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

Question

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?

Answer 1

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'.