How to initialize a const char array data member with C++?

Question

I have a question related to C++ class member initialization. The following code illustrates my question:

class ABCD
{
public:
    ABCD():ObjNum(3){};
    ~ABCD() {};
     static const  unsigned char getByte[8];
     const int ObjNum;


};

const unsigned char ABCD::getByte[8] = {
    'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h'
};

int main() 
{
     ABCD test;
     cout<<test.getByte[3]<<endl;


     return 0;
}

The above codes work very well, but now if I do not set getByte[8] as static, how could I initialize the class? I have tried in this way, but failed:

class ABCD
{
public:
    ABCD():ObjNum(3),getByte('a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h')
    {

    };
    ~ABCD() {};
    const  unsigned char getByte[8];
     const int ObjNum;


};



int main() 
{
     ABCD test;
     cout<<test.getByte[3]<<endl;


     return 0;
}

The error I have obtained is as follows:

 error C2536: 'ABCD::ABCD::getByte' : cannot specify explicit initializer for arrays

I understand the reason why I got the error, but I do not know how to fix it. Any idea? Thanks!

Answer 1

In C++11 you can initialize it like this:

ABCD() : ObjNum(3), getByte{'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h'} {}

If you are going to use C++11, though, it would be better to use std::array as others have suggested in the comments. You could then define the array like:

const std::array<unsigned char, 8> getByte;

and initialize it in this way (note the double braces):

ABCD() : ObjNum(3), getByte{{'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h'}} {}