struct in class

Question

I have struct in class and not know how to call variables from struct, please help ;)

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class E
{
public: 
    struct X
    {
        int v;
    };
};

int main(){

E object;
object.v=10; //not work 

return 0;
}

Answer 1

I declared class B inside class A, how do I access it?

Just because you declare your struct B inside class A does not mean that an instance of class A automatically has the properties of struct B as members, nor does it mean that it automatically has an instance of struct B as a member.

There is no true relation between the two classes (A and B), besides scoping.

---

struct A { 
  struct B { 
    int v;
  };  

  B inner_object;
};

int
main (int argc, char *argv[]) {
  A object;
    object.inner_object.v = 123;
}

Answer 2

It's not clear what you're actually trying to achieve, but here are two alternatives:

class E
{
public:
    struct X
    {
        int v;
    };

    // 1. (a) Instantiate an 'X' within 'E':
    X x;
};

int main()
{
    // 1. (b) Modify the 'x' within an 'E':
    E e;
    e.x.v = 9;

    // 2. Instantiate an 'X' outside 'E':
    E::X x;
    x.v = 10;
}

Answer 3

Your E class doesn't have a member of type struct X, you've just defined a nested struct X in there (i.e. you've defined a new type).

Try:

#include <iostream>

class E
{
    public: 
    struct X { int v; };
    X x; // an instance of `struct X`
};

int main(){

    E object;
    object.x.v = 1;

    return 0;
}

Answer 4

You should define the struct out of the class like this:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
struct X
{
        int v;
};
class E
{
public: 
      X var;
};

int main(){

E object;
object.var.v=10; 

return 0;
}

Answer 5

If you give the struct no name it will work

class E
{
public: 
    struct
    {
        int v;
    };
};

Otherwise write X x and write e.x.v

Answer 6

I'd like to add another use case for an internal struct/class and its usability. An inner struct is often used to declare a data only member of a class that packs together relevant information and as such we can enclose it all in a struct instead of loose data members lying around.

The inner struct/class is but a data only compartment, ie it has no functions (except maybe constructors).

#include <iostream>

class E
{
    // E functions..
public:
    struct X
    {
        int v;
        // X variables..
    } x;
    // E variables..
};

int main()
{
    E e;
    e.x.v = 9;
    std::cout << e.x.v << '\n';
    
    E e2{5};
    std::cout << e2.x.v << '\n';

    // You can instantiate an X outside E like so:
    //E::X xOut{24};
    //std::cout << xOut.v << '\n';
    // But you shouldn't want to in this scenario.
    // X is only a data member (containing other data members)
    // for use only inside the internal operations of E
    // just like the other E's data members
}

This practice is widely used in graphics, where the inner struct will be sent as a Constant Buffer to HLSL. But I find it neat and useful in many cases.