Thread: Logic Error Help

I'm trying to sort the below by last name from A -> Z but I can't get it to sort and I'm not sure where I've buggered it. I've tried desk checking it but it all looks ok to me. Any ideas would be great thanks.

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <fstream>

#include <stdlib.h>

using namespace std;

class employee
{
   /* Employee class to contain employee data
   */
   
   private:
      string surname;
      double hourlyRate;
     int empNumber;
     
   public:
      employee() {
         hourlyRate = -1;
         empNumber = -1;
         surname = "";
      }
      
      employee(const employee &other) :
         surname(other.surname),
         hourlyRate(other.hourlyRate),
         empNumber(other.empNumber)
      {
         // copy constructor
      }
      
      void setEmployee(const string &name, double rate, int num) { 
         surname = name;
         hourlyRate = rate;
         empNumber = num;
      }
      
      const string& getSurname() const {
         return surname;
      }
      
      void printEmployee() {
         cout << fixed << setprecision(2);
         cout << setw(20) << left << surname << setw(4) << empNumber << "  " << hourlyRate << "\n";
      }
      
      void loadEmployee(ifstream &fin) {
         fin >> surname;
         fin >> hourlyRate;
         fin >> empNumber;
      }
      
};
      
void swap(vector<employee> employees, int a, int b);
void sortEmployees(vector<employee> &employees);
void printEmployees(vector<employee> &employees);
void loadEmployees(vector<employee> &employees, const char *file);

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
   vector<employee> employees;

   if (argc != 2) {
      cout << "Syntax : employee employeefile\n";
      return 0;
   }

   loadEmployees(employees, argv[1]);
   printEmployees(employees);
   sortEmployees(employees);
   printEmployees(employees);

   return 0;
}

void loadEmployees(vector<employee> &employees, const char *file)
{
   ifstream fin;
   employee emp;
   
   fin.open(file);
   if (!fin) {
      cout << "Unable to read from " << file << "\n";
      exit(0);
   }
   
   while (!fin.eof()) {
      emp.loadEmployee(fin);
      employees.push_back(emp);
   }
   fin.close();   
}

void printEmployees(vector<employee> &employees)
{
   unsigned int i;

   for (i=0; i<employees.size(); i++) {
      employees[i].printEmployee();
   }
   printf("\n");
}

void swap(vector<employee> employees, int a, int b)
{
   employee temp(employees[a]);

   temp = employees[a];
   employees[a] = employees[b];
   employees[b] = temp;
}

void sortEmployees(vector<employee> &employees)
{
   /* use selection sort to order employees, 
      in employee name order
   */

   int number = employees.size();
   int inner, outer, max;

   for (outer=number-1; outer>0; outer--)
   {
      // run though array number of times
      max = 0;
      for (inner=1; inner<=outer; inner++)
      {
         // find alphabeticaly largest surname
         if (employees[inner].getSurname() > employees[max].getSurname())
            max = inner;
      }
      if (max != outer)
      {
         // swap largest with last element in array
         swap(employees, max, outer);
      }
   }
}

Your swap function is working on a copy of the vector, so that in itself prevents your sortEmployees from sorting.

I also noticed that this line

Code:

   temp = employees[a];

is extraneous since temp is already defined as employees[a].

Is that because of the declare at the start of the function or somewhere else?

Yes, the first parameter should be

Code:

vector<employee> &employees

as in your other functions.

Why did you make the swap() function different from the others?

I didn;t intentionally I just missed it for some stupid reason.

Thanks for your help.