Copy constructor of N-ary tree in C++ - c++

Question

I have the following header class:
class Tree
{
private:
string label;
vector<Tree*> children;
void free(Tree* tree);
Tree* copyFrom(const Tree* other);
public:
Tree(string _label, vector<Tree*> _children= vector<Tree*>());
Tree(const Tree& other);
void addChild(Tree* child);
Tree& operator=(const Tree& other);
Tree* addChild(Tree* parent, string label);
void removeChild(vector<Tree*>::iterator position);
void insertTree(Tree* tree, vector<Tree*>::iterator position);
~Tree();
};
and following implementation
#include "Tree.h"
string Tree::getLabel() const
{
return label;
}
Tree* Tree::copyFrom(const Tree* other)
{
if (other == nullptr)
{
return nullptr;
}
Tree* result = new Tree(other->label);
vector<Tree*> _children;
for (int i = 0; i < other->children.size(); i++)
{
_children.push_back(copyFrom(other->children[i]));
}
result->children= _children;
return result;
}
void Tree::free(Tree* tree)
{
if (this == nullptr)
{
return;
}
for (int i = 0; i < tree->children.size(); i++)
{
delete tree->_children[i];
}
tree->children.clear();
}
Tree::Tree(string _label, vector<Tree*> _children)
:label(_label), children(_children)
{
}
Tree::Tree(const Tree& other)
{
const Tree* pointer = &other;
copyFrom(pointer);
this->label = pointer->label;
this->children= pointer->children;
pointer = nullptr;
}
Tree& Tree::operator=(const Tree& other)
{
if (this != &other)
{
free(this);
const Tree* pointer = &other;
copyFrom(pointer);
this->label = pointer->label;
this->children= pointer->children;
pointer = nullptr;
}
return *this;
}
Tree::~Tree()
{
free(this);
}
void Tree::addChild(Tree* child)
{
children.push_back(child);
}
Tree* Tree::addChild(Tree* parent, string label)
{
if (parent == nullptr)
{
throw "No parent";
}
Tree* result = new Tree(label);
parent->children.push_back(result);
return result;
}
void Tree::removeChild(vector<Tree*>::iterator position)
{
if (children.size() == 0)
{
throw "No children to delete from!";
}
int index = position - children.begin();
Tree* toDelete = children.at(index);
children.erase(position);
delete toDelete;
}
void Tree::insertChild(Tree* tree, vector<Tree*>::iterator position)
{
if (tree== nullptr)
{
throw "Tree cannot be null!";
}
children.insert(position, tree);
}
I have some struggles with my destructor, copy constructor and consequently, operator=. I believe my destructor works correctly, but my copy constructor is giving me a hard time, because it is supposed to create a deep copy, but when I copied an object, let's call the copy copyTree and the original firstTree, and then removed a child from firstTree, the change affected copyTree as well. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

The replies provided me with great workarounds for this hassle, but to answer my question, the concrete problem was that I forgot to assign the result from copyFrom, that is:
Box::Box(const Box& other)
{
const Box* pointer = &other;
Box* result = copyFrom(pointer);
this->label = result->label;
this->boxes = result->boxes;
this->souvenirs = result->souvenirs;
pointer = nullptr;
}
and same for operator =