How do I access a pointer from within a nested class? - c++

Question

This class's purpose is to emulate the functions of a Binary Search Tree. In the below code, I am trying to adapt it from a struct and a bunch of functions, into a wrapper class, called BST. One thing I am not sure of however, is how to access 'root' from within the node struct. Root is currently declared within the BST class.
class bst
{
public:
struct Node
{
public:
int data;
struct Node *left;
struct Node *right;
Node* FindMin(Node* root)
{
while(root->left != NULL) root = root->left;
return root;
}
Node* Insert(Node *root,int data)
{
if(root == NULL) {
root = new Node();
root->data = data;
root->left = root->right = NULL;
//Update Height & Size
bstHeight = 0;
bstSize = 0;
}
else if(data <= root->data)
root->left = Insert(root->left,data);
else
root->right = Insert(root->right,data);
return root;
}
Node* Delete(struct Node *root, int data)
{
if(root == NULL) return root;
else if(data < root->data) root->left = Delete(root->left,data);
else if (data > root->data) root->right = Delete(root->right,data);
//Value found
else {
// Case 1: No child
if(root->left == NULL && root->right == NULL)
{
delete root;
root = NULL;
//Update Height & Size
bstHeight = 0;
bstSize = 0;
}
//Case 2: One child
else if(root->left == NULL)
{
struct Node *temp = root;
root = root->right;
delete temp;
//Update Height & Size
bstHeight = 0;
bstSize = 0;
}
else if(root->right == NULL)
{
struct Node *temp = root;
root = root->left;
delete temp;
//Update Height & Size
bstHeight = 0;
bstSize = 0;
}
// case 3: 2 children
else
{
struct Node *temp = FindMin(root->right);
root->data = temp->data;
root->right = Delete(root->right,temp->data);
//Update Height & Size
bstHeight = 0;
bstSize = 0;
}
}
return root;
}
//# of Nodes in tree
void size(Node *root)
{
//Check if end
if(root == NULL) return;
//Not end
else
{
bstSize = bstSize + 1;
size(root->left); //Visit left subtree
size(root->right); // Visit right subtree
}
}
void height(Node *root, int temp)
{
//Check if end
if(root == NULL)
{
if(temp > bstHeight)
{
bstHeight = temp;
}
return;
}
//Not end
else
{
temp = temp + 1;
height(root->left, temp); //Visit left subtree
height(root->right, temp); // Visit right subtree
}
}
//Function to visit nodes in Inorder
void show()
{
if(root == NULL) return;
show(root->left); //Visit left subtree
printf("%d ",root->data); //Print data
show(root->right); // Visit right subtree
}
void check(Node *root)
{
//End of a 'branch'
if(root == NULL) return;
int value = 0;
value = root->data;
//Checking left subtree
if(value < root->left->data)
{
//Tree is NOT valid
valid = 0;
}
//Checking right subtree
if(value > root->right->data)
{
//Tree is NOT valid
valid = 0;
}
check(root->left); //Visit left subtree
printf("%d ",root->data); //Print data
//check(root->right); // Visit right subtree
}
};
Node* root = NULL;
};
Specifically, in the show function. It's not as simple as putting it into Node with the rest of the functions, as root needs to be unique, and new Node is called at least once. Show will not compile in the current state, and I'm not sure where to proceed from here.

Answer 1

Though the comment says everything, let me give an additional hint:
When you want to keep your code as similar as possible to what you have now, try to add a constructor to the Node class that expects a pointer or reference (preferable) to the root and check, that each time you create a Node, you give the root to the constructor.
By the way, it might even be a better approach to look at some simple Node-based data structure implementations in C++, for example in the thread
Simple linked list in C++