Template specialization: C++ templates that only accept certain types (revisited)

Question

I want to make a simple message template class as follows. I followed the structure verbatim from the chosen answer posted here. However, this seems to break in Visual Studio 2013.

template<typename T> Message;

template<> Message <std::vector<uint8_t>>
{
public:

};

template<> Message <std::string>
{

};

IntelliSense tells me that Message is not a template.

Placing class before Message in the forward declaration results in a slightly better, but equally annoying IntelliSense error: expected and identifierafter the opening brace { of each template.

template<typename T> class Message;

template<> Message <std::vector<uint8_t>>
{
public:

};

template<> Message <std::string>
{

};

I should note that all the above code is currently being placed in a header file.

That should work (second posted code)! Beware that older c++ compilers needs to insert space in between `>>` thus `> >`. Is `` header included? Post the full error messages. — Jean-Baptiste Yunès, Jun 29 '16 at 18:53
Place `class` before `Message` everywhere (both in declaration and specializations). — lorro, Jun 29 '16 at 18:54
Now How would I add, say a function which returns `T` or a member of type `T`>. `const T getKey() { return key; };` does not work, nor does `T key` — audiFanatic, Jun 29 '16 at 21:03

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 29 '16 at 18:55

You need to include the class keyword in the template specialization as well. I don't know why the linked answer doesn't do that.

template<typename T> class Message;

template<> class Message <std::vector<uint8_t>>
{
public:

};

template<> class Message <std::string>
{

};

Template specialization: C++ templates that only accept certain types (revisited)

1 Answers1

Linked