error: request for member '..' in '..' which is of non-class type

user_103522 0
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I have a class with two constructors, one that takes no arguments and one that takes one argument.

Creating objects using the constructor that takes one argument works as expected. However, if I create objects using the constructor that takes no arguments, I get an error.

For instance, if I compile this code (using g++ 4.0.1)...

class Foo
{
  public:
    Foo() {};
    Foo(int a) {};
    void bar() {};
};

int main()
{
  // this works...
  Foo foo1(1);
  foo1.bar();

  // this does not...
  Foo foo2();
  foo2.bar();

  return 0;
}

... I get the following error:

nonclass.cpp: In function ‘int main(int, const char**)’:
nonclass.cpp:17: error: request for member ‘bar’ in ‘foo2’, which is of non-class type ‘Foo ()()’

Why is this, and how do I make it work?

c++
9 Answers
Foo foo2();

change to

Foo foo2;

You get the error because compiler thinks of

Foo foo2()

as of function declaration with name 'foo2' and the return type 'Foo'.

But in that case If we change to Foo foo2 , the compiler might show the error " call of overloaded ‘Foo()’ is ambiguous".

user_546840

Certainly a corner case for this error, but I received it in a different situation, when attempting to overload the assignment operator=. It was a bit cryptic IMO (from g++ 8.1.1).

#include <cstdint>

enum DataType
{
  DT_INT32,
  DT_FLOAT
};

struct PrimitiveData
{
  union MyData
  {
    int32_t i;
    float f;
  } data;

  enum DataType dt;

  template<typename T>
  void operator=(T data)
  {
    switch(dt)
    {
      case DT_INT32:
      {
        data.i = data;
        break;
      }
      case DT_FLOAT:
      {
        data.f = data;
        break;
      }
      default:
      {
        break;
      }
    }
  }
};

int main()
{
  struct PrimitiveData pd;
  pd.dt = DT_FLOAT;
  pd = 3.4f;

  return 0;
}

I received 2 "identical" errors

error: request for member ‘i’ [and 'f'] in ‘data’, which is of non-class type ‘float’

(The equivalent error for clang is: error: member reference base type 'float' is not a structure or union)

for the lines data.i = data; and data.f = data;. Turns out the compiler was confusing local variable name 'data' and my member variable data. When I changed this to void operator=(T newData) and data.i = newData;, data.f = newData;, the error went away.

user_34767800

If you want to declare a new substance with no parameter (knowing that the object have default parameters) don't write 

 type substance1();

but

 type substance;
user_89095750

@MykolaGolubyev has already given wonderful explanation. I was looking for a solution to do somthing like this MyClass obj ( MyAnotherClass() ) but the compiler was interpreting it as a function declaration.

C++11 has braced-init-list. Using this we can do something like this 

Temp t{String()};

However, this:

Temp t(String());

throws compilation error as it considers t as of type Temp(String (*)()).

#include <iostream>

class String {
public:
    String(const char* str): ptr(str)
    {
        std::cout << "Constructor: " << str << std::endl;
    }
    String(void): ptr(nullptr)
    {
        std::cout << "Constructor" << std::endl;
    }
    virtual ~String(void)
    {
        std::cout << "Destructor" << std::endl;
    }

private:
    const char *ptr;
};

class Temp {
public:
    Temp(String in): str(in)
    {
        std::cout << "Temp Constructor" << std::endl;
    }

    Temp(): str(String("hello"))
    {
        std::cout << "Temp Constructor: 2" << std::endl;
    }
    virtual ~Temp(void)
    {
        std::cout << "Temp Destructor" << std::endl;
    }

    virtual String get_str()
    {
        return str;
    }

private:
    String str;
};

int main(void)
{
    Temp t{String()}; // Compiles Success!
    // Temp t(String()); // Doesn't compile. Considers "t" as of type: Temp(String (*)())
    t.get_str(); // dummy statement just to check if we are able to access the member
    return 0;
}
user_57350100
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