Thread: creating a header file problems

ok i attempted to create a header file by copying exactly what was in the book...and i got some errors so here is my header file and then my actual program using it:

Code:

class Date
{
public:
	//intializes variables
	Date();
	//assigns program values to variables
	void assigndate(char,char,char);
	//returns formatted date
	char getdate();
private:
	char month[50];
	char day[50];
	char year[50];
};

//implentation section
Date::Date()
{
	//constructor
	month = "";
	day = "";
	year = "";
}//end of default constructor

void Date::assigndate(char m[50],char d[50],char y[50])
{
	month = m;
	day = d;
	year = y;
}//end of assigndate function

char Date::getdate()
{
	return month + "/" + day + "/" + year;
}// end of getdate function


include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <Date.h>
int main()
{
	//create object
	Date dateobj;

	//declare variables
	char hiremonth[50] = "";
	char hireday[50] = "";
	char hireyear[50] = "";

	//get month,day, and year
	cout << "Enter the month: ";
	cin.get(hiremonth,50);
	cin.get();
	cout << endl << "Enter the day: ";
	cin.get(hireday,50);
	cin.get();
	cout << endl << "Enter the year: ";
	cin.get(hireyear,50);
	cin.get();

	//set the date
	dateobj.assigndate(hiremonth,hireday,hireyear);

	//display the date
	cout << "\nEMployee hire date " << dateobj.getdate() << endl;

	return 0;
}//end main function


and now the errors:

Compiling...
CLASStest1.cpp
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(20) : error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'char [1]' to 'char [50]'
        There is no context in which this conversion is possible
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(21) : error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'char [1]' to 'char [50]'
        There is no context in which this conversion is possible
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(22) : error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'char [1]' to 'char [50]'
        There is no context in which this conversion is possible
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(26) : error C2511: 'assigndate' : overloaded member function 'void (char [],char [],char [])' not found in 'Date'
        c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(2) : see declaration of 'Date'
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(34) : error C2110: cannot add two pointers
c:\documents and settings\evelyn\desktop\adam\c++\classtest1.cpp(26) : error C2664: 'assigndate' : cannot convert parameter 1 from 'char [50]' to 'char'
        This conversion requires a reinterpret_cast, a C-style cast or function-style cast
Error executing cl.exe.

CLASStest1.obj - 6 error(s), 0 warning(s)

ive never done this before so im not really sure what these errors mean any help would be appreciated thanx

well the errors are pretty much self explanatory, but I will go through some below. And the header declaration is fine, it is what you are doing in the class itself that is causing most of the errors:

Code:

error C2511: 'assigndate' : overloaded member function 'void (char [],char [],char [])

the declaration of assigndate is onyl set to take three chars and not char arrays so replace it with:

Code:

void assigndate(char*, char*, char*);

also why are all your arrays 51 elements long? for month make it the number of longest month's spelling, make day 31, and year 4. Its really quite late so I'm not seeing to well now, I'll let you know more tomorrow morning.

You cant copy a char array like this;

Code:

  month = m;
  day = d;
  year = y;

instead try

Code:

strcpy(month, m);
strcpy(day, d);
strcpy(year, y);

strcpy

i appreciate the help but now i have this error:


c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(26) : error C2511: 'assigndate' : overloaded member function 'void (char *,char *,char *)' not found in 'Date'
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(2) : see declaration of 'Date'


which i have no clue what it means??

Could you please post the updated source code.

Just making a wild guess, make sure your declaration of a method in the header file match the method you use in the source file. If that didnt make sense, take a look at this article

hmm well as far as i can tell that didnt seem to be the problem although it saids it is still so i dont know but here is the updated source code perhaps that will help(i dont think there about but a couple of changes in there from before but anyways herre it is):

Code:

//header file:

class Date
{
public:
	//intializes variables
	Date();
	//assigns program values to variables
	void assigndate(char,char,char);
	//returns formatted date
	char getdate();
private:
	char month[50];
	char day[50];
	char year[50];
};

//implentation section
Date::Date()
{
	//constructor
	month = "";
	day = "";
	year = "";
}//end of default constructor

void Date::assigndate(char* ,char* ,char* )
{
	strcpy(month,m);
	strcpy(day,d),
	strcpy(year,y);
}//end of assigndate function

char Date::getdate()
{
	return month + "/" + day + "/" + year;
}// end of getdate function

//.cpp file


#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <Date.h>
int main()
{
	//create object
	Date dateobj;

	//declare variables
	char hiremonth[50] = "";
	char hireday[50] = "";
	char hireyear[50] = "";

	//get month,day, and year
	cout << "Enter the month: ";
	cin.get(hiremonth,50);
	cin.get();
	cout << endl << "Enter the day: ";
	cin.get(hireday,50);
	cin.get();
	cout << endl << "Enter the year: ";
	cin.get(hireyear,50);
	cin.get();

	//set the date
	dateobj.assigndate(hiremonth,hireday,hireyear);

	//display the date
	cout << "\nEMployee hire date " << dateobj.getdate() << endl;

	return 0;
}//end main function

ok thats all thanx


oops sorry about that lol

well you onyl changed the defintion of the function but not the decleration in the class! I think you should review passing arrays as parameters to functions.


