Thread: Beginners Help

Hi guys i've just started to learn the c programming language in computing class so im a real noob. This code is writing seven records to a binary file succesfully but the text its outputing is all over the place and not very neat when i open it in notepad. Is there any way to control the way it appears when i open it in notepad? I also just read in another post that you should never use fflush(stdin) but my teacher uses it so i think ill probably need to include that if you's dont mind.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Code:

 
void add_book()
{
	record_file = fopen("C:\\bookfile.bin","wb");
    
    system("cls");
    
    printf( "\n\nAdd book details");
    
    for(num_records=0;num_records<=7;num_records++)
         {
           printf( "\n\nISBN: ");
           fflush(stdin);
           gets(record_array[num_records].ISBN);
           printf( "\n\nAuthor: ");
           fflush(stdin);
           gets(record_array[num_records].Author);
           printf( "\n\nTitle: ");
           fflush(stdin);
           gets(record_array[num_records].Title);
           printf( "------------------------------------" );
           
           fwrite(&record_array[num_records],sizeof(record_structure),1,record_file);
          } 
          
           fclose(record_file);
    
    screen_pause();
}

Thanks for your reply subsonics ive made the changes you suggested but im getting an error message now ((warning return type of 'main' is not int)) so i thought id post all the code. This was a sample menu program given to us by our teacher, i have only edited void_book() so far all the rest is mostly untouched.

Code:

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

/* global variables */			
typedef struct
{
  char ISBN[20];
  char Author[50];
  char Title[50];
}record_structure;  

FILE *record_file;
int choice;
record_structure record_array[8];
int num_records;

/* function prototypes */
void intro();
void menu();
void close();
void add_book();
void option2();
void option3();
void option4();
void screen_pause();

/*******************************************************************************************/

void main()
{
	intro();
	do
	{
		menu();
	}
	while (choice!=5);
	close();
}/* end of main function */

/*******************************************************************************************/

void intro()
{
	system("cls");
	printf("\n\n\n\n\n\n\tWelcome to Forth Valley's Collection of Technical Books");
	screen_pause();
}/*end of intro function*/

/*******************************************************************************************/

void add_book()
{
	record_file = fopen("C:\\bookfile.bin","wb");
    
    system("cls");
    
    printf( "\n\nAdd book details");
    
    for(num_records=0;num_records<=7;num_records++)
         {
           printf( "\n\nISBN: ");
           fflush(stdin);
           fgets(record_array[num_records].ISBN, size, stdin);
           printf( "\n\nAuthor: ");
           fflush(stdin);
           fgets(record_array[num_records].Author, size, stdin);
           printf( "\n\nTitle: ");
           fflush(stdin);
           fgets(record_array[num_records].Title, size, stdin);
           printf( "------------------------------------" );
           
           fwrite(&record_array[num_records],sizeof(record_structure),1,record_file);
          } 
          
           fclose(record_file);
    
    screen_pause();
}/* end of dummy menu option 1 function */

/*******************************************************************************************/

void option2()
{
	system("cls");
	printf("Search for ISBN ");
	screen_pause();
}/* end of dummy menu option 2 function */

/*******************************************************************************************/

void option3()
{
	system("cls");
	printf("Search for a book by title ");
	screen_pause();
}/* end of dummy menu option 3 function */

/*******************************************************************************************/

void option4()
{
	system("cls");
	printf("Show details of all books ");
	screen_pause();
}/* end of dummy menu option 4 function */

/*******************************************************************************************/

void close()
{
	system("cls");
	printf("\n\n\n\n\n\n\tThank you for using this program");
	screen_pause();
}/* end of close function */

/*******************************************************************************************/

void menu()
{
	system("cls");
	printf("\n\nMENU");
	printf("\n\n1 - Add new entry: ");
	printf("\n2 - Book search by ISBN: ");
	printf("\n3 - Book search by title: ");
	printf("\n4 - Show details off all books stored: ");
	printf("\n5 - Exit Program:");
	
    printf("\n\nEnter your choice ");
    scanf("%i", &choice);
    while((choice<1)||(choice>5))
    {
     printf("\n\nYou eneterd an invalid number please enter a valid number");
     printf("\n\n\tEnter your choice: ");
     scanf("%i", &choice);
     }
       
	switch(choice)
	{
		case 1 : add_book();break;
		case 2 : option2(); break;
		case 3 : option3(); break;
		case 4 : option4() ; break;
		case 5 :  break;
	}
}/* end of menu function */

/*******************************************************************************************/

void screen_pause()
{
	printf("\n\n\tPress any key to continue.....");
	getch();
}/* end of screen_pause function */

You don't have a return type in main, as you declare it as "void main", if you do:

Code:

int main()
{
        //your code..

        return 0;
}

Code:

typedef struct
{
  char ISBN[20];
  char Author[50];
  char Title[50];
}record_structure;

I meant for the "size" argument to be replaced with the size you had declared, not size typed literarily.

So in you case, size would be 20, 50, 50 in your three fgets calls. But I propose that you define size as a constant and use it in both the declaration and in your fgets calls, easier to change and comprehend and also less likely for mistakes to happen. So for example:

Code:

#define SIZE 50


typedef struct
{
  char ISBN[SIZE];
  char Author[SIZE];
  char Title[SIZE];
}record_structure;

Yeah but when you're writing the structs to a "binary" file, of course it won't look good when opening with a text editor like notepad. The elements of the structure are not always filled to their capacity.... leaving perhaps garbage characters after the terminating null. Also no one placed new-lines between the elements or records so that notepad would display things in some sort of list.