File Input / Output Help?

i am trying to write a program that would read data from a file and create a set of html (web) pages. How should i start?

Prompt the user for a file name, which will contain artist/CD information. Artist/CD information will include: 1) artist name, 2) format (CD, Cassette, Vinyl), 3) release date, 4) label, 5) cost, 6) image file name, and 7) biography (less than 256 characters).

India Arie CD 3/27/2001 Motown 15.99 india.jpg Recent newcomer to the music

Jill Scott CD 7/18/2000 Hidden Beach 16.99 jill.jpg Scott is a modern R&B singer from Philadelphia

Maxwell ? Cassette 8/21/2001 Columbia 17.99 Maxwell.jpg soul singer Maxwell (his middle name) had to suffer the ignominy of his record company sitting on his debut album

Where the format is: <artist first name> <artist last name> <format> <date> <label> <cost> <image name> <bio>

The fields are separated by spaces, and the biography (which includes spaces) is the last field on the line. If the artist does not have a last name, the last name field is a “?”.

Operation
You will process the data from the file (maximum of 100 artists), storing it in a struct called Artist, which should include first and last name, as well as biography. The Artist struct will include a struct called, Label, which will include the format, date, label, and cost.

Output
You will construct a sequence of web pages (see a sample web page), where each artist will have a web page, named, <artist first name>_<artist last name>.html; where of course last name may not exist. For example, “India_Arie.html” and “Maxwell.html”. Each html file is in the following format (India Arie is shown as an example):

<html>
<head>
<title>india_arie</title>
</head>
<body>
<img SRC="india.jpg" BORDER=0 height=170 width=170>
 Name: India Arie
 Format: CD
 Release Date: 3/27/2001
 Label: Motown
 Cost: $15.99
 Biography: Recent newcomer to the music
  
</body>
</html>

Hints please.

What I would do is read the entire line into a string using fgets. Then you can capture the various parts into other strings by going through the original string and looking for spaces. When you get to the last description you just strcpy the entire thing starting at the beginning because it is last item.

Then you can output your code to another file/screen.

Some functions that might help.
strpcy()
strncpy()

- Sean

Oh thanks prelude, i posted in the wrong thread.......sorry
this is the correct one.

and i did try this

Code:

iDataRead = fscanf(fpDataFile,"%s %c %f", cpTemp,&cTemp,&fTemp);

and i still get access violation and + a warning if i use scanf as incompatible types.

There is something wrong with the code, it just stops.......right after i have enter path for the file name, say artists.txt

which has the following inside.
India Arie CD 3/27/2001 Motown 15.99 india.jpg Recent newcomer to the music
Jill Scott CD 7/18/2000 Hidden Beach 16.99 jill.jpg Scott is a modern R&B singer from Philadelphia
Maxwell ? Cassette 8/21/2001 Columbia 17.99 Maxwell.jpg soul singer Maxwell (his middle name) had to suffer the ignominy of his record company sitting on his debut album

please help, i am this far and now am stuck.

Code:

