declaring a friend template function whose arguments are of type = private member type

[Hicham Mouline]

hello,
I have

template<typename CurveTraits>
class TimeCurve1D
{
public:
typedef typename CurveTraits::tType tType;
typedef typename CurveTraits::fType fType;

fType GetSomething() const;
private:
typedef std::pair<tType,fType>
EntryType;
typedef boost::array< EntryType, mContainerMaxSize > ContainerType;
ContainerType
m;
size_t
mContainerSize;
};

In GetSomething(), I use std::lower_bound( &m[0], &m[mContainerMaxSize],
std::pair<t, NaN> )
lower_bound uses operator< by default

Where can I defined this operator< for EntryType?
and how can I declare it a friend inside TimeCurve1D?

I tried

template<typename CurveTraits>
class TimeCurve1D
{
....
friend bool operator< <CurveTraits>( const EntryType&, const EntryType&);
....
};

template<typename CurveTraits>
inline bool operator<( const typename TimeCurve1D<CurveTraits>::EntryType&
lhs,
const typename TimeCurve1D<CurveTraits>::EntryType&
rhs )
{
return lhs.first < rhs.first;
}

On instantiation, it said
typedef struct std::pair<double, double> TimeCurve1D<...>::EntryType' is
private

but I am trying to make operator< friend...

rds,

[Vladyslav Lazarenko]

Basically, in your case EntryType type is always a specialization of
std::pair<> template. That template defines “less than” comparator by
default, it looks like this (defined trough including 'utility' header
from STL):

template<class _T1, class _T2>
inline bool
operator<(const pair<_T1, _T2>& __x, const pair<_T1, _T2>& __y)
{ return __x.first < __y.first
|| (!(__y.first < __x.first) && __x.second < __y.second); }

So you are good as long as both types “CurveTraits::tType” and
“CurveTraits::fType” has “less than” operators defined. Note that you
don’t have to define “bool operator < (const EntryType & lhs, const
EntryType & rhs)” yourself.

For example, let’s assume you have the following code that uses your
“TimeCurve1D” template:

struct A { int v; };
struct B { double v; };

struct my_curve_traits {
typedef A tType;
typedef B fType;
};

In order to get it working you have to write the following operators:

bool operator < (const A & lhs, const A & rhs) { return lhs.v <
rhs.v; }
bool operator < (const B & lhs, const B & rhs) { return lhs.v <
rhs.v; }

Note that you don't have to define those operators for POD types (line
int, double etc.). This is an example:

#include <utility>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <iostream>

#include <boost/array.hpp>

template<typename CurveTraits>
class TimeCurve1D
{
public:
typedef typename CurveTraits::tType tType;
typedef typename CurveTraits::fType fType;

fType GetSomething() const { throw std::runtime_error("Not
implemented"); }

private:
enum { mContainerMaxSize = 128 }; // You probably forgot to define
mContainerMaxSize...

typedef std::pair<tType,fType> EntryType;
typedef boost::array< EntryType, mContainerMaxSize > ContainerType;

ContainerType m;
size_t mContainerSize;
};

struct A { int v; };
struct B { double v; };

struct my_curve_traits {
typedef A tType;
typedef B fType;
};

typedef TimeCurve1D<my_curve_traits> my_curve_1d;

int main(int , char *[]) {
try {
my_curve_1d curve;
curve.GetSomething();
} catch(const std::exception & e) {
std::cout << "Here you go: " << e.what() << std::endl;
}
return 0;
}

Hope it helps!

---
Vladyslav Lazarenko