I have a derived class from an abstract base class that creates an object of another class privately inside of it. I have included the header files with the class definitions in it, but the private class object's class datatype isn't working when I compile. Here's what it looks like: scenes.h:

#ifndef _SCENES_H_
#define _SCENES_H_

#include "common.h"
#include "scene.h"
#include "CMap.h"


//Game
class CGame: public CScene
{
private:
	CMap *Map;    //<---------------Problem here (look below at error)

public:
	CGame();
	~CGame();

	void render(){}
	UInt8 loop(){return 0;}
};

#endif

CMap.h:

#ifndef _CMAP_H_
#define _CMAP_H_

#include "common.h"

class CMap
{
private:
	sMapHeader Header;
	sMapParam Param;
	vector<SDL_Surface> vTextures;
	vector<string> vstrTextures;
	sMapBase *pMap;
	SInt16 *pMapDecor;

	SDL_Surface *MapSurface;

	bool loadMap(string filename);
	void loadTextures();

public:
	CMap(string filename){ if(!loadMap(filename)){ loadTextures(); } }
};

#endif

And I get this error when I compile:

c:\Users\xxxx\Documents\Visual Studio Projects\Neon\scenes.h(24) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '*'
c:\Users\xxxx\Documents\Visual Studio Projects\Neon\scenes.h(24) : error C2501: 'CGame::CMap' : missing storage-class or type specifiers
c:\Users\xxxx\Documents\Visual Studio Projects\Neon\scenes.h(24) : error C2501: 'CGame::Map' : missing storage-class or type specifiers

I can't figure out for the life of me why it can't simply see the CMap class. I've even started a new project over from scratch, added the source files again, and compiled, but I get the same errors. Thanks in advance! Edit: I'm using MSVC++ 2003 .NET

I just put:

class CMap;

in my scenes.h file. It works now, but I'm still curious as to why it wouldn't find the CMap class even when directly linked to the #include.

Do you, by any chance, have a cycle in your #includes?

I just might. I'm never sure how to setup includes properly. Do includes work in a hierarchy. Say I have a class defined in a header which I include in another common header file inside another header which I finally include in the header I need. So that's nested 4 times of includes that all trace back to the one file. Is that a good way to go about it?