Funcation Template Help

[fireblade]

I am having problems with figuring out how to use templates to take a class and move a char value. I have tried to overload the = operator, but ran into probelms because I don't quite understant how that function works. I run into compile errors on lines 72 and 79. Any help will be appreciated.

#include<iostream>
#include<string>
#include<conio.h>
using namespace std;

template<class T>
T askType(T x)
{
	char typeOfThing;
	cout << endl << "Is this animal or vegetable?" << endl;
	cout << "     " << x << endl;
	cout << "Enter A or V" << endl;
	cin >> typeOfThing;
	return(typeOfThing);
}

class Animal
{
	friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, Animal a);
		
	public:
		Animal(char n[], int l);
	
	private:
		char name[20];
		int legs;
};

Animal::Animal(char n[], int l)
{
	strcpy_s(Animal::name, n);
	Animal::legs = l;
}

ostream& operator<< (ostream& out, Animal a)
{
	out << a.name;
	return(out);
}

class Vegetable
{
	friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, Vegetable v);
		
	public:
		Vegetable(char n[]);
	
	private:
		char name[20];	
};

Vegetable::Vegetable(char n[])
{
	strcpy_s(Vegetable::name, n);
}

ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, Vegetable v)
{
  out << v.name;
  return(out);
}

char askType(char x[20]);

void main()
{
	char ans;
	
	Animal lion("lion",4), snake("snake",0);
	Vegetable carrot("carrot"), onion("onion");

	ans = askType <Animal> ("lion");
	
	if (ans =='A' || ans =='a')
		cout<<("Good!");
	else
		cout<<("Wrong!");
  
	ans = askType <Vegetable> ("carrot");

	if (ans =='V' || ans =='v')
		cout << ("Good!");
	else
		cout << ("Wrong!");
  
  _getch();
}

[hamsterman]

There is no reason for askType to be a template. In all cases you want it to take a string input and produce a char. You just don't use the type anywhere.
Do you realize that when you call askType <Animal> ("lion");, the compiler generates a function

Animal askType(Animal x)
{
	char typeOfThing;
	cout << endl << "Is this animal or vegetable?" << endl;
	cout << "     " << x << endl;
	cout << "Enter A or V" << endl;
	cin >> typeOfThing;
	return(typeOfThing);
}

I suppose the errors in that are obvious..

[ahura24]

your Animal class dont have implicitly constructor but its explicity !!! and cannot convert implicity
"lion" to Animal !! Secondly, in askType you cant return char type instead T type as Animal Type you must return animal type or change type of return function