How can I use std::maps with user-defined types as key?

Question

I\'m wondering why I can\'t use STL maps with user-defined classes. When I compile the code below, I get the following cryptic error message. What does it mean? Also, why is

Answer 1

I'd like to expand a little bit on Pavel Minaev's answer, which you should read before reading my answer. Both solutions presented by Pavel won't compile if the member to be compared (such as id in the question's code) is private. In this case, VS2013 throws the following error for me:

error C2248: 'Class1::id' : cannot access private member declared in class 'Class1'

As mentioned by SkyWalker in the comments on Pavel's answer, using a friend declaration helps. If you wonder about the correct syntax, here it is:

class Class1
{
public:
    Class1(int id) : id(id) {}

private:
    int id;
    friend struct Class1Compare;      // Use this for Pavel's first solution.
    friend struct std::less;  // Use this for Pavel's second solution.
};

Code on Ideone

However, if you have an access function for your private member, for example getId() for id, as follows:

class Class1
{
public:
    Class1(int id) : id(id) {}
    int getId() const { return id; }

private:
    int id;
};

then you can use it instead of a friend declaration (i.e. you compare lhs.getId() < rhs.getId()). Since C++11, you can also use a lambda expression for Pavel's first solution instead of defining a comparator function object class. Putting everything together, the code could be writtem as follows:

auto comp = [](const Class1& lhs, const Class1& rhs){ return lhs.getId() < rhs.getId(); };
std::map c2int(comp);

Code on Ideone