Lvalue required, eh..

Hi,

I have this struct definition in my program:

PHP Code:

struct qtype {
   char question[70];
   char answer[4][70];
   char rightanswer;
}; 


this struct: qtype item[12];
and this string: char line[70];
Now, with this code:

PHP Code:

   ifstream sourcefile ("quizfile.txt");
   sourcefile.getline (line, sizeof(line) );
   item[0].question = line; 


(on that last line) I'm getting an Lvalue Required error..
What's wrong?

Linette

> item[0].question = line;

You either need to use strcpy() for C-style strings, or std::string's if you want to use operator =.

I wrote this, and it gave me a General Protection Fault error and didn't run..

strcpy (item[0].question,line);

What's wrong now?

Looks okay, can you post more code ?

sure. this is all i have so far (not complete).. no pointers either..

PHP Code:

#include <iostream.h>
#include <fstream.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

struct qtype {
    char question[70];
    char answer[4][70];
    char rightanswer;
};

void main () {

    ifstream sourcefile ("quizfile.txt");
    qtype item[12];
    char line[70];
    char userans[12];
    int c;

    if (sourcefile.fail())
        cerr << "Error opening quizfile.txt...";
    else {
        sourcefile.getline (line, sizeof(line) );
        strcpy (item[0].question,line);
        cout << item[0].question << "\n\n";
    /*    for (c=0; c<4; c++) {
            sourcefile.getline (line, sizeof(line) );
            cout << line << endl;
        }
        cout << "\nAnswer: ";
        cin >> userans[0];
    */
     }

} 


I'm really stuck, please help!

Your code looks ok (apart from the void main()). What's the first line of quizfile.txt? What compiler/os are you using?

The problem that you talked about isn't in your latter code. Basically, the problem was you were trying to assign to an array, but arrays are not Lvalues. In your latter code, you've replaced

Code:

item[0].question = line;

with

Code:

strcpy (item[0].question,line);

So I'm not sure what your problem exactly is anymore.

Personally, you'd be a lot better off using STL strings instead of char arrays.

um, what's wrong with the void main?
the first line of that file is a question ("1. What is the best way to describe a network?")
my operating system is windows nt and i'm using turbo c++ compiler version 4.5

by the way i do get output (the first line) when i run it, but it gives me that general protection fault and doesn't terminate until i use windows task manager or debug->terminate program..

I tried changing the size of the string 'line'.. nope..
tried adding a null character to the end of item[0].question (after copying line into it).. still no change..
with the change in the size of that string, it displayed the output, and then when i tried to close the window (to terminate the program) it gave me that general protection thing again..

Does your program still crash if you attempt to get input from cin, rather than the file? Have you tried it on a different compiler?

thanks, that made me go and try it with this:

PHP Code:

cin >> line;
strcpy (item[0].question, line); 


and yes it crashed. so it's on the strcpy line.
once again line is declared as: char line[70];
and item as: qtype item[12];
with qtype defined as:

PHP Code:

struct qtype {
   char question[70];
   char answer[4][70];
   char rightanswer;
}; 


do i have to use pointers with strcpy? the general protection thing has always happened to me because of pointers..

>do i have to use pointers with strcpy?

The name of an array is a pointer (of sorts). Have you tried a different compiler?

No, I haven't tried a different compiler (don't have another one at home).. I guess others who replied might've had a different one..