Thread: problem with validating data inside function

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

void  Input_Employee(char*, char*, char*, float*, float*, float*); //prototype

int main(void)
{
#define MAXFL			10		/*Maximum # of char's for first, last name*/
#define MAXFULL			20		/*Maximum # of char's for full name*/

char     first_name[MAXFL], last_name[MAXFL], full_name[MAXFULL];

float hours, pay_rate, deferred;


 Input_Employee(full_name, last_name, first_name, &hours, &pay_rate,
         &deferred); //function call

   printf("\n\n   Press any key to terminate . . . \n");
   getchar();
   return 0;
}

/************************** Function Definition #x *****************************
* Function:		Input_Employee( )											
* Description:	This function gets and validates Employee's input.		       
* Arguments:	*full_name_p, *last_name_p, *first_name_p, *hours_p,		 
   			 *pay_rate_p, *deferred_p						
* Return value:	NOTHING														   
*******************************************************************************/

void  Input_Employee(char *full_name_p, char *last_name_p, char *first_name_p,
         float *hours_p, float *pay_rate_p, float *deferred_p)
{
   printf("\n   Please enter your First Name: ");
   scanf("%s", first_name_p);
   while (first_name_p < MAXFL)
   {
      printf("   Your first name is too long, use shorter name");
     printf("\n   Please enter your First Name: ");
      scanf("%s", first_name_p);
   }
   printf("   Please enter your Last Name: ");
   scanf("%s", last_name_p);
   while (last_name_p > MAXFL)
   {
      printf("   Your last name is too long, use shorter name");
   	  printf("\n   Please enter your Last Name: ");
      scanf("%s", last_name_p);
   }
   strcpy(full_name_p, last_name_p);
   strcat(full_name_p, ", ");
   strcat(full_name_p, first_name_p);
   printf("   Please enter your hourly pay rate: ");
   scanf("%f", pay_rate_p);
   while (pay_rate_p < 0)
   {
      printf("   Invalid data, try again");
      printf("   Please enter your hourly pay rate: ");
      scanf("%f", pay_rate_p);
   }
   printf("   Please enter total hours worked for this pay period: ");
   scanf("%f", hours_p);
   while (hours_p < 0)
   {
      printf("   Invalid data, try again");
      printf("   Please enter total hours worked for this pay period: ");
      scanf("%f", hours_p);
   }
   printf("   Please enter the amount of your Deferred Earnings: ");
   scanf("%f", deferred_p);
   while (deferred_p < 0)
   {
      printf("   Invalid data, try again");
	  printf("   Please enter the amount of your Deferred Earnings: ");
      scanf("%f", deferred_p);
   }
}

Originally Posted by laserlight

What exactly is the problem?

well... I'm not sure how to validate first and last name, and validating hours, pay_rate, and deferred fails (no matter what I input, it accepts it)

Originally Posted by itsme86

Try dereferencing your pointers in your while() conditions.

it worked!!! I swear I tried that yesterday and it was crashing in the middle...

anyways, now if I could only validate those damn strings... anyone?

Update, as it turns out the validation of hours, pay_rate, and deferred is working now but the first and last name does not. What happens is, whatever I input it says it's too long (even when I type only one character)

any help?

Code:

while (last_name_p > MAXFL) {

this compares a pointer and an int. You would have to use

Code:

while (strlen(last_name_p) > MAXFL) {

but then if the user would have entered a name that doesn't fit into the buffer your program would already have crashed.
you could use fgets() for the string input or
something like this

Code:

scanf("%9s", last_name_p);

Kurt