Iterator for vector of pointers not dereferencing correctly

Question

Here is my issue:

I have a std::vector<AguiWidgetBase*> which is used to keep track of child controls.

I have these two functions to return iterators:

std::vector<AguiWidgetBase*>::const_iterator AguiWidgetBase::getChildBeginIterator() const
{
    return children.begin();
}

std::vector<AguiWidgetBase*>::const_iterator AguiWidgetBase::getChildEndIterator() const
{
    return children.end();
}

I then use it like this:

for(std::vector<AguiWidgetBase*>::const_iterator it = box->getChildBeginIterator(); 
    it != box->getChildEndIterator(); ++it)
{
    it->setText("Hello World");
}

and I get these errors:

Error   3   error C2039: 'setText' : is not a member of 'std::_Vector_const_iterator<_Ty,_Alloc>'   c:\users\josh\documents\visual studio 2008\projects\agui\alleg_5\main.cpp   112
Error   2   error C2839: invalid return type 'AguiWidgetBase *const *' for overloaded 'operator ->' c:\users\josh\documents\visual studio 2008\projects\agui\alleg_5\main.cpp   112

Why is it giving me these errors?

Thanks

Answer 1

Because an iterator acts like a pointer, and in this case a pointer to a pointer.

You'd need:

(*it)->setText("Hello World"); // dereference iterator, dereference pointer

Answer 2

Is there a way I can change my iterators so that it-> works?

Not directly, but you could do something like:

for(std::vector<AguiWidgetBase*>::const_iterator it = box->getChildBeginIterator(); 
    it != box->getChildEndIterator(); ++it)
{
    AguiWidgetBase* p = *it;

    p->setText("Hello World");
}