Accessing private nested class

Question

I made this simple class, which still is playing with my mind:

class A {
private:
    class B {};

public:
    B getB() {
        return B();
    };
};

As of C++03, this class compiles fine, but there is just no nice looking way to assign the result of getB() to an lvalue, in the sense that:

A::B b = A().getB();

Does not compile.

I got it by using an intermediate template, in this fashion:

template <typename T>
struct HideType {
    typedef T type;
};

HideType<A::B>::type b = A().getB();

But this looks just terrible, for this simple task of getting an A::B lvalue variable.

This is not true anymore as of C++11, or at least it is not with gcc. This code is still not valid:

A::B b = A().getB();

But this is valid:

auto b = A().getB();

Is there a loophole in the standard respect to this?

Answer 1

From Standard, Clause 11 (Member access control):

A member of a class can be
— private; that is, its name can be used only by members and friends of the class in which it is declared.
— protected; that is, its name can be used only by members and friends of the class in which it is declared, by classes derived from that class, and by their friends (see 11.4).
— public; that is, its name can be used anywhere without access restriction.

So access control is applied to names.

In

auto b = A().getB();

you don't use private names, therefore it's legal, according to Standard