How to call a method via a vector?

Question

How do I call a method of an object which is stored within a vector? The following code fails...

    ClassA* class_derived_a = new ClassDerivedA;
    ClassA*         


        

Answer 1

The things in the vector are pointers. You need:

(*it)->printOutput();

which dereferences the iterator to get the pointer from the vector, then uses -> on the pointer to call the function. The syntax you show in your question would work if the vector contained objects rather than pointers, in which case the iterator acts like a pointer to one of those objects.