Cpp . NET: "a->Methodname " vs "a.MethodName"

Question

I would like to know the difference between these two (sorry I do not know the name of this subject).

I come from C# where I was used to write System.data as well as classA.MethodA. I have already found out that in Cpp, with namespaces I need to use ::, with classmembers ->. But what about simple "."? I have created System::data:odbc::odbcConnection^ connection. Later I was able to use connection.Open. Why not connection->open?

Im sorry, I am sure its something easily findable on the net, but I dont know english term for these. Thank you guys

Answer 1

If you have a pointer to an object, you use:

MyClass *a = new MyClass();
a->MethodName();

On the other hand, if you have an actual object, you use dotted notation:

MyClass a;
a.MethodName();