template specialization for static member functions; howto?

Question

I am trying to implement a template function with handles void differently using template specialization.

The following code gives me an \"Explicit specialization in non

Answer 1

When you specialize a templated method, you must do so outside of the class brackets:

template  struct Test {}; // to simulate type dependency

struct X // class declaration: only generic
{
   template 
   static void f( Test );
};

// template definition:
template 
void X::f( Test ) {
   std::cout << "generic" << std::endl;
}
template <>
inline void X::f( Test ) {
   std::cout << "specific" << std::endl;
}

int main()
{
   Test ti;
   Test tv;
   X::f( ti ); // prints 'generic'
   X::f( tv ); // prints 'specific'
}

When you take it outside of the class, you must remove the 'static' keyword. Static keyword outside of the class has a specific meaning different from what you probably want.

template  struct Test {}; // to simulate type dependency

template 
void f( Test ) {
   std::cout << "generic" << std::endl;
}
template <>
void f( Test ) {
   std::cout << "specific" << std::endl;
}

int main()
{
   Test ti;
   Test tv;
   f( ti ); // prints 'generic'
   f( tv ); // prints 'specific'
}