Pointer declaration for member function:

Method 1: When Class is not declared as pointer

M n;

void(M::*pf)(int,int)=&M::setxy; (n.*pf)(10,20);

n.setxy(10,20); //is same as prior statement.

Remember in C the syntax is (*function_name)(arguments); in C++ the only difference is the function should be member function of a class therefore the function should be identified by the class with           help      of              scope    operator         ::,             thus             the     syntax   for       C++          is (class_name::*function_name)(argument);

Method 2: When Class is declared as pointer

M *op;

op=&n;

(op->*pf)(30,40);

The difference from the first method is the class is also declared as pointer class, in such case the dereferencing operator -> is used (pointer_class_name:_*pointer_function_name)(argument);

The following example will give clear understanding of pointer to members both function members and data member.

class M

{int x, y;

public:

void setxy(int a, int b)

{x=a;

y=b;

}

friend int sum(M m);

};

int sum(M m)

{//Declaring pointer to data member int M::*px;

px=&M::x; int M::*py; py=&M::y;

//Declaring class as pointer

M *pm;

pm=&m;

int S,S1,S2;

//Two ways of reading through pointer

S1=m.*px; //object_name.*pointer-to-member function

S2=pm->*py;//pointer-to-object->*pointer-to-member function

S=S1+S2;

//S=m.x+m.y; //is same as prior statement without pointer.

return S;

}

int main()

{clrscr();

M n; void(M::*pf)(int,int)=&M::setxy; (n.*pf)(10,20);

n.setxy(10,20); //is same as prior statement. cout<<"SUM is "<<sum(n)<<"\n";

M *op;

op=&n;

(op->*pf)(30,40);

//n.setxy(30,40); //is same as prior statement. cout<<"Sum is "<<sum(n);

return 0;

}