show() method does not show...

Hi, all. I was working on this and I thought I finally figured it out but when I ran this program what it did is to output blank lines. This is confusing...
OK, so I got a class called MyString which is as follows

Code:

class MyString {
private:
    int           len;
    char *     str;
    static int counter;
public:
	MyString(); 
	MyString(char* nts_string);
	MyString(const char * string_n);
        MyString(const MyString& s); 
	static int numStrings(void); 
	~MyString(); 
	friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const MyString &s); 
        void showit();

And, also I have this class:

Code:

class People {
private:
	int      age;
	MyString name;
	MyString address;
public:
    People();              
    People(char* nts_string1, int n, char* nts_string2); 
    People(int n); 
    friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const People &s); 
    MyString getName() const; 
    MyString getAddress() const; 
    void show(void); 
};

I did this in main, and it displayed correctly, so I assumed if I do the same thing in People, it should work.

Code:

MyString s2("Hello");
s2.showit();

Well, when I called this:

Code:

cout << "People::adam.show()" << endl;
adam.show();

there were blank lines only. Why is that?
The inline implementation of the methods is as such:

Code:

MyString getName() const { return name; }
MyString getAddress() const { return address; }     
void show(void) { // print data including the cars owned
             cout << age << "\n";
             cout << getName() << "\n";
             cout << getAddress() << endl;
}

The age gets displayed (of course), but the rest is just blank lines... Can anybody help me with this?

Code:

MyString s2("Hello");
cout << s2;

Does that work? Also, I see you have these constructors:

Code:

    People();              
    People(char* nts_string1, int n, char* nts_string2); 
    People(int n);

If you do only the People(int n); constructor, for example, do you put in values for the name and address?

Originally Posted by Tonto

Code:

MyString s2("Hello");
cout << s2;

Does that work?

Yes, displays fine....

Originally Posted by Tonto

Also, I see you have these constructors:

Code:

    People();              
    People(char* nts_string1, int n, char* nts_string2); 
    People(int n);

If you do only the People(int n); constructor, for example, do you put in values for the name and address?

All of the constructors ask for data from keyboard, either all of it, or some part is given, like age.

OK, I made some changes...

Code:

class People {
private:
	int      age;
	MyString name;
	MyString address;
public:
    People() {
             cout << "Enter name (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char nameKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> nameKey;
             MyString name(nameKey);
             cout << "Enter age: " << endl;
             cin >> age;
             cout << "Enter address (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char addrKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> addrKey;
             MyString address(addrKey);
             }
             
    People(char* nts_string1, int n, char* nts_string2) {
                 /* cout << "oops" << endl; */
                 MyString name(nts_string1);
                 age = n;
                 MyString address(nts_string2);
                 }
    People(int n) {
             cout << "Enter name (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char nameKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> nameKey;
             MyString name(nameKey);
             cout << "Enter address (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char addrKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> addrKey;
             MyString address(addrKey);
             age = n;
             }
    friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const People &s) {
             os << s.getName() << s.getAddress() << endl;
             return os;
             }                  
    int showAge() const { return age; }
    MyString getName() const { return name; }
    MyString getAddress() const { return address; }     
    void show(People & p) { // print data including the cars owned
             cout << p.age << "\n";
             cout << p << endl;
            /* cout << getAddress() << endl; */
             }

};

I call these methods as such:

Code:

People adam, john("John", 20, "Main Street");
People susan = People(10);
adam.show(adam);

What did I do wrong? I'm about to give up, I guess....

Code:

    People() {
             cout << "Enter name (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char nameKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> nameKey;
             MyString name(nameKey);
             cout << "Enter age: " << endl;
             cin >> age;
             cout << "Enter address (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char addrKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> addrKey;
             MyString address(addrKey);
             }

Yo ho. Those are local variables of the constructor, not your class's instance variables.

Code:

    People() {
             cout << "Enter name (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char nameKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> nameKey;
             name(nameKey);
             cout << "Enter age: " << endl;
             cin >> age;
             cout << "Enter address (no blanks please): " << endl;
             char addrKey[LENGTH];
             cin >> addrKey;
             address(addrKey);
             }

Same with whatever else.

Thanks! Oh...... That's why it was showing ONLY when in MyString class.......
But how do I indicate that I want "name" to act in People class as MyString constructor?

to avoid this kindof confusion it's a good idea to prefix members with m_ or add a trailing _ or something. This is not hungarian notation, as I'm indicating scope not type.

as for your question, you could declare a People constructor that takes arguements

Code:

class People
{
    int m_age;
    std::string m_name;
    std::string m_address;
public:
    People(const std::string& name,
            const std::string& address,
            int age)
    : m_name(name) // this is called an initialiser list
    , m_address(address)
    , m_age(age) 
    {
    }
};

BTW it's generally considered bad design to have your user interface code inside a "model" class such as people.

this design is better

Code:

int main()
{
            std::string name;
            cout << "Enter name (no blanks please): " << endl;
            cin >> name;

            int age = 0;
            cout << "Enter age: " << endl;
            cin >> age;

            std::string address;
            cout << "Enter address (no blanks please): " << endl;
            cin >> address;

            People p(name, address, age);
}

that way, if you change from a command line to a gui you don't have to rewrite People.
while we're at it People is the wrong name for that class. It represents one person so it should be Person. People is a collection of Persons
e.g.

Code:

typedef std::vector<Person> People;

Life would much easier if I could use string, but I have to use NTS instead... And I do not know anything about vectors yet... Thanks, but that will not solve my problem.......
The whole trouble is that I have to use a class MyString (actually its constructor) and then use MyString type to create a member of People class... Does it sound like it is possible? Should be, but how?

Can anybody explain to me what is going on below?

Code:

class A {
public:
          A(int i) {}
};

class B {
          char* myString;
          int myFlag;
          A* myA;
public:
          B(int j) : myString(""), myFlag(0), myA(&A(j)) {} 
};

No inheritance is involved here... I'm confused about the line in blue. What does it exactly do?

Code:

B(int j) : myString(""), myFlag(0), myA(&A(j)) {}

That is an 'initializer list'. It makes the myFlag variable 0, myString "", and then constructs an 'A' object and makes myA point to it.

Thanks Tonto, I'll think about it!

Originally Posted by kocika73

Life would much easier if I could use string, but I have to use NTS instead... And I do not know anything about vectors yet... Thanks, but that will not solve my problem.......
The whole trouble is that I have to use a class MyString (actually its constructor) and then use MyString type to create a member of People class... Does it sound like it is possible? Should be, but how?

yep, it's actually pretty easy.

Code:

class People {
private:
// as I said use something to indicate the member vars
	int      m_age;
	MyString m_name;
	MyString m_address;
public:
             
     People(const MyString& name, int age, const MyString& address)
    : m_name(name)
    , m_age(age)
    , m_address(address)
   {
    }
};

// usage
People p(MyString("kocika73"), 78, MyString("antartica"));

Thanks, ChaosEngine! I'll try and see what I can do with it!