Question

This question relates very closely to Can a nested C++ class inherit its enclosing class?

My situation is complicated with templates which seemingly mean that the previous answer no longer works.

class Animal
{
    template <typename T>
    class Bear : public Animal
    {
        // …
    };

    template <typename T>
    class Giraffe : public Animal
    {
        // …
    };
};

// example usage

struct MyAnimal : Animal::Bear<Animal> { };

MyAnimal a;

Can something like this be made to work?

Answer 1

The other answer works, you just need to know the syntax for it:

class Animal
{
    template <typename T>
    class Bear;

    template <typename T>
    class Giraffe;
};

template <typename T>
class Animal::Bear : public Animal
{
    ....
};

template <typename T>
class Animal::Giraffe : public Animal
{
    ....
};