Box Drawing Program

I'm writing a program that displays a box of any given size. There are width & height limits. The program should process only one input case (legal or not).


This is my code so far:


Code:

Code:

_________________________________________________

#include <iostream>

using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;

int main()
{
	char character;
	int width =79, 
	     height = 20;
		 

cout << "enter the character, width and height (eg. * 6 3:)";
cin >> character >> width >> height;

for (int i = 1; i <= height; i++) {
for (int j = 1; j <= width; j++)
   if ( i == 1 || i == height)
      cout<< character;
   else
      cout<<"ERROR: The height must be between 1 and 20             inclusive!";
      cout<<"\n";

   if (j == 1 || j == width )
     cout<< character;
   else
    cout<<"ERROR: The width must be between 1 and 79!";
    cout<<"\n";
	}
	  			
return 0;

}
_________________________________________________

I can get the box to print.
However when I try to set height and width limits, the program does not do what it is suppose to do.

Also, how would you print the box with a hollow center.

Any help would be great!

Thanx!


CODE TAGS added by Hammer

I answered a question like this a while ago...search the C and C++ boards for your answer.


//edit: Hmmm...that's weird...I can't seem to find it

Anyway...for a hollow box, try...

#include <iomanip>

...

cout<<"|"<<setw(width-2)<<"|"<<endl;

setw() sets a certain amount of blank spaces.

Anyway, try this instead:

Code:

/*code with filled spaces*/

#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;

int main()
{
	char character;
	int width =79, 
	height = 20;

	cout << "enter the character, width and height (eg. * 6 3";
	cin >> character >> width >> height;

	if(width > 79 || height > 20)
	{
		cout<<"ERROR: Not a valid width/height pair!"<<endl;
		return 0;
	}

	for (int i = 0; i < height; i++) 
	{
		for (int j = 0; j <width; j++)
				cout<< character;
		cout<<endl;
	}
	return 0;
}

Code:

/*using setw()*/
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;
using std::setw;

int main()
{
	char character;
	int width, 
		height;

	cout << "enter the character, width and height (eg. * 6 3";
	cin >> character >> width >> height;

	if(width > 79 || height > 20)
	{
		cout<<"ERROR: Not a valid width/height pair!"<<endl;
		return 0;
	}

	for(int x=0; x<width; x++)
		cout<<character;
	cout<<endl;

	for (int i = 0; i < height-2; i++) 
			cout<<character<<setw(width-1)<<character<<endl;

	for(int j=0; j<width; j++)
		cout<<character;
	cout<<endl;
	return 0;
}

I revamped my code, and in all my sample runs it works beautifully except two instances:
when I enter a height of 1, it prints 2 rows
And when I enter a width of one, it prints 2 columns

I'm also trying to understand why you would subtract 2 from the height, and 1 from the width. The best that I can understand it, is that this is some kind of adjustment for the middle rows.

I'm just learning C++, and would like to understand why this would be done!

Thanx for your help!!



following is the new code:


Code:
_____________________________________________
#include <iostream>

using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;

#include <iomanip>

using std::setw;

int main()
{
char character;
int width,
height;


cout << "Enter the character, width and height (eg. * 6 3)";
cin >> character >> width >> height;

if(width > 79 && height > 20)
{
cout<<"\nERROR:\tThe width must be between 1 and 79!\n";
cout<<"\tThe height must be between 1 and 20 (inclusive)!"<<endl;
return 0;
}


if(width > 79)
{
cout<<"ERROR: The width must be between 1 and 79!"<<endl;
return 0;
}

if(height > 20)
{
cout<<"ERROR: The height must be between 1 and 20 (inclusive)!"<<endl;
return 0;
}


for(int x=0; x<width; x++)
cout<<character;
cout<<endl;
{
for (int i = 0; i < height-2; i++)
cout<<character<<setw(width-1)<<character<<endl;

for(int j=0; j<width; j++)
cout<<character;
cout<<endl;
}


return 0;


}

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for the love of God use code tags: << !! Posting Code? Read this First !! >>

What I gave you was just a hack to show you the idea of setw()

just make it so they can't enter a width or height of 1. I mean...a box has a 2x2 minimum anyhow, doesn't it? think about it...

*

is a single asterisk.

*
*

is a vertical line

**

is a horizontal line

**
**

is the smallest acceptable box.

you subtract 2 from the height because you're performing 2 seperate output operations before and after the main output routine.

You subtract one from the width because you've already outputted one asterisk.