Arrays of pointers inside structures.

Hello.

I am writing a student records program for class. We are supposed to make two structures, one for students and one for courses. Inside each structure the needs to be an array of pointers to the other structure. I have the structures set up so:

Code:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

#define MAX_STUDENT_NAME 20  //maximum characters for first or last name
#define MAX_CLASS_NAME 30     //maximum characters for class name

typedef	struct student{                         //student info
	int ID;
	char fname[MAX_STUDENT_NAME];
	char lname[MAX_STUDENT_NAME];
	struct course *myClasses[3];
	int numClasses;
	int grades;

}student_t;


typedef struct course{   // class info
	char Title[MAX_CLASS_NAME];
	char courseID [5];
	 student_t *myStudents[10];
	int grades;
	int credits;
}course_t;

The trouble I am having is inputting the information. I have been trying something like

Code:

strcpy(course_t.myStudents[0].fname, "Bob");

but I get different errors with each variation. Any help would be appreciated.

but I am getting

What might these different errors be?

For that particular one

error C2065: 'myStudents' : undeclared identifier
error C2228: left of '.fname' must have class/struct/union

course_t is an alias for the struct course type. Therefore, course_t.myStudents[0] does not make sense. You would need a course_t object (let's name it course) to be able to use course.myStudents[0]. But if you did, then course.myStudents[0].fname would not make sense, since course.myStudents[0] would be a pointer. Instead, you would use: course.myStudents[0]->fname.

Break it down:

Code:

// declare a variable of type course_t
course_t myCourse;

// allocate enough space for the first student
myCourse.myStudents[0] = malloc(sizeof(student_t));

// give the first student a name
strcpy(myCourse.myStudents[0]->fname, "Bob");

Is there any reason why you want an array of 10 student_t pointers instead of an array of 10 student_t's?

[edit] Its always good to hit submit and then see that someone already posted before you [/edit]

one thing that looks troublesome is this

Code:

student_t *myStudents[10];

to me, you have declared a 2d array. but then you write this

Code:

strcpy(course_t.myStudents[0].fname, "Bob");

which is referring to a whole row of structs. I think you want to refer to a single struct only, so something like

Code:

strcpy(course_t.myStudents[0][0].fname, "Bob");

would be more appropriate

but thats not the biggest problem. there is something very wrong with this line still. ill give you an equivalent line of code using integers only;

Code:

 int = 3*5;

int is a data type, you cant assign it a value. similarly, course_t is a data type, not a variable, so you cannot alter it.

so how would you solve this problem using integers? you would write

Code:

 int variableNameHere;
variableNameHere = 3*5;

similarly, you need to write

Code:

course_t variableNameHere;
strcpy(variableNameHere.myStudents[0][0].fname, "Bob");

those are a few of the bigger problems.

i also dont like the fact that your structs include pointers to eachother. to me that means they would be infinitely big. like you have structA, and inside structA is structB, and inside structB is structA, and inside structA is structB, etc.

Thanks guys, that got it.

Originally Posted by Brain_Child

to me, you have declared a 2d array.

No, it is a declaration of an array of 10 pointers to student_t objects. These pointers could indeed point to the first element of arrays of student_t objects, but they could also point to lone student_t objects.

Originally Posted by Brain_Child

i also dont like the fact that your structs include pointers to eachother. to me that means they would be infinitely big. like you have structA, and inside structA is structB, and inside structB is structA, and inside structA is structB, etc.

That would be impossible (and in fact type T1 cannot have objects of type T2 as members if objects of type T2 have objects of type T1 as members; pointers would then be used to work around this). Rather, this particular usage seems fine since it is just a way to access the courses that a student is enrolled in, given the student.