Using C++ classes within Objective-C++

Question

I am using a small C++ library in a Cocoa application (atm just a very simple example to learn how I should do it).

So I have a small C++ class in a namespace looking like follows:

namespace testlib {
class Test {
public:
    Test(unsigned a);
    Test operator+(const Test& other) const;
    Test operator+(unsigned other) const;
    Test& operator+=(unsigned other);
    Test& operator+=(const Test& other);
    unsigned getValue() const;
private:
    unsigned theValue;
};
}

Then I have an .h file with the follwoing code:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import "testlib.h"

@interface test : NSObject {
     testlib::Test* testClass;
}

- (id)init;
- (id)add: (unsigned)value;
- (unsigned)value;
- (void)dealloc;

@property void* testClass;

@end

and finally an implementation (in a file called test.mm):

#import "test.h"

@implementation test

@synthesize testClass;

- (id)init {
 testClass = new testlib::Test(0);
 return self;
}

- (void)dealloc {
 delete testClass;
 [super dealloc];
}

- (id)add: (unsigned)value {
 *testClass += value;
 return self;
}

- (unsigned)value {
     return testClass->getValue();
}

When I try to compile this, I get the follwing errors:

CompileC build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/Objects-normal/i386/WindowController.o WindowController.m normal i386 objective-c com.apple.compilers.gcc.4_2
 cd /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod
 setenv LANG en_US.US-ASCII
 setenv PATH "/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/usr/bin:/Developer/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"
/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 -x objective-c -arch i386 -fmessage-length=0 -pipe -std=c99 -Wno-trigraphs -fpascal-strings -fasm-blocks -O0 -Wreturn-type -Wunused-variable -D__IPHONE_OS_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED=30000 -isysroot /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator3.1.3.sdk -fvisibility=hidden -mmacosx-version-min=10.5 -gdwarf-2 -iquote /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/testipod-generated-files.hmap -I/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/testipod-own-target-headers.hmap -I/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/testipod-all-target-headers.hmap -iquote /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/testipod-project-headers.hmap -F/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/Debug-iphonesimulator -F/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/../testlib/build -I/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/Debug-iphonesimulator/include -I/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/DerivedSources/i386 -I/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/DerivedSources -include /var/folders/4f/4fSYMOmtHHSRoBf+XVFQ+k+++TM/-Caches-/com.apple.Xcode.502/SharedPrecompiledHeaders/testipod_Prefix-cwdputxcxpofoydkulngkdplqxbt/testipod_Prefix.pch -c /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/WindowController.m -o /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/build/testipod.build/Debug-iphonesimulator/testipod.build/Objects-normal/i386/WindowController.o

 In file included from /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/Classes/test.h:10,
             from /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/WindowController.m:10:
/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/Classes/testlib.h:1: error: expected '=', ',', ';', 'asm' or '__attribute__' before 'testlib'
 In file included from /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/WindowController.m:10:
/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/Classes/test.h:13: error: expected specifier-qualifier-list before 'testlib'

/Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/Classes/test.mm:13:0 /Users/sausalito/eth/testipod/Classes/test.mm:13: error: type of property 'testClass' does not match type of ivar 'testClass'

What am I doing wrong?? It looks like it uses a C compiler to compile the header file.

I can wrap this in a Objective-C class when I declare the member as a void* type and then use casting in the implementation. But this is definitely not the most comfortable way of doing it.

Answer 1

Rename your WindowController.m to WindowController.mm.

If the file name is .m, the whole "translational unit" will be compiled in ObjC without the ++. However, in your test.h, you are importing testlib.h which does include C++ code. These C++ code is invalid in C, thus causing the compiler errors.

---

BTW,

- (id)init {
 testClass = new testlib::Test(0);
 return self;
}

You should call super's init:

- (id)init {
  if ((self = [super init]))
     testClass = new testlib::Test(0);
  return self;
}

The property

@property void* testClass;

should return a Test*.

@property(readonly,assign) testlib::Test* testClass;

Answer 2

I never tried ObjC++ nor C++, but it seems the compiler can't handle the format of your C++ header file. It's a ".h" file. Shouldn't it be a ".hh" file instead?

Answer 3

If you don't want to rename the file, you can also explicitly tell XCode to compile your ".m" file as ObjC++ by opening the Info window for the file (click on the filename in the left pane of the main XCode window, then hit the blue I "info" button). Change the "file type" to "sourcecode.cpp.objcpp".

For a sample app, I would just rename the file, but if you've got an existing codebase that you don't want to do a wholesale rename on, the "file type" setting can be handy.