C++ Error: conversion to non-scalar type requested?

Question

I'm fairly new to C++ and i'm trying to build a linked list with a container class called FlexString. In main() I want to instantiate the FlexString class by simply saying: "FlexString flex_str = new FlexString();" calling the constructor etc. But it won't compile, the error is at the bottom. Here is my code:

    //FlexString.h file
#ifndef FLEXSTRING_CAMERON_H
#define FLEXSTRING_CAMERON_H
#include "LinkedList.h"
#include <string>

using namespace std;
using oreilly_A1::LinkedList;

namespace oreilly_A1 {
class FlexString {
public:

    FlexString();
    void store(std::string& s);
    size_t length();
    bool empty();
    std::string value();
    size_t count();




private:

    LinkedList data_list;

};
}
#endif

Here is the .cpp file for the FlexString class:

#include "FlexString.h"
#include "LinkedList.h"
#include <string>

using namespace std;

namespace oreilly_A1 {
    FlexString::FlexString() {

    }

    void FlexString::store(string& s) {
        data_list.list_head_insert(s);
    }

    std::string value() {
        data_list.list_getstring(); 
    }

}

Here's the main program file.

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
#include "FlexString.h"

using namespace std;
using oreilly_A1::FlexString;

int main() {

    FlexString flex_str = new FlexString();
    cout << "Please enter a word: " << endl;
    string new_string;
    cin >> new_string;

    flex_str.store(new_string);

    cout << "The word you stored was: "+ flex_str.value() << endl;

}

error: conversion from 'oreilly_A1::FlexString*' to non-scalar type 'oreilly_A1::FlexString' requested. "FlexString flex_str = new FlexString();"

Solution

FlexString flex_str = new FlexString();

is wrong since the RHS of the assignment is a pointer to a FlexString while the LHS is an object.

You can use:

// Use the default constructor to construct an object using memory
// from the stack.
FlexString flex_str;

or

// Use the default constructor to construct an object using memory
// from the free store.
FlexString* flex_str = new FlexString();