Under which compiler is this declaration valid?

Question

I've been trying to use this declaration but whether on Visual Studio 2012 or CodeBlocks (with GCC) it never builds.

(from http://netghost.narod.ru/gff2/graphics/summary/fli.htm)

typedef struct _ColormapChunk
{
  CHUNKHEADER Header;        /* Header for this chunk */
  WORD NumberOfElements;     /* Number of color elements in map */
  struct _ColorElement       /* Color element (one per NumberOfElements) */
  {
   BYTE SkipCount;           /* Color index skip count */
   BYTE ColorCount;          /* Number of colors in this element */
   struct _ColorComponent    /* Color component (one /'ColorCount') */
   {
    BYTE Red;                /* Red component color */
    BYTE Green;              /* Green component color */
    BYTE Blue;               /* Blue component color */
   } ColorComponents[ColorCount];
  } ColorElements[NumberOfElements];
} COLORMAPCHUNK;

Visual Studio : error C2327: '_ColormapChunk::_ColorElement::ColorCount' : is not a type name, static, or enumerator

CodeBlocks : error: invalid use of non-static data member '_ColormapChunk::_ColorElement::ColorCount'

On these questions it is explained that is possible under C++ 11 :

Why can't I initialize non-const static member or static array in class?

Can you use the sizeof one member when declaring another member?

So on CodeBlocks I've ticked the option :

Have g++ follow the C++11 ISO language standard [-std=c++11]

On VS I couldn't find such option, on CodeBlocks it's still not compiling.

Is this declaration usable as such or does it need some changes ? If so, which ones ?

Answer 1

That document is a C-like syntax describing the format of a file. It is deliberately not compilable because of the "variable-length" fields.