c++ - How to store a variable in a header, to use in the main cpp? -

i tried asking question, bit more fuzzy on details, arrived home , hope can explain myself better.

say, have class, in case, testclass, declared constructor , methods in testclass.h already. now, want create new array of these elements, , store them somewhere, load in main.cpp, when want to.

what tried doing, is, doing in new header, called contents table.h. here, tried making array of these testclass elements. however, don't know, how go doing this.

testclass.h

#pragma once  #include <string.h> #include <iostream>  using namespace std;  class testclass { private:     string name;     string description; public:     testclass()     {         name = "";         description = "";     }     testclass(string name, string description)     {         this->name = name;         this->description = description;     }     ~testclass()     {     } }; 

and here contents table, want store data, manually write in, had 2 ideas doing this, not sure 1 feasible:

first idea:

contentstable.h

#include "testclass.h"  testclass* builddata(void) {     testclass* world = new testclass[5];     world[0] = testclass("a", "a");     //etc, fill rest up.     return world; } 

and in main.cpp, i'd call function, like

#include "contents table.h"  //...  testclass* dataarray = builddata(); 

second idea:

contentstable.h

#include "testclass.h"  namespace dataarray2 {     extern testclass* dataarray2 = new testclass[5];     dataarray2[0] = testclass("a", "a"); }; 

and i'd declare again in main.cpp, second 1 things, i'm trying redeclare dataarray2, when try giving 1 if elements value. (again, i'm sure it's fault this, sorry, if seems banal code, haven't been learning long.)

not sure if meets requirements, i'd make builddata (c++11 solution):

#include <vector> using std::vector;  /*define testclass*/  vector<testclass> builddata() {     vector<testclass> v;     v.emplace_back("a", "a");     return v; }