ArduinoJSON define as extern

Question

My sketch contains 2 .h files. one defines

on 1st .h file:

#define JSON_SIZE_IOT 400
#define JSON_SIZE_SKETCH 300
StaticJsonDocument<JSON_SIZE_IOT> paramJSON;
StaticJsonDocument<JSON_SIZE_SKETCH> sketchJSON;

and other need to define paramJSON and sketchJSON as extern

on 2nd .h file:

extern JsonDocument paramJSON;
extern JsonDocument paramJSON;

but I get this error:

error: conflicting declaration 'ArduinoJson6172_91::StaticJsonDocument<400u> paramJSON'
 StaticJsonDocument<JSON_SIZE_IOT> paramJSON;

....

: previous declaration as 'ArduinoJson6172_91::JsonDocument paramJSON'
 extern JsonDocument paramJSON;

• jsotola: please look at the code snippets that you posted ... the problem appears to be obvious ... the copy'n'paste bug strikes again
• guyd: @jsotola do you mean JsonDocument instead StaticJsonDocument? it does not work either way
• jsotola: no ... you made a duplicate declaration
• Juraj: a variable definition should always be in cpp. in h only if you know what you are doing. but in to extern: it must be the same type including the template types.
• Juraj: then put it in ino or add a cpp file

Answer 1

For an extern the whole definition has to match the "master" definition.

So if you have:

StaticJsonDocument<JSON_SIZE_IOT> paramJSON;

then you extern has to be:

extern StaticJsonDocument<JSON_SIZE_IOT> paramJSON;

Of course you have to make sure your JSON_SIZE_IOT is the same for both - so it's best if that comes from a common source.

This is known as explicit instantiation declaration and you can read more about it in the Class template C++ reference.

• guyd: Doesn't StaticJsonDocument a template ? that is why I used JsonDocument . Since JSON_SIZE_IOT defined using #define - how can I use it? ( pre-processor won't pass extern)
• Majenko: @Guy.D You can't extern to a different type. If you want to have something else then give yourself a pointer to it and do a cast to that pre-defined object.