C++ template friend function not linking

Question

I have the following code which compiles in VC6 :

Text.h:

template 
class CTextT
{
   public:

    friend  CTextT add(const CTextT&         


        

Answer 1

The solution is following:

template 
class CTextT
{
public:

template 
friend CTextT add(CTextT const&, CTextT const&) ;

friend  CTextT operator+(const CTextT& string1, const CTextT& string2)  
{  return ::add(string1, string2); }

};

template 
CTextT add(CTextT const&, CTextT const&) 
{
   CTextT temp ;
   return temp ;
}

I found the following link to MSDN explaining how to add friend functions in templates - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f1b2td24.aspx.

I tested and it works for VS2010 and VS2012. VC6 does not need the second template declaration (it takes it from the class) and in VC6 this code will not compile anymore - will return INTERNAL COMPILER ERROR.