EDIT:: you placed a wrong slash in the code tags...please edit your last post accordingly

Alot easier to read this :

Code:

class Date
{
public:
  Date();
  void assigndate(char,char,char); <--- see this declaration
  char getdate();
private:
  char month[50];
  char day[50];
  char year[50];
};


Date:Date()
{
  month = "";
  day = "";
  year = "";
}

void Date::assigndate(char* ,char* ,char* ) <-- why isn't this the same as the above
{
  strcpy(month,m);
  strcpy(day,d),
  strcpy(year,y);
}

char Date::getdate()
{
  return month + "/" + day + "/" + year;
}


#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <Date.h>
int main()
{
  Date dateobj;

  char hiremonth[50] = "";
  char hireday[50] = "";
  char hireyear[50] = "";

  cout << "Enter the month: ";
  cin.get(hiremonth,50);
  cin.get();
  cout << endl << "Enter the day: ";
  cin.get(hireday,50);
  cin.get();
  cout << endl << "Enter the year: ";
  cin.get(hireyear,50);
  cin.get();
  dateobj.assigndate(hiremonth,hireday,hireyear);

  cout << "\nEMployee hire date " << dateobj.getdate() << endl;

  return 0;
}

can u clarify that i still dont know all the computer terms to well but usually once i figure out what im doing i can get it done but never figure out the computer terms lol?

EDIT:: oops sorry i was posting and didnt see ur last post so this one was in reference to the last post before that but thanx i see it now

ok and i did more fixing and i got it d own to 1 error YAY lol ok here is the new version of it:

Code:

//the header file

class Date
{
public:
	//intializes variables
	Date();
	//assigns program values to variables
	void assigndate(char*,char*,char*);
	//returns formatted date
	char getdate();
private:
	char* month;
	char* day;
	char* year;
};

//implentation section
Date::Date()
{
	//constructor
	month = "";
	day = "";
	year = "";
}//end of default constructor

void Date::assigndate(char* m ,char* d ,char* y)
{
	strcpy(month,m);
	strcpy(day,d),
	strcpy(year,y);
}//end of assigndate function

char Date::getdate()
{
	return month + "/" + day + "/" + year;
}// end of getdate function


//the .cpp file

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <Date.h>
int main()
{
	//create object
	Date dateobj;

	//declare variables
	char hiremonth[50] = "";
	char hireday[50] = "";
	char hireyear[50] = "";

	//get month,day, and year
	cout << "Enter the month: ";
	cin.get(hiremonth,50);
	cin.get();
	cout << endl << "Enter the day: ";
	cin.get(hireday,50);
	cin.get();
	cout << endl << "Enter the year: ";
	cin.get(hireyear,50);
	cin.get();

	//set the date
	dateobj.assigndate(hiremonth,hireday,hireyear);

	//display the date
	cout << "\nEMployee hire date " << dateobj.getdate() << endl;

	return 0;
}//end main function

// the error

--------------------Configuration: CLASStest1 - Win32 Debug--------------------
Compiling...
CLASStest1.cpp
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\date.h(34) : error C2110: cannot add two pointers
Error executing cl.exe.

i dont really know much about pointers to well so thats probably why i dont understand this error i would think unless im wrong but im planning on looking that up relatively soon

Main code:

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <string>
#include "Date.h"
using namespace std;

int main()
{
  Date dateobj;
  string hiremonth;
  string hireday;
  string hireyear;

  cout << "Enter the month: ";
  getline(cin, hiremonth);
  
  cout << endl << "Enter the day: ";
  getline(cin,hireday);

  cout << endl << "Enter the year: ";
  getline(cin, hireyear);

  dateobj.assigndate(hiremonth,hireday,hireyear);
  cout << "\nEMployee hire date " << dateobj.getdate() << endl;

  system("PAUSE");	
  return 0;
}

date.h file

Code:

#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Date
{
public:
  Date();
  void assigndate(string, string, string);
  string getdate();
private:
  string month;
  string day;
  string year;
};

date.cpp file

Code:

#include "date.h"

Date::Date(){ }

void Date::assigndate(string m ,string d ,string y)
{
  month = m;
  day = d;
  year = y;
}

string Date::getdate()
{
  return month + "/" + day + "/" + year;
}

This should work and you dont need to worry about pointers.

Hope it helps.

Originally posted by WDT
Honestly dude a smiley in your code??
That's gotta be asking for it

to get rid of that just run off the smilies when you post any code.

aside from the <string> header file changed which i dont mind that being changed except i dont have it on my compiler so ill jus go redo it later but the only difference i saw was the
system("PAUSE")

which i have no clue what that does...?

Here is an example withot string (just remove system("PAUSE"); it's a compiler spesific code bit).

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include "Date.h"
using namespace std;
int main()
{
  Date dateobj;
  char hiremonth[50] = "";
  char hireday[50] = "";
  char hireyear[50] = "";

  cout << "Enter the month: ";
  cin.get(hiremonth,50);
  cin.get();
  cout << endl << "Enter the day: ";
  cin.get(hireday,50);
  cin.get();
  cout << endl << "Enter the year: ";
  cin.get(hireyear,50);
  cin.get();
  
  dateobj.assigndate(hiremonth,hireday,hireyear);
  cout << "\nEmployee hire date " << dateobj.getdate() << endl;
  system("PAUSE");
  return 0;
}

Code:

#include <string.h>
using namespace std;

class Date
{
public:
  Date();
  void assigndate(char[],char[],char[]);
  char* getdate();
private:
  char month[10];
  char day[10];
  char year[10];
  char answer[50];
};

Code:

#include "date.h"

Date::Date() 
{
  strcpy(month,"");
  strcpy(day,""),
  strcpy(year,"");
  strcpy(answer, "");
}

void Date::assigndate(char m[10] ,char d[10] ,char y[10])
{
  strcpy(month,m);
  strcpy(day,d),
  strcpy(year,y);
}

char* Date::getdate()
{
  strcat(answer, month);
  strcat(answer, "/");
  strcat(answer, day);
  strcat(answer, "/");
  strcat(answer, year);
  return answer;
}

There are probably alot better ways of doing this but this should atleast work. This is a good reference to manipulate c-strings.