general c++ question

[Shai Ayal]

This is a general c++ question, but I came upon it while trying to
patch octave, so I figured I'll try asking here:

I want to declare a function returning the figure::figure_properties
class. This function will have to be declared before
figure::figure_properties is declared. This is usually done using
forward declarations -- i.e. I would expect he following to work:

class figure;
class figure::figure_properties;
figure::figure_properties test();

however gcc comes back with the error:
'figure_properties' in class 'figure' does not name a type
for both lines where figure::figure_properties is mentioned. Trying
the following also does not work:

class figure;
class figure_properties;
figure::figure_properties test();

with the same error where figure::figure_properties is mentioned.

any ideas besides moving figure_properties outside figure?