C++ Class property not recognised by other class (headers incl., public)

Question

I have two classes each in Header files called "Map" and "Character". "Map" has a class called "map" and "Character" has a class called "character". Class "map" inherits class "character", and both have the header file of the other included. In one of the methods of class "map", I use a property member from class "character", and that works fine. However, when I try to use a "map" property member in class "character" it does not work. This happens regardless of whether or not "map" inherits "character".

This is class map which works fine:

#pragma once
#include <iostream>
#include "Character.h"
#include "AI.h"

using namespace std;

class map: public character
{
public:
static const int mapRow = 30; //-- all maps are the same size
static const int mapColumn = 116;
char marr[mapRow][mapColumn];

map()
{
    for (int i = 0; i<mapRow; i++)
    {
        for (int j = 0; j<mapColumn; j++)
        {
                marr[i][j] = ' ';//set whole array to blank
        }
    }
}

void display(void);
void level1(void);
void level2(void);
void level3(void);
void treeBlueprint(int);
};
//displays the map

void map::display(void)
{
    //This displays the level
    for (int i = 0; i<mapRow; i++)
    {
        for (int j = 0; j<mapColumn; j++)
        {
        cout << marr[i][j];
        }
    cout << "\n";
     }
}

This is class character that gives me the following errors when compiled:

'map':is not a class or namespace name
'map':is not a class or namespace name
'mapColumn': undeclared identifier

'mapRow': undeclared identifier

#pragma once
#include "Map.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class character
  {
    int hpPool = 100;
    int currentHp =hpPool;

 public:
     char Tommy ='?';
int position1;
int position2;
char movement;

 character()
{
    position1 = 5;
    position2 = 5;
   movement = '0';
 }

void moveUp(void);
void moveDown(void);
void moveLeft(void);
void moveRight(void);
void moveFunct(void);
 };

      void character::moveUp(void)
     {
       if (position1 != 1)
      {
        position1--;
       }
        else
       {
       //Hitting a wall
      }
   }

    void character::moveDown(void)
    {
      if (position1 != (map::mapRow-2))
    {
      position1++;
    }
   else
   {
    //Hitting a wall
   }
}

   void character::moveLeft(void)
{
   if (position2 != 1)
    {
    position2--;
    }
     else
     {
      //Hitting a wall
     }
}

    void character::moveRight(void)
   {
   if (position2 != (map::mapColumn-2))
   {
    position2++;
    }
   else
   {
        //Hitting a wall
    }
  }

void character::moveFunct(void)
 {
    switch (movement)
    {
    case 'w': moveUp();
        break;
  case 'a': moveLeft();
      break;
   case 's': moveDown();
      break;
   case 'd': moveRight();
    break;
    }
  }

`using namespace std;` followed by `class map: public character` is just a bad idea. — R Sahu, Feb 10 '17 at 20:54
FYI, remove void keyword on parameters on function signatures, it's unnecessary in C++ — Onur A., Feb 11 '17 at 00:11
I know, but I like the habit because it lets me know that I didn't forget to type anything, just a personal thing — Nuthead, Feb 11 '17 at 02:28

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 10 '17 at 20:58

Map.h is including Character.h and vice-versa, but that doesn't work (it would create infinite inclusion recursion if it weren't for the #pragma once).

Since character can not depend on map (because map is a derived class from character), it should not include Map.h.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '17 at 20:58

My suggestions to improve your code base:

Remove using namespace std;.
map is already a class in the std namespace. It will be better to use a different name or use it under a namespace of your own.

namespace MyApp
{
   class character { ... };
}

namespace MyApp
{
   class map : public character { ... };
}

C++ Class property not recognised by other class (headers incl., public)

2 Answers2