Smart unique pointer as a member variable

Question

I have a class as:

class LargeObject
{
  public:
    LargeObject();
    void DoSomething();
  private:
    std::unique_ptr<Thing> pThing;
};

Then when I want to create the pointer in the constructor

LargeObject()
{
  pThing(new Thing()); //This does not work.
}

I want to use the member variable throughout the code. How to do that?

How would you initialize `pThing` if it was, say, an `int`? Try that first. When you succeed, try the `unique_ptr`. — juanchopanza, Sep 10 '14 at 14:47
Although the linked duplicate question concerns `shared_ptr`s, `unique_ptr` can be initialized from a pointer to `Thing` the same way using constructor initialization lists. Other member variables can also be initialized in initialization lists, see [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14689227/initializer-list-vs-initialization-method) and [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1242830/constructor-initialization-list-evaluation-order). — In silico, Sep 10 '14 at 14:52

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 10 '14 at 14:50

1

I think initialization should be in constructor's initialization list, that's the place where constructors should be invoked from another constructor:

LargeObject()
:pThing(new Thing){}

answered Sep 10 '14 at 14:50

GingerPlusPlus

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It can be, here and elsewhere it says use "new" http://www.umich.edu/~eecs381/handouts/C++11_smart_ptrs.pdf like a regular pointer. – user1876942 Sep 10 '14 at 14:51

Smart unique pointer as a member variable

1 Answers1