How to forward declare a class which is in a namespace - c++

Question

I am trying to use forward declarations in header files to reduce the number of #include used and hence reduce dependencies when users include my header file.
However, I am unable to forward declare where namespaces are used. See example below.
File a.hpp:
#ifndef __A_HPP__
#define __A_HPP__
namespace ns1 {
class a {
public:
a(const char* const msg);
void talk() const;
private:
const char* const msg_;
};
}
#endif //__A_HPP__
File a.cpp:
#include <iostream>
#include "a.hpp"
using namespace ns1;
a::a(const char* const msg) : msg_(msg) {}
void a::talk() const {
std::cout << msg_ << std::endl;
}
File consumer.hpp:
#ifndef __CONSUMER_HPP__
#define __CONSUMER_HPP__
// How can I forward declare a class which uses a namespace
//doing this below results in error C2653: 'ns1' : is not a class or namespace name
// Works with no namespace or if I use using namespace ns1 in header file
// but I am trying to reduce any dependencies in this header file
class ns1::a;
class consumer
{
public:
consumer(const char* const text) : a_(text) {}
void chat() const;
private:
a& a_;
};
#endif // __CONSUMER_HPP__
Implementation file consumer.cpp:
#include "consumer.hpp"
#include "a.hpp"
consumer::consumer(const char* const text) : a_(text) {}
void consumer::chat() const {
a_.talk();
}
Test file main.cpp:
#include "consumer.hpp"
int main() {
consumer c("My message");
c.chat();
return 0;
}
UPDATE:
Here is my very contrived working code using the answer below.
File a.hpp:
#ifndef A_HPP__
#define A_HPP__
#include <string>
namespace ns1 {
class a {
public:
void set_message(const std::string& msg);
void talk() const;
private:
std::string msg_;
};
} //namespace
#endif //A_HPP__
File a.cpp:
#include <iostream>
#include "a.hpp"
void ns1::a::set_message(const std::string& msg) {
msg_ = msg;
}
void ns1::a::talk() const {
std::cout << msg_ << std::endl;
}
File consumer.hpp:
#ifndef CONSUMER_HPP__
#define CONSUMER_HPP__
namespace ns1
{
class a;
}
class consumer
{
public:
consumer(const char* text);
~consumer();
void chat() const;
private:
ns1::a* a_;
};
#endif // CONSUMER_HPP__
File consumer.cpp:
#include "a.hpp"
#include "consumer.hpp"
consumer::consumer(const char* text) {
a_ = new ns1::a;
a_->set_message(text);
}
consumer::~consumer() {
delete a_;
}
void consumer::chat() const {
a_->talk();
}
File main.cpp:
#include "consumer.hpp"
int main() {
consumer c("My message");
c.chat();
return 0;
}

Answer 1

To forward declare class type a in a namespace ns1:
namespace ns1
{
class a;
}
To forward declare a type in multiple level of namespaces:
namespace ns1
{
namespace ns2
{
//....
namespace nsN
{
class a;
}
//....
}
}
Your are using a a member of consumer which means it needs concrete type, your forward declaration won't work for this case.

Answer 2

For nested namespaces, since C++17, you can do
namespace ns1::ns2::nsN
{
class a;
}

Answer 3

Apart to forward-declare the class from within its namespace (as #billz says), remember to either use (prepend) that namespace when referring to the forward-declared class, or add a using clause:
// B.h
namespace Y { class A; } // full declaration of
// class A elsewhere
namespace X {
using Y::A; // <------------- [!]
class B {
A* a; // Y::A
};
}
Ref: Namespaces and Forward Class Declarations