Question

In trying to compile this program:

namespace MyNamespace {
    template<typename T>
    class Test {
    public:
        class Inner {
            int x;
            public:
                    Inner() : x(0) { }
            friend Inner& operator++(Inner& rhs);
        };

        Inner i;
    };
}

template<typename T>
typename MyNamespace::Test<T>::Inner& operator++(typename MyNamespace::Test<T>::Inner& rhs) {
    rhs = MyNamespace::Test<T>::Inner(rhs.x + 1);

    return rhs;
}

int main() {
    MyNamespace::Test<int> t;
    MyNamespace::Test<int>::Inner i = t.i;
    ++i;
}

I get the error

unresolved external symbol “class MyNamespace::Test::Inner & __cdecl MyNamespace::operator++(class MyNamespace::Test::Inner &)” (??EMyNamespace@@YAAAVInner@?$Test@H@0@AAV120@@Z) referenced in function _main

Which is weird because that’s the exact signature of the non-member friend function operator++ that I defined. How do I fix this? And I do not have the option of including in as a member function because I need to change the object that the operand is referring to without using a copy constructor (because there is no copy constructor).

---

Update:

If I add template<typename T> above the friend Inner&..., I get the errors

could not deduce template argument for 'T' 1>         
main.cpp(21) : see declaration of 'operator
++' 
error C2783:
'MyNamespace::Test<T>::Inner &MyNamespace::operator++(MyNamespace::Test<T>::Inner &)' : could not deduce template
argument for 'T' with
[
              T=int
]          
main.cpp(13) : see declaration of
'MyNamespace::operator ++' 
main.cpp(30): error C2675: unary '++' : 'MyNamespace::Test<T>::Inner' does not define this operator or a
conversion to a type acceptable to the predefined operator

with
[
              T=int
]

Answer 1

Why do you think it can’t be a member function? An instance member should work just fine:

namespace MyNamespace
{
    template<typename T>
    class Test
    {
    public:
        class Inner
        {
            int x;
        public:
            Inner& operator++( void ) { ++x; return *this; }
        };

        Inner i;
    };
}

This doesn’t require a copy constructor.

Defining a friend should work too, as long as the definition is with the friend declaration:

namespace MyNamespace
{
    template<typename T>
    class Test
    {
    public:
        class Inner
        {
            int x;
        public:
            friend Inner& operator++( Inner& operand ) { ++operand.x; return operand; }
        };

        Inner i;
    };
}

The friend function will be placed at namespace scope, according to [class.friend]