struct in class is not a type

Question

I need some help with designing and returning a structure. I have done a similar type of structure and am getting an error saying:

"The a in class c is not a type"

How can I fix this?

ah

#include<stdio.h>
struct a {
   int i;
   vector<abc> j;
};

bh

#include <a.h>
class c{
private: 
    a a_;
    virtual bool execute();
    void compute(&a a1)
public:
    a function_name();
}

b.cc

#include<b.h>
c::execute()
{
  a aa_ = function_name();
}

d.cc

#include<b.h>
c::a c::function_name()
{
   compute(a_);
   return *a_;
}

Answer 1

bh includes ah , a is a type at the global scope, a a didn't inherit c namespace magically

You'd need c::a if you had a declared inside c declaration:

class c{
private: 
  struct a {

So fix is to remove namespace from c::a :

a c::function_name()

note: the naming conventions used here (if there are some) don't help to understand those examples.

also: void compute(&a a1) doesn't compile, should be void compute(a &a1) , and return *a_; should return a reference so return a_;