C++ protected access

Question

is there anyway i can access a protected variable in a class without inheritance.

class ClassA{
  protected:
    int varA; 
};

class ClassB{
  protected:
    ClassA objectA;

};


ClassB theMainObject;

I would like to access varA through theMainObject.

Answer 1

You could make classB friend of classA

class ClassA{
  protected:
    int varA; 

  friend ClassB;
}

but using a accessors would probably be better since you are not coupling the classes together.

class ClassA{
  int getA() { return varA;}
  void setA(int a) { varA = a; }
  protected:
    int varA; 
}