Undefined Reference in constructors - c++

Question

I have been hammering at this for the past 2 days and i've already tried every single solution on the internet, so here goes.
I have a problem with undefined references. I am doing a project to compare 3 algorithms and i have compartmentalized them into 3 different sets of cpp files. I am using Dev C++ with gcc 4.9.2.6 as my compiler. I know it is a linker error, but all my solutions are not working and i can't seem to identify it.
My main file is
#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
#include <time.h>
#include "SDL.h"
#include "bitmap_image.hpp" //ext
#include "Bresenham.hpp"
#include "XiaolinWu.hpp"
#include "GuptaSproull.hpp"
void GenerateBMPBlank(int xsize,int ysize,std::string fileid);
void BresenhamTest(int xsize,int ysize, std::string TestDataFile);
void XiaolinWuTest(int xsize,int ysize, std::string TestDataFile);
void GuptaSproullTest(int xsize, int ysize, std::string TestDataFile);
void executeTest(int xsize,int ysize, std::string TestDataFile); //resulting BMP file generated will have the format "x_y_algorithmName.bmp"
int main()
{
short x,y;
std::string TestFileLocation;
std::cout << "Please indicate file path of Test Data textfile"<< std::endl;
std::cin>>TestFileLocation;
std::cout << "Please indicate file dimensions" << std::endl;
std::cin>> x >> y;
executeTest(x,y, TestFileLocation);
std::cout<< "Procedure executed"<< std::endl;
std::cin.get();
return 0;
}
void GenerateBMPBlank(int xsize,int ysize,std::string fileid) //uses external library http://partow.net/programming/bitmap/ to generate a blank white bmp file
{
bitmap_image blankBMP(xsize,ysize); //creates bitmap image
blankBMP.set_all_channels(255,255,255); //sets entire image to be completely white
blankBMP.save_image(fileid);
} //tested
void executeTest(int xsize,int ysize, std::string TestDataFile)
{
SDL_Init( SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING );
std::cout<<"Beginning test of data set from "+TestDataFile<<std::endl;
std::cout<<"Now executing Bresenham's algorithm"<<std::endl;
BresenhamTest(xsize,ysize, TestDataFile);
std::cout<<"Now executing Xiaolin Wu's algorithm"<<std::endl;
XiaolinWuTest(xsize,ysize,TestDataFile);
std::cout<<"Now executing Gupta Sproull 's algorithm"<<std::endl;
GuptaSproullTest(xsize,ysize,TestDataFile);
SDL_Quit();
}
void BresenhamTest(int xsize,int ysize, std::string TestDataFile)
{
std::string ResultName= std::to_string(xsize) + "_" + std::to_string(ysize) + "_Bresenham.bmp";
GenerateBMPBlank(xsize,ysize,ResultName);
clock_t tStart = clock();
Bresenham b(ResultName,TestDataFile);
printf("Time taken for Bresenham: %.4fs\n", (double)(clock() - tStart)/CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
}
void XiaolinWuTest(int xsize,int ysize, std::string TestDataFile)
{
std::string ResultName= std::to_string(xsize) + "_" + std::to_string(ysize) + "_XiaolinWu.bmp";
GenerateBMPBlank(xsize,ysize,ResultName);
clock_t tStart = clock();
XiaolinWu w(ResultName,TestDataFile);
printf("Time taken for XiaolinWu: %.4fs\n", (double)(clock() - tStart)/CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
}
void GuptaSproullTest(int xsize,int ysize, std::string TestDataFile)
{
std::string ResultName= std::to_string(xsize) + "_" + std::to_string(ysize) + "_GuptaSproull.bmp";
GenerateBMPBlank(xsize,ysize,ResultName);
clock_t tStart = clock();
GuptaSproull g(ResultName,TestDataFile);
printf("Time taken for GuptaSproull: %.4fs\n", (double)(clock() - tStart)/CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
}
However, an error is produced as follows
C++ files/ComparatorMain.o:ComparatorMain.cpp:(.text+0x544): undefined reference to `Bresenham::Bresenham(std::string, std::string)'
C++ files/ComparatorMain.o:ComparatorMain.cpp:(.text+0x76b): undefined reference to `XiaolinWu::XiaolinWu(std::string, std::string)'
C++ files/ComparatorMain.o:ComparatorMain.cpp:(.text+0x992): undefined reference to `GuptaSproull::GuptaSproull(std::string, std::string)'collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
As the implementation of the 3 different cpp files are nearly identical (with the main difference just being the algorithm implemented as well as some misc. functions which have complied and so far aren't showing errors), I will just show the main parts of Bresenham.cpp and hpp where the linker errors are occurring (if additional information is needed, just tell me). The definitions for GuptaSproull.cpp as well as XiaolinWu.cpp are pretty much identical for the code shown below. I cut out most of the function implementations for easier reading and i don't think its relavant (unless i got that part wrong).
Bresenham.hpp
#ifndef BRESENHAM_H
#define BRESENHAM_H
#include <iostream>
#include "SDL.h"
#undef main
class Bresenham{
public:
Bresenham(std::string BMPName,std::string TestDataFile);
SDL_Surface* OpenBMP(std::string BMPName);
void CloseBMP(SDL_Surface* surface,std::string Filename);
void putpixel(SDL_Surface *surface, int x, int y, Uint32 pixel);
void bresenhamDrawLine(int x1,int y1,int x2, int y2, SDL_Surface *surface);
};
#endif
Bresenham.cpp
#ifndef BRESENHAM_H
#define BRESENHAM_H
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cmath>
#include <fstream>
#include "SDL.h"
#include "Bresenham.hpp"
#undef main
#endif
class Bresenham
{
Bresenham(std::string BMPName,std::string TestDataFile)
{
std::ifstream testFile(TestDataFile);
SDL_Surface *image;
image=OpenBMP(BMPName);
if ( SDL_MUSTLOCK(image) ) //surface must be locked before pixels can be drawn
{
if ( SDL_LockSurface(image) < 0 ) {
fprintf(stderr, "Can't lock screen: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
return;
}
}
int x1,y1,x2,y2;
while(testFile>>x1>>y1>>x2>>y2)
{
bresenhamDrawLine(x1,y1,x2,y2,image); //loops through the dataset and calls the bresenham draw line function
}
if ( SDL_MUSTLOCK(image) )
{
SDL_UnlockSurface(image);
}
CloseBMP(image,BMPName);
}
void bresenhamDrawLine(int x1,int y1,int x2, int y2, SDL_Surface *surface)
{
/* implemented */
}
SDL_Surface* OpenBMP(std::string BMPName)
{
/* implemented */
}
void CloseBMP(SDL_Surface *surface,std::string FileName)
{
/* implemented */
}
void putpixel(SDL_Surface *surface, int x, int y, double brightness) //this function allows us to place a pixel at coordinates (x,y) in SDL.
{
/*implemented*/
}
};
Now I have done a few messy attempts to try and fix this problem (such as adding #ifndef BRESENHAM_H #define BRESENHAM_H #include "Bresenham.hpp" into the .cpp file. However, the error above still occurs.
Is this linked to the way I implemented my code to do the testing? I used a constructor to basically run my test on the algorithms (which i suspect you might find a shoddy way of implementing such a test). I have done the following (so yeah those didn't work):
Verified that all the files are in the build path (under the same project)
Tried adding namespaces to see if it fixed the problem (it didn't)
I've searched under pretty much every single link in google in order to find a potential fix (none of them seems to work).
There are no compiler errors so far (in all the files).
I suspect i might need to abandon this style of implementing the test and migrate over to using a static function instead (Could someone comment if this would work?). I'm not really used to C++ (this is my first "big" program in this language so far), so pardon me if I'm missing something glaringly obvious (which i hope i didn't).
What should I do?