/ ************************************************** **********/ // Preprocessor Directives #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> #define SUCCESSFUL 1 // Return value #define FAILED 0 // Return value #define MAX_STR_SIZE 256 // Max string/filename size #define MIN_FORMAT 8 // Max minimum format fields #define MAX_ARTISTS 100 // Max artists allowed in data file #define FIELDS_COMPLETE 2 // Return value for successful consecutive #define THREE_FIELDS 3 // Return value for 3 fields successfully read / ************************************************** **********/ // Global Declarations typedef struct { char *cpFormat; char *cpDate; char *cpLabel; float fCost; } LABEL; // Artist label-related info typedef struct { char *cpFirstName; char *cpLastName; LABEL laLabel; char *cpImageFile; char *cpBio; // Artist info } ARTIST; char gcFileName[MAX_STR_SIZE] = {' '}; // Stores file name int giArtistQty = 0; // Artist quantity in data file / ************************************************** **********/ // Prototype Declarations int getFile(); void processFile(ARTIST *); void renderHTML(ARTIST *); / ************************************************** **********/ // Main Function void main(){ // Local Declarations ARTIST *arList = NULL; // Statements if(getFile() == SUCCESSFUL){ arList = (ARTIST *)malloc(sizeof(ARTIST)*giArtistQty); processFile(arList); renderHTML(arList); }// if } / ************************************************** **********/ // Function Definitions /*---------------------------------------- Name : getFile Comments: Validates the format of the file Return : integer ----------------------------------------*/ int getFile(){ // Local Declarations //char cRead = ' '; // Stores char for reading char cCheck = ' '; // Stores char for checking int c = 0; // Counter FILE *fpDataFile = NULL; // FILE structure int iDataRead = 0; // Counter char *cpTemp = NULL; // Temp string storage char cTemp = ' '; float fTemp = 0; // Statements printf("\nEnter the path and file name and press <ENTER> : "); scanf("%s", gcFileName); fpDataFile = fopen(gcFileName, "r"); if(fpDataFile == NULL){ printf("\n\n\aERROR: File does not exist."); return FAILED; } cpTemp = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*MAX_STR_SIZE); do{ iDataRead = fscanf(fpDataFile,"%s %s %s %s", cpTemp,cpTemp,cpTemp,cpTemp); if(iDataRead == EOF && c == 0){ printf("\n\n\aERROR: File is empty."); return FAILED; } iDataRead = fscanf(fpDataFile,"%s %c %f", cpTemp,cTemp,fTemp); if(iDataRead != THREE_FIELDS && iDataRead != EOF){ do{ iDataRead = fscanf(fpDataFile,"%s %c %f", cpTemp,cTemp,fTemp); } while(iDataRead != THREE_FIELDS && iDataRead != EOF && cTemp != '\n'); if(cTemp == '\n'){ printf("\n\n\aERROR: File contents improperly formatted."); return FAILED; } } if(iDataRead != EOF){ do{ cCheck = cTemp; iDataRead = fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s%c", cpTemp, cTemp); }while(cTemp != '\n' && iDataRead != EOF); c++; if(c >= MAX_ARTISTS){ printf("\n\n\aERROR: File cannot contain data for more than %d artists.", MAX_ARTISTS); return FAILED; }// if }// if } while(iDataRead != EOF); giArtistQty = (cCheck == '\n')?(c-1):c; fclose(fpDataFile); free(cpTemp); return SUCCESSFUL; } /*---------------------------------------- Name : processFile Comments: Stores data from file into structure Return : void ----------------------------------------*/ void processFile(ARTIST *arList){ // Local Declarations char *cpTemp1 = NULL; // Temp string storage char *cpTemp2 = NULL; // Temp string storage FILE *fpDataFile = NULL; // FILE pointer int a = 0; // Counter char cChar = ' '; // Temp character storage // Statements cpTemp1 = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*MAX_STR_SIZE); cpTemp2 = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*MAX_STR_SIZE); fpDataFile = fopen(gcFileName, "r"); for(a=0;a<giArtistQty;a++){ fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s", cpTemp1); (arList+a)->cpFirstName = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*((strlen(cpTemp1))+1)); *( (arList+a)->cpFirstName ) = '\0'; strcat( (arList+a)->cpFirstName, cpTemp1); fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s", cpTemp1); (arList+a)->cpLastName = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*((strlen(cpTemp1))+1)); *( (arList+a)->cpLastName ) = '\0'; if(*cpTemp1 != '?'){ strcat( (arList+a)->cpLastName, cpTemp1 ); } fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s", cpTemp1); (arList+a)->laLabel.cpFormat = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*((strlen(cpTemp1))+1)); *( (arList+a)->laLabel.cpFormat ) = '\0'; strcat( (arList+a)->laLabel.cpFormat, cpTemp1); fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s", cpTemp1); (arList+a)->laLabel.cpDate = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*((strlen(cpTemp1))+1)); *( (arList+a)->laLabel.cpDate ) = '\0'; strcat( (arList+a)->laLabel.cpDate, cpTemp1); *cpTemp2 = '\0'; if(fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s %f", cpTemp1, &((arList+a)->laLabel.fCost)) != FIELDS_COMPLETE){ do{ strcat(cpTemp2, cpTemp1); strcat(cpTemp2, " "); }while(fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s %f", cpTemp1, &((arList+a)->laLabel.fCost)) != FIELDS_COMPLETE); }// if strcat(cpTemp2, cpTemp1); (arList+a)->laLabel.cpLabel = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*((strlen(cpTemp2))+1)); *( (arList+a)->laLabel.cpLabel ) = '\0'; strcat( (arList+a)->laLabel.cpLabel, cpTemp2 ); fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s", cpTemp1); (arList+a)->cpImageFile = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*((strlen(cpTemp1))+1)); *( (arList+a)->cpImageFile ) = '\0'; strcat( (arList+a)->cpImageFile, cpTemp1 ); *cpTemp2 = '\0'; if(fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s%c", cpTemp1, &cChar) == FIELDS_COMPLETE && cChar != '\n'){ do{ strcat(cpTemp2, cpTemp1); strcat(cpTemp2, " "); }while(fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s%c", cpTemp1, &cChar) != EOF && cChar != '\n'); } strcat(cpTemp2, cpTemp1); (arList+a)->cpBio = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*((strlen(cpTemp2))+1)); *((arList+a)->cpBio) = '\0'; strcat( (arList+a)->cpBio, cpTemp2 ); }// for fclose(fpDataFile); free(cpTemp2); free(cpTemp1); } /*---------------------------------------- Name : renderHTML Comments: Creates HTML pages from artist data Return : void ----------------------------------------*/ void renderHTML(ARTIST *arList){ // Local Declarations int a = 0; // Counter FILE *fpHTML = NULL; // FILE pointer FILE *fpIndex = NULL; // FILE pointer char *cpFileName = NULL; // HTML file name // Statements cpFileName = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*MAX_STR_SIZE); fpIndex = fopen("index.html", "w"); fprintf(fpIndex,"<html>\n<head>\n<title>Music Artists</title>\n</head>\n<body>\n"); fprintf(fpIndex,"<h1 align=\"center\">Music Artists</h1>\n"); fprintf(fpIndex,"Make your selection from the list below:\n<ul>\n"); for(a = 0;a < giArtistQty;a++){ *cpFileName = '\0'; strcat(cpFileName, (arList+a)->cpFirstName); strcat(cpFileName, "_"); strcat(cpFileName, (arList+a)->cpLastName); strcat(cpFileName, ".html"); fpHTML = fopen(cpFileName, "w"); fprintf(fpHTML,"<html>\n<head>\n<title>%s %s</title>\n</head>\n<body>\n",(arList+a)->cpFirstName,(arList+a)->cpLastName); fprintf(fpHTML,"<img SRC=\"%s\" BORDER=0 height=170 width=170>\n",(arList+a)->cpImageFile); free((arList+a)->cpImageFile); fprintf(fpHTML," Name: %s %s\n",(arList+a)->cpFirstName,(arList+a)->cpLastName); fprintf(fpHTML," Format: %s\n", (arList+a)->laLabel.cpFormat); free((arList+a)->laLabel.cpFormat); fprintf(fpHTML," Release Date: %s\n",(arList+a)->laLabel.cpDate); free((arList+a)->laLabel.cpDate); fprintf(fpHTML," Label: %s\n",(arList+a)->laLabel.cpLabel); free((arList+a)->laLabel.cpLabel); fprintf(fpHTML," Cost: $%.2f\n",(arList+a)->laLabel.fCost); fprintf(fpHTML," Biography: %s\n \n</body>\n</html>",(arList+a)->cpBio); free((arList+a)->cpBio); fclose(fpHTML); fprintf(fpIndex," <li>\n <a href=\"%s\">%s %s</a></li>\n",cpFileName,(arList+a)->cpFirstName,(arList+a)->cpLastName); free((arList+a)->cpFirstName); free((arList+a)->cpLastName); } free(arList); fprintf(fpIndex,"</ul>\n \n</body>\n</html>"); fclose(fpIndex); free(cpFileName); }

>and i still get access violation and + a warning if i use scanf as incompatible types.
I meant change *all* occurances of fscanf, your current code still has several calls to that function where non pointer arguments are not passed as an address. The program also bombs right about here:

Code:

do{ strcat(cpTemp2, cpTemp1); strcat(cpTemp2, " "); }while(fscanf(fpDataFile, "%s %f", cpTemp1, &((arList+a)->laLabel.fCost)) != FIELDS_COMPLETE);

My recommendation is to lay aside all of your current program and start working on it in pieces. First write the code to input the data and get it working perfectly, then process it, then write it out in HTML format. Before moving on to the next section, test the one you just wrote thoroughly or you'll end up hunting bugs for a very long time as you are now.

-Prelude