displaying a board with 2D array

[axon]

hey guys, I'm trying to display a board with a multidimensional array...but it seems not to be working. The array is supposed to grab a certain random letter and the board should like the following, where the letters are from the array:

   1 2 3 4 5
- - - - - - -
A|A O E A E
B|H E Y F U
C|D T A A O
D|L E S B I
E|O W O S N

now here is what I have been playing with: (I'm inlcluding the get random letter function, which I am certain works in my code:

=============EDIT===================
CODE POSTED A FEW REPLIES DOWN
=============EDIT===================
any suggestions?

axon

[kuphryn]

What is not working?

Kuphryn

[PJYelton]

I don't see anywhere where you enter the values into boardArray. I see it declared but never changed or initialized so my guess is that it is printing out gibberish.

[elad]

for( i='A'; i<='E'; i++)
//this means for i = 65 and as long as i <= 70, or something like 
//that.  I suspect you need something more like:
// for(i = 0; i < 5; ++i)

{
  cout << i << " ";
  for(j='A'; j<='E'; j++)
  //same here, see above

  {
     randomLetteri = getCharacter(totalPercentArray);
     //randomLetteri is never declared, but may well be typo

    cout << boardArray[randomLetter][randomLetter] << endl;
    //when the indexes of a 2D array are the same you will only 
    //see the values on a diagonal of the table (eg A1, B2, C3).
    //Use i for first index and j for the second.
  }
}

[axon]

>>What is not working?
Its only printing one weird character in column a1

>>//this means for i = 65 and as long as i <= 70, or something >>like
>>//that. I suspect you need something more like:
>>// for(i = 0; i < 5; ++i)

Yes, but I want the first column to be A B C D E, the second loop should be chnaged


>>I don't see anywhere where you enter the values into >>boardArray. I see it declared but never changed or initialized >>so my guess is that it is printing out gibberish.

What should the indexes of boardArray be then? should I initialize it to zero?

axon

[Hammer]

Tried to fix yours, but I ended up hacking it around alot, so ..... see what you make of this version:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>

using namespace std;

char getCharacter(void)
{
  int theRandomNumber;
  theRandomNumber = (int) rand() % 26;
  theRandomNumber += 'A';
  return theRandomNumber;
}

void displayTheBoard(void)
{
  const int SIZE = 5;
  char      boardArray[SIZE][SIZE];
  int      i;
  int      j;
  
  cout << "  1 2 3 4 5\n" << "  - - - - -\n";
  for (i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
  {
    cout << (char)(i + 'A') << " ";
    for (j = 0; j < SIZE; j++)
    {
      boardArray[i][j] = getCharacter();
      cout << boardArray[i][j] <<" ";
    }
    cout <<endl;
  }
}

int main()
{
  displayTheBoard();
}

[axon]

==============EDIT 2=================
I SOLVED THE PROBLEM THANKS TO HAMMER, THERFORE
THE FINAL EDIT. I CUT THE WHOLE CODE (AGAIN) ONLY
LEAVING THE FUNCTION THAT WAS IN QUESTION. THE SOLUTION
IS POSTED IN THE NEXT REPLY.
==============EDIT2=================

thanks a lot Hammer, I'll see what I can do with it. I read up on multidimensional arrays a bit today, so I'm getting a better handle on it.
The reason I had this:

theRandomNumber = (float)rand()/RAND_MAX;

is that I want the random number between 0-1. The reason for this is that earlier in my program I set a running percentage for some letters. So my function getChar() was to make a random number and the match it to the appropriate letter. I'm posting the whole thing, and if you have any more hints/suggestions I REALY do appreciate them:

void displayTheBoard(float totalPercentArray[ ])
{
	const int SIZE = 5;

	//declaring variables
	char randomLetter;

	char i; 
	int j;


	//declaring arrays
	char boardArray[SIZE][SIZE];

	cout << "  1 2 3 4 5\n"
		 << "  - - - - -\n";
	for( i='A'; i<='E'; i++)
	{
                randomLetter = getChar(totalPercentArray);
		cout << i << " ";
		for ( j=0; j<5; j++ )
		{
			cout << boardArray[randomLetter][randomLetter] << endl;
		}
		
	}
}

sorry for the length. The program begins by main calling countAllTheLetters();

thanks a bunch,

axon

------------------------------------edit----
I also deleted the code from my original post, as this is the same with an extra function

[axon]

Thanks to our self proclaimed Super Moderator - Hammer, I solved that part. Here is the code for the solution. Again, program starts with---> int main() calling countAllTheLetters()

thanks again for all your help!

axon

void countAllTheLetters()
{
	cout.setf(ios::fixed);
	cout.setf(ios::showpoint);
	cout.precision(4);

	const int LIMIT = 128;
		
	//declaring arrays
	int lettersArray[LIMIT];
	float totalPercentArray[25];
	
	//declaring variables
	char c;
	int i;
	int sum = 0;
	ifstream inStream;
	
	inStream.open("darwin.txt"); //opening file

	if( inStream.fail() )
	{
		cout << "The input file, failed to open. Exiting....\n\n";
		exit(-1);
	}	

	for ( i=0; i<LIMIT; i++ )
	{
		lettersArray[i] = 0;
	}
	
	while( inStream >> c)
	{
		lettersArray[toupper(c)]++; //count each instance of every character
	}

	for( i='A'; i<='Z'; i++ )//to get only alphabetical characters
	{ 
		//count all letters
		lettersArray[i];
		//get total of all letters
		sum += lettersArray[i]; 
	}

	for( i='A'; i<='Z'; i++ )
	{
		//running total of percentages
		totalPercentArray[i] = lettersArray[i]/(double)sum+totalPercentArray[i-1];
	}
	
	cout << "\nTotal number of characters: " << sum ; //display total characters [ERASE THIS]
	cout << endl;

		//display starting board
	displayTheBoard(totalPercentArray);
}

//==============================================

char getCharacter(float totalPercentArray[ ])
{
	//declaring variables
	float theRandomNumber;
	int i;
	
	//division by RAND_MAX to obtain value between [0, 1]
	theRandomNumber = (float)rand()/RAND_MAX;
	
	for( i='A'; i<'Z'; i++)//set random numbers generated in order 
	{
		if ( theRandomNumber < totalPercentArray[i] )
		{
			return (i); //return matched letter from array
		}
	}	
}

//==============================================
void displayTheBoard(float totalPercentArray[ ])
{
	const int SIZE = 5;

	//declaring variables
	char randomLetter;

	int i; 
	int j;

	//declaring arrays
	char boardArray[SIZE][SIZE];

	cout << "  1 2 3 4 5\n"
		 << "  - - - - -\n";
	for( i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
	{
		cout << (char)(i + 'A') << " ";
		for ( j = 0; j < SIZE; j++ )
		{
			boardArray[i][j] = getCharacter(totalPercentArray);
			cout << boardArray[i][j] << " ";
		}
		cout << endl;
	}
}

[Hammer]

>>self proclaimed Super Moderator - Hammer
There's nothing self proclaimed about it. Like most mods, I was voted in, and the "Super" is a vBulletin term. Anyway, back to the topic:

>>void main()
Read this.

[axon]

OFCOURSE I MENT INT MAIN()

SORRY....Salem has a cool avatar about it! hehe. And by the way...myprofessor would bail me right away if he saw void main, in my school work.

axon