cant run this program

i am using microsoft visual c++ and cant get this to run. i have the file in the right spot.....any suggestions, or do you need any more info from me.....it always tells me that there is an error opening the file....



#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
#include <iomanip>

using namespace std;


int main()
{
string filename;
cout<< "Enter file name to open:";
cin >> filename;

ifstream fin(filename.c_str());
if (!fin)
{
cout << "Error opening" + filename + "\n";

//We're outa here.
return 0;
}

string firstname,lastname,ssn; //ssn has to be a string because the input
int age; // text has minues (-) in it. So you can't use an int.
int total=0; //We'll use this to add up the ages as we get them.

//Loop until end of file
while (!fin.eof())
{
fin >> firstname;

//If the firstname is blank, we don't have a line. It's probably just
// the carriage return at the very end of the file.
if (firstname != "")
{
fin >> lastname;
fin >> ssn;
fin >> age;
cout << firstname << " " << lastname << " " << ssn << " " << age << "\n";

//Add the age to the total. total = total + age is another way to write it.
total += age;
}
}


fin.close();

cout << "Total= " << total;

return 0;
}

>it always tells me that there is an error opening the file

What are you entering as the filename? Where is the file located on your drive?

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cout << "Error opening" + filename + "\n";

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shouldn't that be:
cout << "Error opening " << filename << '\n';

[Next part added instead of new reply]

I'm not too familiar with the C++ way of opening files (I like fopen() and such), but check to see that you open the file in write mode. If you try to open a file in read mode and it doesn't exist, you should be getting the error.

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shouldn't that be:
cout << "Error opening " << filename << '\n';

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No, a std::string will be created from "Error opening" + filename + "\n".

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I'm not too familiar with the C++ way of opening files

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Evidently. The fact that it's an istream opens the file in write mode.

instead of putting me down, shouldn't you be trying to help the guy's problem?

>instead of putting me down
No harm is meant, here's an excerpt from the smart questions link in my signature which should make you feel a bit better...but only a bit ;)

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Dealing with rudeness
Much of what looks like rudeness in hacker circles is not intended to give offence. Rather, it's the product of the direct, cut-through-the-bull**** communications style that is natural to people who are more concerned about solving problems than making others feel warm and fuzzy.

When you perceive rudeness, try to react calmly. If someone is really acting out, it is very likely that a senior person on the list or newsgroup or forum will call him or her on it. If that doesn't happen and you lose your temper, it is likely that the person you lose it at was behaving within the hacker community's norms and you will be considered at fault. This will hurt your chances of getting the information or help you want.

On the other hand, you will occasionally run across rudeness and posturing that is quite gratuitous. The flip-side of the above is that it is acceptable form to slam real offenders quite hard, dissecting their misbehavior with a sharp verbal scalpel. Be very, very sure of your ground before you try this, however. The line between correcting an incivility and starting a pointless flamewar is thin enough that hackers themselves not infrequently blunder across it; if you are a newbie or an outsider, your chances of avoiding such a blunder are low. If you're after information rather than entertainment, it's better to keep your fingers off the keyboard than to risk this.

(Some people assert that many hackers have a mild form of autism or Asperger's Syndrome, and are actually missing some of the brain circuitry that lubricates `normal' human social interaction. This may or may not be true. If you are not a hacker yourself, it may help you cope with our eccentricities if you think of us as being brain-damaged. Go right ahead. We won't care; we like being whatever it is we are, and generally have a healthy skepticism about clinical labels.)

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Please note that 'hacker' in this sense means gifted programmer or computer person and not a malicious kid who simply runs programs that he/she download off of the internet.

-Prelude

i have the file on my c drive and it looks like this....

John Smith 123-45-6789 57
Judy Jones 987-65-4321 22
Jeff Jingles 111-11-1111 32
Jennifer Gennifer 000-00-0000 18
Angie Pangie 111-22-3333 20
Brad Pitt 333-44-5555 34

>instead of putting me down, shouldn't you be trying to help the guy's problem?

Sorry no offense meant, and I was trying to help the guy instead of asking him to go down blind alleys. Besides evidently I don't know what I'm talking about because istreams open a file for reading not writing (unregistered wants to read from a file not write to it) :).

>i have the file on my c drive and it looks like this....

Ensure that you're typing the full path of the file name. You could try moving it to your project directory and just type the filename. If the filename contains spaces you'll have to use fin.get() or fin.getline() rather than operator >>.

Doesn't ifstream read from the file Sorensen?

Ahh, I hate when that happens.

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Sorry no offense meant

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none taken

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No harm is meant, here's an excerpt from the smart questions link in my signature which should make you feel a bit better...but only a bit

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hehe, cool