Answer 1

You actually have two declarations of Bresenham class, one in Bresenham.hpp and one in Bresenham.cpp. Change your cpp file in following way:
Bresenham::Bresenham(std::string BMPName,std::string TestDataFile)
{
std::ifstream testFile(TestDataFile);
SDL_Surface *image;
image=OpenBMP(BMPName);
if ( SDL_MUSTLOCK(image) ) //surface must be locked before pixels can be drawn
{
if ( SDL_LockSurface(image) < 0 ) {
fprintf(stderr, "Can't lock screen: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
return;
}
}
int x1,y1,x2,y2;
while(testFile>>x1>>y1>>x2>>y2)
{
bresenhamDrawLine(x1,y1,x2,y2,image); //loops through the dataset and calls the bresenham draw line function
}
if ( SDL_MUSTLOCK(image) )
{
SDL_UnlockSurface(image);
}
CloseBMP(image,BMPName);
}
void Bresenham::bresenhamDrawLine(int x1,int y1,int x2, int y2, SDL_Surface *surface)
{
/* implemented */
}
SDL_Surface* Bresenham::OpenBMP(std::string BMPName)
{
/* implemented */
}
void Bresenham::CloseBMP(SDL_Surface *surface,std::string FileName)
{
/* implemented */
}
void Bresenham::putpixel(SDL_Surface *surface, int x, int y, double brightness) //this function allows us to place a pixel at coordinates (x,y) in SDL.
{
/*implemented*/
}

Answer 2

What should I do?
First of all, you need to set up correct code units:
remove #undef main (makes no sense)
remove the include guards from your cpp files, they belong only in header files. With these, the code just doesn't get compiled, hence the linking problem !
As CodeFuller states it clearly in his answer, you must separate the class declaration (in .hpp file) and the implementation of the methods (in the .cpp file)
For more, you need to gives us an MVCE that demonstrates your problem (I agree, that is some bit of work).