Copying a C++ class with a member variable of reference type

Question

I\'ve a class which stores a reference to its parent, the reference is passed in the constructor. If I try to copy an instance I get an error \"error C2582: \'operator =\' f

Answer 1

Yes just make the member a pointer. A reference won't be able to be reseated, and there is no work-around.

Edit: @"Steve Jessop" makes a valid point to how work-around the problem using the PIMPL idiom (private implementation using a "d-pointer"). In an assignment, you will delete the old implementation and create a new one copy-constructed from the source object's d-pointer.