Thread: Problem filling an array of structures

Hi all,

I am trying to fill an array of structures like this:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define N 1000

/*
 * 
 */

    int d, emp_num;
    
typedef struct employee {
    int emp_index; //To assign a value to each employee for a later "pointing"
    char name[30];
    char address[100];
    int age;
    float salary;
} emp_struct[N];

// Takes imput that establishes the size of the staff
void staff_size() {
    printf("What is the size of your staff?: ");
    scanf("%d", &emp_num);
}

//Fills staff with desired size of employees - This is the  array of structures 
void staff_create(employee emp) {

    printf("Populating staff......... \n\n");
    for (d = 0; d <= emp_num; d++)
       emp[d];  //<<<< THE ERROR IS REFERS TO THIS LINE
}

int main(int argc, char** argv) {



// pending other code


    return (EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

However the I get an error that says as follows:

main.c:33: error: expected ')' before 'emp'

What is it that I am doing wrong?

Thnx

HI vlrk,

I am not sure I understand. I have notice however that the problem happens when I make use of typedef and when I try to parametrize the variable emp of type employee to work with it instead of working directly with emp_struct[d]. If coding it the way I did now it works fine... at least it works the way I wanted it to.

look at the code below:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define N 10000 // may not be needed if array index is given explicitly

//Global variables
int d = 0, emp_num = 0;

//Structure 

struct employee { // <<<<<< HERE I REMOVED THE TYPEDEF KEYWORD
    int emp_index; //To assign a value to each employee for a later "pointing"
    char name[30];
    char address[100];
    int age;
    float salary;
} emp_struct[N];



// Takes imput that establishes the size of the staff
void staff_size() {
    printf("What is the size of your staff?: ");
    scanf("%d", &emp_num);
}

//Fills staff with desired size of elements - This is the  array of structures (emp_struct)
void staff_create() {//<<<<<<HERE I REMOVED PARAMETERS

    printf("Populating staff......... \n\n");
    for (d = 0; d <= emp_num; d++)
        emp_struct[d]; //<<< HERE I WORK WITH emp_struct[d] instead


}

Why is this happening? can you illustrate with an example which would be the correct way of making an array of structures while using typedef?


Thank you much,

Bluetxxth

Originally Posted by bluetxxth

Why is this happening? can you illustrate with an example which would be the correct way of making an array of structures while using typedef?

This is one correct way:

Code:

typedef struct employee {
    int emp_index;
    char name[30];
    char address[100];
    int age;
    float salary;
} employee;

/* ... */

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    employee emp_struct[N];
    /* ... */

Notice that emp_struct is now a local variable that you can pass appropriately to those functions that need to access it.

There is also this option:

Code:

typedef struct employee employee;

struct employee {
    int emp_index;
    char name[30];
    char address[100];
    int age;
    float salary;
};

You can define emp_struct here if you want, but generally you should not because you should normally avoid global variables.