initializing a static vector

From: Wattim (wattim_at_aol.com)
Date: 03/31/04 

Date: 31 Mar 2004 15:52:52 GMT

I am a newbe at c++ and the stl, so forgive me if I don't use the proper
vocabulary, so here it goes:

I have a class that I want to contain a static vector of strings like so:

// foo.h file ---------------------------

#include <string>
#include <vector>

class foo
{
public:
   // ctors and dtor are here

   // member variables and functions declared here

   // my static vector
static std::vector<std::string> vstring;
}

Like any other static member, I need to initialize vstring in my
implementation file, foo.cpp, but I am getting a linker error if I do the
following:

// foo.cpp file -------------------
#include "foo.h"
#include <string>
#include <vector>

using namespace std;
…
// initialize vstring - how should I do this?

vector<string> foo::vstring=NULL;

So, how do I initialize a vector when it is used as a static member of a class?