Custom struct not working in C

[fiodis]

Using VS2010, I defined a custom struct in the file vectorMath.h:

typedef struct Vector
{
	float v[3];
};

Then in main.c I have:

#include <vectorMath.h>

And, later on,

Vector position;

However, I get a compile error pointing out the line with Vector position; saying error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'position'. When I move the code for defining the struct inside main.c, above the declaration of position, I still get an error. I looked over tutorials for defining structs, but I don't see any error I'm making. Is there something fundamental I'm missing?

There's two other custom structs, defined the same way, and they work fine. It seems ridiculous, but is there a maximum limit to the number of custom structs I can have?

[Paul McKenzie]

However, I get a compile error pointing out the line with Vector position; saying error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'position'. When I move the code for defining the struct inside main.c, above the declaration of position, I still get an error. I looked over tutorials for defining structs, but I don't see any error I'm making. Is there something fundamental I'm missing?

For 'C', that struct is not declared properly. Where is the typedef name for the struct?

typedef struct Vector
{
	float v[3];
};

What you see in red is not a typedef name -- it is the tag name. The typedef name would be something like this:

typedef struct tagVector
{
	float v[3];
} Vector; // <-- here is the typedef name

Regards,

Paul McKenzie

[fiodis]

That could be my problem. What's the purpose of the tag, then? MSDN says it could be used to refer to the structure type in code later, but why can't you just use the name of the type?

Sorry about not posting a more complete program.

[Paul McKenzie]

That could be my problem. What's the purpose of the tag, then? MSDN says it could be used to refer to the structure type in code later, but why can't you just use the name of the type?

'C' and C++ are two different languages. Hopefully you're not reading the rules for C++.

For 'C', here are valid structs:

/* definition 1 */
struct Vector
{ };

/* definition 2 */
typedef struct tagVector
{ } Vector;

With 'C', the first definition requires you to declare Vector like this:

struct Vector myVector;

I had to repeat using the keyword struct to declare the myVector variable.

With the second definition, I can now do this, since the typedef was used:

Vector myVector;

Regards,

Paul McKenzie