Iterator for a container of a custom object - c++

Question

If I've built a class that I want to contain inside, for example a set, how would I iterate through said set? Could I say
std::set<customObject>::iterator it
I thought I could do that, but I'm getting the following series of errors...
drawing.h:110: error: no match for ‘operator=’ in ‘it = ((object*)this)->object::objects. std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::begin [with _Tp = object, _Alloc = std::allocator<object>]()’
/usr/include/c++/4.2.1/bits/stl_tree.h:225: note: candidates are: std::_Rb_tree_const_iterator<object>& std::_Rb_tree_const_iterator<object>::operator=(const std::_Rb_tree_const_iterator<object>&)
drawing.h:110: error: no match for ‘operator!=’ in ‘it != ((object*)this)->object::objects. std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::end [with _Tp = object, _Alloc = std::allocator<object>]()’
/usr/include/c++/4.2.1/bits/stl_tree.h:292: note: candidates are: bool std::_Rb_tree_const_iterator<_Tp>::operator!=(const std::_Rb_tree_const_iterator<_Tp>&) const [with _Tp = object]
drawing.h:111: error: ‘struct std::_Rb_tree_const_iterator<object>’ has no member named ‘sketch’
here's my code:
void draw_in_place()
{
place();
std::set<object>::const_iterator it;
for(it = objects.begin(); it != objects.end(); it++){
*it.draw_in_place();
}
}

Answer 1

((object*)this)->object::objects. std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::begin
objects is apparently a std::vector<object>, not a std::set<object>. You therefore need to use a std::vector<object>::const_iterator.
*it.draw_in_place();
This is incorrect: you need to dereference the iterator to access the element first, then use the element:
(*it).draw_in_place();
// or
it->draw_in_place();

Answer 2

I think (at least) one of your problems is this line:
*it.draw_in_place();
The compiler is interpreting this as
*(it.draw_in_place());
versus your intended
(*it).draw_in_place();
To fix this, consider using the arrow operator, as in
it->draw_in_place();
It's perfectly legal to store custom objects in an STL set, so long as they can be compared with the < operator by default. If they can't, you'll either need to define operator < on them, or provide a custom comparator to the set, or specialize std::less for your particular type.