syntax error : missing ';' before '*'

I am getting a syntax error : missing ';' before '*' in my code. I have written 6 different classes, and all of them link to at least one other class.
Here are my class names:
Vertex, VertList, Edge, EdgeList, AdjList, and Graph.


I have checked every class about 5 times for a missing semicolon (yes I checked the ones at the end of the class declaration, too)

So it is either being extremely elusive or its something else.
Is this a problem:

Vertex includes EdgeList
EdgeList includes Edge
Edge includes Vertex

Thats the only thing I can think of, is that it is somehow freaking visual studio out.
I would post my code, but I don't think you want to go through 6 classes and their definitions.

Most likely, you forgot the semicolon after your class definition. I miss it every time :P

Code:

---

classdef{
  public:
      classdef(void);
};

---

No, no, thats what I meant to say. I've checked those and every other line of code several times.

You've probably got an include cycle. With proper include guards on the classes, an include cycle means
A gets pasted inside C gets pasted inside B gets pasted inside A
where "gets pasted inside" is the intuitive way to think of what a #include really does.
Except, since the final A's include guard has already been defined, the innermost A actually has empty contents! Hence the error.

The solution is to break the include cycle by, for at least one of the classes, removing the #include and relying solely on forward-declarations in the header file. The source file can still have the include, naturally.

In general, headers should limit their includes in favor of forward-declares as much as possible, while source files should go nuts on the includes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sneakyarab

Vertex includes EdgeList
EdgeList includes Edge
Edge includes Vertex

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lindley

A gets pasted inside C gets pasted inside B gets pasted inside A

---

:thumb:

Viggy

OK that makes sense but I'm not really sure how I can do this without the includes :(

Paste one of the headers here. Maybe we can suggest a way.

OK here are the headers that are in the cycle:

#ifndef VERTEX_H
#define VERTEX_H
#include <iostream>
#include "EdgeList.h"
using namespace std;
class Vertex{
char label;
Vertex* next;
int inEdges, outEdges;
EdgeList* inEdgeP;
EdgeList* outEdgeP;
public:
Vertex();
Vertex(char x, Vertex* n);
char getLabel();
void setLabel(char x);
void setNext(Vertex* x);
Vertex* getNext();
void addIn();
void addOut();
void subIn();
void subOut();
int getIn();
int getOut();
void setInP(EdgeList* e);
void setOutP(EdgeList* e);
EdgeList* getInP();
EdgeList* getOutP();
};
#endif


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

#ifndef EDGELIST_H
#define EDGELIST_H
#include "Edge.h"
using namespace std;
class EdgeList{
Edge* start;
Edge* next;
int n;
public:
EdgeList();
EdgeList(Edge* s, Edge* n);
Edge* getNext();
void setNext(Edge* e);
int size();
Edge* getStart();
};
#endif

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

#ifndef EDGE_H
#define EDGE_H
#include "Vertex.h"
using namespace std;
class Edge{
Vertex* start;
Vertex* finish;
Edge* next;
int label;
public:
Edge();
Edge(Vertex* s, Vertex* f, int label, Edge* next);
void setStart(Vertex* s);
Vertex* getStart();
void setFinish(Vertex* f);
Vertex* getFinish();
void setLabel(int x);
int getLabel();
Edge* getNext();
void setNext(Edge* e);
};
#endif

Next time, code tags.

Fortunately for you, your design lends itself to solving this easily. Simply replace the relevant

Code:

---

#include "Filename.h"

---

with

Code:

---

class Filename;

---

in all three files.

It didnt seem to like that either, I switched around using class and include between all the files and couldnt get it working right at all. I changed the Edge class to just have character values where the vertexes were, and have been changing code accordingly. Im down from 200+ errors to less than 10, fixable errors now.

I noticed that you have using namespace std; in your header files, that can cause problems as well. using namespace whatever; should only be in your implementation files.

Similarly, you have #include <iostream> in your Vertex.h but do not make use of it.