Wsrtjtyk

I tried to write a very simple variant and visitor implementation as below but I got compile errors that I could not figure out why.

#include <variant>

#include <string>

#include <iostream>



struct foo

{

    std::string s;

};



struct bar

{

    double s;

};



using var = std::variant<foo, bar>;



struct visitor

{

    template <class T>

    auto operator()(const T v) -> decltype(v.s)

    {

        return v.s;

    }

};



int main()

{

    foo f;

    f.s = 3.0;



    var x = f;

    auto xs = std::visit(visitor{}, x);

    std::cout<<xs<<std::endl;

}

The error is so long and is complicate enough to confuse me as a newbie to c++11+

In file included from main.cpp:1:

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant: In instantiation of 'static constexpr auto std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...)>, std::tuple<_Rest ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_S_apply() [with _Result_type = std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> _Visitor = visitor&&; _Variants = {std::variant<foo, bar>&}; long unsigned int ...__indices = {1}]':

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:825:61:   required from 'static constexpr void std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...), __dimensions ...>, std::tuple<_Variants ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_S_apply_single_alt(_Tp&) [with long unsigned int __index = 1; _Tp = std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&)> _Result_type = std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> _Visitor = visitor&&; long unsigned int ...__dimensions = {2}; _Variants = {std::variant<foo, bar>&}; long unsigned int ...__indices = {}]'

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:813:39:   required from 'static constexpr void std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...), __dimensions ...>, std::tuple<_Variants ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_S_apply_all_alts(std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...), __dimensions ...>, std::tuple<_Variants ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_Array_type&, std::index_sequence<__indices ...>) [with long unsigned int ...__var_indices = {0, 1}; _Result_type = std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> _Visitor = visitor&&; long unsigned int ...__dimensions = {2}; _Variants = {std::variant<foo, bar>&}; long unsigned int ...__indices = {}; std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...), __dimensions ...>, std::tuple<_Variants ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_Array_type = std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&), 2> std::index_sequence<__indices ...> = std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, 0, 1>]'

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:803:19:   required from 'static constexpr std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...), __dimensions ...>, std::tuple<_Variants ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_Array_type std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...), __dimensions ...>, std::tuple<_Variants ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_S_apply() [with _Result_type = std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> _Visitor = visitor&&; long unsigned int ...__dimensions = {2}; _Variants = {std::variant<foo, bar>&}; long unsigned int ...__indices = {}; std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable_impl<std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<_Result_type (*)(_Visitor, _Variants ...), __dimensions ...>, std::tuple<_Variants ...>, std::integer_sequence<long unsigned int, __indices ...> >::_Array_type = std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&), 2>]'

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:863:38:   required from 'static constexpr std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable<_Result_type, _Visitor, _Variants>::_Array_type std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable<_Result_type, _Visitor, _Variants>::_S_apply() [with _Result_type = std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> _Visitor = visitor&&; _Variants = {std::variant<foo, bar>&}; std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable<_Result_type, _Visitor, _Variants>::_Array_type = std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&), 2>]'

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:866:49:   required from 'constexpr const std::__detail::__variant::_Multi_array<std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&), 2> std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable<std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>, visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&>::_S_vtable'

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:866:29:   required from 'struct std::__detail::__variant::__gen_vtable<std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>, visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&>'

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:1394:23:   required from 'constexpr decltype(auto) std::visit(_Visitor&&, _Variants&& ...) [with _Visitor = visitor; _Variants = {std::variant<foo, bar>&}]'

main.cpp:34:38:   required from here

/usr/local/include/c++/8.1.0/variant:848:43: error: invalid conversion from 'std::__success_type<double>::type (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&)' {aka 'double (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&)'} to 'std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> (*)(visitor&&, std::variant<foo, bar>&)' [-fpermissive]

       { return _Array_type{&__visit_invoke}; }

std::visit requires the return type be same type and value category for all combination:

The return type is deduced from the returned expression as if by decltype. The call is ill-formed if the invocation above is not a valid expression of the same type and value category, for all combinations of alternative types of all variants.

see C++ draft standard [variant.visit]p2:

Requires: For each valid pack m, e(m) shall be a valid expression.
All such expressions shall be of the same type and value category; otherwise, the program is ill-formed.

If for example each struct had an int member x and you return that instead it would not longer be ill-formed see it live on godbolt. In your case you could change the visitor to simply print instead of return the value see it live:

struct visitor

{

    template <class T>

    void operator()(const T v) 

    {

        std::cout<< v.s;

    }

};