Adding C++ Object to Objective-C Class

Question

I'm trying to mix C++ and Objective-C, I've made it most of the way but would like to have a single interface class between the Objective-C and C++ code. Therefore I would like to have a persistent C++ object in the ViewController interface.

This fails by forbidding the declaration of 'myCppFile' with no type:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "GLView.h"
#import "myCppFile.h"

@interface GLViewController : UIViewController <GLViewDelegate>
{
    myCppFile cppobject;
}

@end

However this works just fine in the .mm implementation file (It doesn't work because I want cppobject to persist between calls)

#import "myCppFile.h"
@implementation GLViewController
- (void)drawView:(UIView *)theView
{
    myCppFile cppobject;
    cppobject.draw();
}

Answer 1

You should use opaque pointers and only include C++ headers in the file that implements your Objective-C class. That way you don't force other files that include the header to use Objective-C++:

// header:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "GLView.h"

struct Opaque;

@interface GLViewController : UIViewController <GLViewDelegate>
{
    struct Opaque* opaque;
}
// ...
@end

---

// source file:
#import "myCppFile.h"

struct Opaque {
    myCppFile cppobject;
};

@implementation GLViewController
// ... create opaque member on initialization

- (void)foo
{
    opaque->cppobject.doSomething();
}
@end