A Simple Oversight

[SiliconHobo]

Hey Folks,

This recursive menu function is supposed to only list the options once, before menu_shown is incremented. However, the options are still being listed each time I default. Does anyone see why this is happening? Also, should I use fpurge instead of fflush? Thanks in advance for any insights. menu_shown is initialized globally as

 int menu_shown=0;

menu ()                                 /* gets menu choice and calls */         
{                                       /* the appropriate function   */
     char choice=0;
     int exit_code;
     
     if (menu_shown == 0);
     {     
        printf ("\nYou have the following options:\n");
        printf ("1) Add new contact\n");
        printf ("2) Search\n");
        printf ("3) Quit\n");
        menu_shown++;
     }
     printf ("\nPlease choose an option.\n>");
     choice = getchar();
     fflush(stdin);

     switch (choice)
     {
            case '1' : 
                 break;
            
            case '2' :
                 search ();
                 
            case '3' :
                 exit (exit_code);
                 
            default   :                                    
                 printf ("You've only got three choices, how hard can it be?\a\n");
                 menu ();
     }
}

[foxman]

Must say it's a weird thing to write a menu as a recursive fonction.
But it's ok.

I don't see why it would print your menu more than once. Might be missing something. Still, the condition looks okay, it's not an affectation operator but a comparaison one so it should be fine...

And people will tell you, fflush(stdin) isn't portable, since it's not defined in C standard. Use some kind of purging function instead (something like "while (getchar() != '\n')", but you have to be careful how you use it if you don't want your users to be mad confused heh).

[SiliconHobo]

Thanks for the reply. This is really stumping me. I'm using Dev C++ 4.9.9.2.

[foxman]

lol. I indeed found it. This is the worst kind of error you can do, extremely hard to find out.

if (menu_shown == 0);
     {     
        printf ("\nYou have the following options:\n");
        printf ("1) Add new contact\n");
        printf ("2) Search\n");
        printf ("3) Quit\n");
        menu_shown++;
     }

See that nasty ';'. Shouldn't be there. Remove me this.

And don't do that ever again.

Edit: by the way, if your menu function return nothing, declare your function as "void menu()".

[SiliconHobo]

Rock. Thanks foxman. That semicolon has been a thorn in my side long enough.

[ssharish2005]

And perhaps this

fflush(stdin);

needs to be elimiated from your code. See FAQ

ssharish