Complete scrub: Issues with Class field with Pointer

[pillage]

I am doing a project for school and no I am not trying to cheat. I am genuinely trying to learn programming and have been sitting here going insane for over 8 hours already over something I know must be completely obvious.

I am trying to create a base class Player with several data fields, one being a pointer to an object of type Weapon - the class which derives from Player

My main issue I am assuming is how I've gone about with my Player constructor.
If not, then I'll need to review the rest of my code...

Player::Player( string pn, int ty, int lev, int str,
int wty, int wdur, int wlevReq)
: weapon1(wty, wdur, wlevReq)
{
setPlayerName(pn);
setType(ty);
setLevel(lev);
setStrength(str);
weapon1 = new Weapon(wty, wdur, wlevReq)
}

Remembering weapon1 is a pointer to an object, what's wrong here?? Also, I honestly just do not know where to declare the object weapon1 is pointing to. I was hoping it'd be taken care of with " weapon1 = new Weapon( . . . " in the Player constructor.

[LB]

Why does Weapon derive from Player? Most likely you are getting infinite recursion because the player constructor constructs a weapon, which has to construct a player, and so on.

[pillage]

class Player
{
	public:

	//  Constructor ***********************************
	//  Uses default parameters or arguments passed
	//  Default arguments =		"No Name"-pn, 1-ty, 1-lev, 25-str, 
	//							1-wty, 25-wdur, 1-wlevReq
	//  Precondition - None
	//  Postcondition - object is initialized with valid values
		Player(string pn = "No Name", int ty = 1, int lev = 1, int str = 25, 
				int wty = 1, int wdur = 25, int wlevReq = 1);
	
	// Copy Constructor ******************************
	// Precondition - None
	// Postcondition - None
		Player(const Player& source);

	// Overloaded Assignment *************************
	// Precondition - None
	// Postcondition - None
		Player& operator=(const Player& source);


	//  Destructor ***********************************
	//  Precondition - None
	//  Postcondition - None
		~Player();

	//	Mutator Functions ***************************
        // . . .
	//	Accessor Functions **************************
        // . . .

	private:
		Weapon * weapon1;		// default = 1, 25, 1
		string playerName;		// default = "No Name"
		int type;				// default = 1 (1, 2, 3, 4)
		int level;				// default = 1
		int strength;			// default = 25
};


class Weapon
{
	public:

	//  Constructor **************************************
	//  Uses default parameters or arguments passed
	//  Default arguments = 1-ty, 25-dur, 1-levReq
	//  Precondition - None
	//  Postcondition - object is initialized with valid values
		Weapon(int ty, int dur, int levReq)
		{
			setType(ty);
			setDurability(dur);
			setLevelRequired(levReq);

	//Destructor ***************************************
	//  Precondition - None
	//  Postcondition - None
		~Weapon();
	
	//	Mutator Functions *******************************
        // . . . 
	//	Accessor Functions ******************************
        // . . . 

	private:

		int type;					// valid values = 1, 2, 3, 4
		int durability;				// default = 25
		int levelRequired;			// default = 1 (>= 1 && <= 100)
};

Note: this code is in both header and implementation files, I just merged them real quick to show you the code

[LB]

It looks like your weapon class is non-polymorphic, so why are you using pointers at all?

[pillage]

Because I was told to. Don't really have an option on that.

How would I get my weapon class to be polymorphic and to actually work?

[LB]

Do you know what polymorphism is? Do you even have to use it here?

[pillage]

I believe the assignment is going to be building up as the semester progresses. As of right now I just need to use a pointer to a Weapon object instead of an actual object.

The rest of the assignment is a game simulation that I haven't done a lick of coding forbecause I'm having so many issues with this!

[nvrmnd]

I thought Weapon derives from player ?

if i were to make the constuctor for Player, i would do it :

Player ( string pn = "No Name", int ty = 1, int lev = 1, int str = 25, 
               int wty = 1, int wdur = 25, int wlevReq = 1)
    : playerName(pn), type(ty), level(lev), strength(str), weapon1(new Weapon(wty, wdur, wlevReq))
{ }

[LB]

It makes no sense for Weapon to derive from Player.

Back to the original post, I have to ask, what is wrong here? I certainly can't tell what's wrong, so why do you think there is something wrong?

[pillage]

I'm getting 28 different errors, that's how I know lmao. All surrounding my pointer to the Weapon object.


Number 1 error is:

Error 1 error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '*'

they tell me the error lies here:

private:

		Weapon *pWeapon;		// default = 1, 25, 1
		string playerName;		// default = "No Name"
		int type;				// default = 1 (1, 2, 3, 4)
		int level;				// default = 1
		int strength;			// default = 25 

*EDIT*
for that same line of code they also give me the error

Error 2 error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++

[Daleth]

It looks like your weapon class is non-polymorphic, so why are you using pointers at all?

There is no inheritance here. Classes don't have to be polymorphic to use pointers.

Edit: I say there is no inheritance based on the code provided. I agree that saying Weapon is a Player makes little sense.

Player::Player( string pn, int ty, int lev, int str, 
 int wty, int wdur, int wlevReq)
 : weapon1(wty, wdur, wlevReq)
 {
 setPlayerName(pn);
 setType(ty);
 setLevel(lev);
 setStrength(str);
 weapon1 = new Weapon(wty, wdur, wlevReq)
 }

Because weapon1 is a pointer, line 3 is invalid. You can, however, do this:

Player::Player( string pn, int ty, int lev, int str, 
 int wty, int wdur, int wlevReq)
 : weapon1(new Weapon(wty, wdur, wlevReq))
 , name(pn)
 , type(ty)
 , level(lev)
 , strength(str)
)
 {}

Your syntax error may come from Player not knowing what Weapon is. Remember a compiler reads top to bottom and to include the appropriate headers.

[pillage]

Thanks a lot. I wasn't sure how to initialize it with a pointer

Now I only have 2 errors in my program, both being from

private:

		Weapon *pWeapon;		// default = 1, 25, 1
		string playerName;		// default = "No Name"
		int type;				// default = 1 (1, 2, 3, 4)
		int level;				// default = 1
		int strength;			// default = 25  

[keskiverto]

What errors? There is nothing syntactically wrong in that block, except that we don't know whether your compiler sees at this point the definitions of types "Weapon" and "string".

A forward declaration is enough for class Weapon (unless it is template-based), because compiler only needs to know the size of a pointer (which are all of same known size), but the "string" has to be defined in order to know how much memory is reserved for member variable 'playerName'.