So I recently started learning C++ and a few days ago I started following a tutorial about Entity Component System, but I got stuck since I keep getting the following error:
error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "public: void __thiscall ComponentArray<class std::bitset<8>>::insertEntity(unsigned int,class std::bitset<8>)"... referenced in function _SDL_main
I have been googling for an answer for the past few days but I just cant find a solution. I am using Visual Studio and all of the files are added to the project's solution explorer, also, I found out that if I just type everything inside of the header file and omit the cpp file it works with zero problems. Another thing is that it only gave me problems when I tried testing it inside of the main.cpp file, before that everything compiled.
ComponentArray.cpp
#include "ComponentArray.h"
template <typename T>
void ComponentArray<T>::insertEntity(Entity entity, T component)
{
//Getting a new index and incrementing the count.
size_t new_index = entities_created++;
//Updating the maps to the newly added entity.
entity_to_index[entity] = new_index;
index_to_entity[new_index] = entity;
//Inserting new entity.
component_array[new_index] = component;
}
template <typename T>
void ComponentArray<T>::removeEntity(Entity entity)
{
//Entities will be destroyed by swapping places with the last entity in array.
//and then removing it, this way the array will always be packed.
size_t removed_index = entity_to_index[entity];
size_t last_index = entities_created - 1;
Entity last_entity = index_to_entity[last_index];
//Updating maps.
entity_to_index[last_entity] = removed_index;
index_to_entity[removed_index] = last_entity;
//Cleaning maps.
entity_to_index.erase(entity);
index_to_entity.erase(last_index);
//Updating array.
component_array[removed_index] = component_array[last_index];
}
template <typename T>
void ComponentArray<T>::entityDestroyed(Entity entity)
{
if (entity_to_index.find(entity) != entity_to_index.end())
{
removeEntity(entity);
}
else printf("The entity does not exist in the mapping.");
}
template <typename T>
T& ComponentArray<T>::getData(Entity entity)
{
assert(entity_to_index.find(entity) != entity_to_index.end() && "The entity does not exist inside the mappings.");
return component_array[entity_to_index[entity]];
}
ComponentArray.h
#pragma once
#include <unordered_map>
#include <assert.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "Types.h"
class IComponentArray
{
public:
virtual ~IComponentArray() = default;
virtual void entityDestroyed(Entity entity) = 0;
};
template <typename T>
class ComponentArray : public IComponentArray
{
public:
void insertEntity(Entity entity, T component);
void removeEntity(Entity entity);
void entityDestroyed(Entity entity);
T& getData(Entity entity);
private:
//This array will keep track of the components assigned to an entity.
std::array<T, MAX_ENTITIES> component_array;
std::unordered_map<Entity, size_t> entity_to_index;
std::unordered_map<size_t, Entity> index_to_entity;
//total entities count = entities_created - 1 (friendly reminder)
size_t entities_created = 0;
};
main.cpp
#include <SDL.h>
#include <SDL_image.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
#include "Game.h"
#include "EntityManager.h"
#include "ComponentArray.h"
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
Game* main_game = new Game("MUGEN", SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED, SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED, 800, 600);
//After adding this I started having problems.
ComponentArray<Signature> components = ComponentArray<Signature>();
Signature generic(1); //bitset
components.insertEntity(0, generic);
Signature test = components.getData(0);
std::cout << test << std::endl;
while (main_game->isRunning())
{
main_game->handleEvents();
main_game->update();
main_game->render();
}
delete main_game;
return 0;
}