZ)

Entity.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "public: virtual __thiscall Utility::Parsables::Base::~Base(void)" (??1Base@Parsables@Utility@@UAE@XZ) referenced in function "public: virtual __thiscall Utility::Parsables::Entity::~Entity(void)" (??1Entity@Parsables@Utility@@UAE@XZ)

D:\Programming\Projects\Caffeine\Debug\Caffeine.exe : fatal error LNK1120: 2 unresolved externals

I really can’t figure out what’s going on.. can anyone see what I’m doing wrong? I’m using Visual C++ Express 2008. Here are the files..

"include/Utility/Parsables/Base.hpp"

#ifndef CAFFEINE_UTILITY_PARSABLES_BASE_HPP
#define CAFFEINE_UTILITY_PARSABLES_BASE_HPP

namespace Utility
{
 namespace Parsables
 {
  class Base
  {
  public:
   Base( void );
   virtual ~Base( void );
  };
 }
}

#endif //CAFFEINE_UTILITY_PARSABLES_BASE_HPP

"src/Utility/Parsables/Base.cpp"

#include "Utility/Parsables/Base.hpp"

namespace Utility
{
 namespace Parsables
 {
  Base::Base( void )
  {
  }

  Base::~Base( void )
  {
  }
 }
}

"include/Utility/Parsables/Entity.hpp"

#ifndef CAFFEINE_UTILITY_PARSABLES_ENTITY_HPP
#define CAFFEINE_UTILITY_PARSABLES_ENTITY_HPP

#include "Utility/Parsables/Base.hpp"

namespace Utility
{
 namespace Parsables
 {
  class Entity : public Base
  {
  public:
   Entity( void );
   virtual ~Entity( void );
  };
 }
}

#endif //CAFFEINE_UTILITY_PARSABLES_ENTITY_HPP

"src/Utility/Parsables/Entity.cpp"

#include "Utility/Parsables/Entity.hpp"

namespace Utility
{
 namespace Parsables
 {
  Entity::Entity( void )
  {
  }

  Entity::~Entity( void )
  {
  }
 }
}

Answer 1

The relevant bit is this:

unresolved external symbol "public: __thiscall Utility::Parsables::Base::Base(void)"

You need to provide a definition for Base::Base and Base::~Base. A declaration is not good enough. Even if you have nothing to do in either function, you need to leave an empty function body, because C++ actually requires the function to exist. C++ puts things like virtual table maintenance inside your constructors and destructors, so they must be defined even if you don’t need to do anything there — C++ has to do things in there.

Are you sure Base.cpp is being included in the build?