Is this class declaration wrong? " Declaration has no storage class or type specifier" error

Question

While trying to setup an ESP32 as mqtt publisher I am getting strange errors. Here is my code:

#include "mqttSetup.h"
#include <WiFi.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>

static byte httpFailCounter = 0;
byte counter = 0;

const char *ssid = "SSID";
// const char *password = "xxxxx";
const char *passphrase = "xxxxx";

WiFiClient espClient;

const char *mqtt_server = "192.168.1.39";
const int mqttPort = 1883;
const char *mqttUser = "xxxx";
const char *mqttPassword = "xxxxx";

PubSubClient pubClient(espClient);

pubClient.setServer(mqtt_server, mqttPort); 

void checkConnection()
{
    if (WiFi.status() == WL_CONNECTED)
    {
        counter = 0; //reset counter
    }
    else if (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
    {
        WiFi.begin(ssid, passphrase);
    }
    while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
    {
        delay(500);
        Serial.print(".");

        counter++;
        if (counter >= 60)
        {
            ESP.restart();
        }
    }
}

void reconnect()
{
 
    while (!pubClient.connected())
    {
        Serial.print("Attempting MQTT connection...");
        // Create a random client ID
        const char *clientID = "ESP32D-MQTT";
        // Attempt to connect
        if (pubClient.connect(clientID))
        {
            Serial.println("connected");
            // Once connected, publish an announcement...
            pubClient.publish("outTopic", "Hello from ESP");
            // ... and resubscribe
            //   client.subscribe("inTopic");
        }
        else
        {
            Serial.print("failed, rc=");
            Serial.print(pubClient.state());
            Serial.println(" try again in 5 seconds");
            // Wait 5 seconds before retrying
            delay(5000);
        }
    }
}

I don't understand why the compiler is spitting out the following two errors:

this declaration has no storage class or type specifier (referring to my pubClient declaration)

expected a ';'

It doesn't have any issue when I declare the pubClient but at the line :

pubClient.setServer(mqtt_server, mqttPort);

where I use the pubClient it gives the error.

Besides I don't see any ; missing in the code.

Could you please help me figure out the source of error?

---

Header file for this code chunk

#ifndef MQTTSETUP_H
#define MQTTSETUP_H



void checkConnection();
void reconnect();


#endif

------------ Main sketch---------

#include <Arduino.h>
#include "Wire.h"
#include "tempSensor.h"
#include "mqttSetup.h"




void setup()
{
  Wire.begin();

  Serial.begin(115200);
  while (!Serial)
    ;

  shtBegin();
  checkConnection();
}

void loop()
{
  uint32_t newTime = millis();
  static uint32_t oldTime = 0;
  static uint32_t t2 = 0;

  float temp = 0.0;
  float humid = 0.0;

  char senVals[50];

  if (newTime - oldTime >= 10000)
  {
    oldTime = newTime;

    readsht(temp, humid);
    snprintf(senVals, 50, "Temp: %.2f Humid: %.2f", temp, humid);
    Serial.println(senVals);

  }
}

Answer 1

Code goes in functions, not the global scope.

Your line

pubClient.setServer(mqtt_server, mqttPort);

should be inside a function. Most probably setup() so it gets called when your program starts.

Incidentally - where are setup() and loop() - the two functions that are required by Arduino code?