Switch..case with a string/char* as expression

I have a piece of code that should open a text file (.ini) with a variable on every line, followed by its value. The code should read a variable name, recognize it and set the appropriate variable in my code to the value stored in the file.

Here is the code:

Code:

---

void IniParser::Parse(char *fileName)
{
  ifstream iniFile (fileName);
  if(!iniFile.is_open())
  {
      std::cout << "Could not open ini file: " << fileName << std::endl;
      return;
  }

  //char inputStr[128];
  string inputStr;
 
  while(iniFile >> inputStr)
  {
      switch (inputStr) {
        case "blah":
            std::cout << "variable blah was read in the ini file" << std::endl;
            //TODO: Read & set variable
            break;
        default:
            std::cout << "Unknown variable encountered while reading"<< *fileName << std::endl;
            break;
      }
  }

}

---

The problem is that it seems that I can't use a stream with my string ("error C2679: binary '>>' : no operator found which takes a right-hand operand of type 'std::string' (or there is no acceptable conversion)"). I tried to use a char array but that doesn't seem to work either. Is something like this possible, or should I use regular if/else with strcmp?

Use getline to read in the contents of a text file one line at a time:

Code:

---

std::string inputStr;
while (std::getline(iniFile ,inputStr))
{
  //do stuff
}

---

The case statement takes a numeric value - a single char meets this criteria but not a string, whether as a char array, the stl std::string or some self-devised variant.

Since you're using C++ then I'd suggest you use the std::string == operator rather than fiddling around with strcmp:

Code:

---

if (inputStr == "blah")
{
    std::cout << "variable blah was read in the ini file" << std::endl;
}

---

Thanks :)