error: expected class-name before ‘{’ token

Question

I know there are a couple of similar questions(circular include) out stackoverflow and other websites. But I still can't figure it out and no solutions pop out. So I would like to post my specific one.

I have a Event class who has 2 and actually more subclass, which are Arrival and Landing. The compiler(g++) complains:

g++ -c -Wall -g -DDEBUG Event.cpp -o Event.o
In file included from Event.h:15,
                 from Event.cpp:8:
Landing.h:13: error: expected class-name before ‘{’ token
make: *** [Event.o] Error 1

People said that it's a circular include. The 3 header files(Event.h Arrival.h Landing.h) are as follows:

the Event.h:

#ifndef EVENT_H_
#define EVENT_H_

#include "common.h"
#include "Item.h"
#include "Flight.h"

#include "Landing.h"

class Arrival;

class Event : public Item {
public:
    Event(Flight* flight, int time);
    virtual ~Event();

    virtual void occur() = 0;
    virtual string extraInfo() = 0; // extra info for each concrete event

    // @implement
    int compareTo(Comparable* b);
    void print();

protected:
    /************** this is why I wanna include Landing.h *******************/
    Landing* createNewLanding(Arrival* arrival); // return a Landing obj based on arrival's info

private:
    Flight* flight;
    int time; // when this event occurs

};

#endif /* EVENT_H_ */

Arrival.h:

#ifndef ARRIVAL_H_
#define ARRIVAL_H_

#include "Event.h"

class Arrival: public Event {
public:
    Arrival(Flight* flight, int time);
    virtual ~Arrival();

    void occur();
    string extraInfo();
};

#endif /* ARRIVAL_H_ */

Landing.h

#ifndef LANDING_H_
#define LANDING_H_

#include "Event.h"

class Landing: public Event {/************** g++ complains here ****************/
public:
    static const int PERMISSION_TIME;

    Landing(Flight* flight, int time);
    virtual ~Landing();

    void occur();
    string extraInfo();
};

#endif /* LANDING_H_ */

UPDATE:

I included Landing.h due to Landing's constructor is called in the Event::createNewLanding method:

Landing* Event::createNewLanding(Arrival* arrival) {
    return new Landing(flight, time + Landing::PERMISSION_TIME);
}

Answer 1

This should be a comment, but comments don't allow multi-line code.

Here's what's happening:

in Event.cpp

#include "Event.h"

preprocessor starts processing Event.h

#ifndef EVENT_H_

it isn't defined yet, so keep going

#define EVENT_H_
#include "common.h"

common.h gets processed ok

#include "Item.h"

Item.h gets processed ok

#include "Flight.h"

Flight.h gets processed ok

#include "Landing.h"

preprocessor starts processing Landing.h

#ifndef LANDING_H_

not defined yet, keep going

#define LANDING_H_

#include "Event.h"

preprocessor starts processing Event.h

#ifndef EVENT_H_

This IS defined already, the whole rest of the file gets skipped. Continuing with Landing.h

class Landing: public Event {

The preprocessor doesn't care about this, but the compiler goes "WTH is Event? I haven't heard about Event yet."

Answer 2

Replace

#include "Landing.h"

with

class Landing;

If you still get errors, also post Item.h, Flight.h and common.h

EDIT: In response to comment.

You will need to e.g. #include "Landing.h" from Event.cpp in order to actually use the class. You just cannot include it from Event.h

Answer 3

If you forward-declare Flight and Landing in Event.h, then you should be fixed.

Remember to #include "Flight.h" and #include "Landing.h" in your implementation file for Event.

The general rule of thumb is: if you derive from it, or compose from it, or use it by value, the compiler must know its full definition at the time of declaration. If you compose from a pointer-to-it, the compiler will know how big a pointer is. Similarly, if you pass a reference to it, the compiler will know how big the reference is, too.

Answer 4

I know it is a bit late to answer this question, but it is the first entry in google, so I think it is worth to answer it.

The problem is not a coding problem, it is an architecture problem.

You have created an interface class Event: public Item to define the methods which all events should implement. Then you have defined two types of events which inherits from class Event: public Item; Arrival and Landing and then, you have added a method Landing* createNewLanding(Arrival* arrival); from the landing functionality in the class Event: public Item interface. You should move this method to the class Landing: public Event class because it only has sense for a landing. class Landing: public Event and class Arrival: public Event class should know class Event: public Item but event should not know class Landing: public Event nor class Arrival: public Event.

I hope this helps, regards, Alberto