Help with creating a dynamic array that can add and delete elements

[cloudstrife910]

Hey Im working on this program for school, pretty much I have to create an array of five strings and create and use two functions, addEntry and deleteEntry. These should allow you to change the size and add elements to the array or emulate the functions of a vector as the book says. So far I have the addEntry working but when I tried to put in my deleteEntry I now get an error saying the .exe has stopped working. Can you help me out? I muct have made the deleteEntry Function wrong or something.

Here's my code:

//COT 3002
//The purpose of this program is to create a function that can add or remove elements to an array

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

//Function Prototypes
string* addEntry(string *dynamicArray, int &size, string newEntry);
string* deleteEntry(string *dynamicArray, int &size, string entryToDelete);

int main()
{
	int size=5;
	string *strPtr=new string[size];
	int i=0;
	strPtr[i++] = "Frink";
	strPtr[i++] = "Wiggum";
	strPtr[i++] = "Nahasapeemapetilon";
	strPtr[i++] = "Quimby";
	strPtr[i++] = "Flanders";
	cout<<"Initial List:"<<endl;
	for(i=0; i < size; i++) 
		cout << i << ": " << strPtr[i] << endl;
	cout<<"\nAfter Adding an Entry:"<<endl;
	strPtr=addEntry(strPtr, size,"Spuckler");
	for(i=0; i < size; i++) 
		cout << i << ": " << strPtr[i] << endl;
	strPtr=deleteEntry(strPtr, size, "Nahasapeemapetilon");
	for(i=0; i < size; i++) 
		cout << i << ": " << strPtr[i] << endl;


	return 0;
}

string *deleteEntry(string *dynamicArray, int &size, string entryToDelete)
{// create a new dynamic array 1 element larger than dynamicArray
   string *newArray = new string[size - 1];

   // copy all elements from dynamicArray into new array
   for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
   {
       if(dynamicArray[i]!=entryToDelete)
		   newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i];
   }

   size--;

   // delete dynamicArray
   delete [] dynamicArray;

   // and return the new array
   return newArray;
}

   

string *addEntry(string *dynamicArray, int &size, string newEntry)
{
   // create a new dynamic array 1 element larger than dynamicArray
   string *newArray = new string[size + 1];

   // copy all elements from dynamicArray into new array
   for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
   {
       newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i];
   }

   // add the new entry onto the end of the new array
   newArray[size] = newEntry;

   // increment size
   size++;

   // delete dynamicArray
   delete [] dynamicArray;

   // and return the new array
   return newArray;
}

[Salem]

You're overflowing your array.

> if(dynamicArray[i]!=entryToDelete)
> newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i];
Once you've gone past the deleted element, the index to newArray is one LESS than the index subscripting dynamicArray

[cloudstrife910]

Thank you, I now changed the code of that function to this:

string *deleteEntry(string *dynamicArray, int &size, string entryToDelete)
{	int stop;
	// create a new dynamic array 1 element smaller than dynamicArray
   string *newArray = new string[size - 1];

   // copy all elements from dynamicArray into new array
   for(int i = 0; i < size - 1; i++)
   {
       if(dynamicArray[i]!=entryToDelete)
		   newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i];
	   else 
	   {stop=i;
	   for(int i = stop; i < size-1; i++)
		   newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i+1];}
   }

   size--;

   // delete dynamicArray
   delete [] dynamicArray;

   // and return the new array
   return newArray;
}

I no longer get the error, but I now have a new problem. It deletes the entry and put the next entry in place of it like I want it to, but then prints that same entry one more time, like if had i had 12345 before and want to delete 2, I have 1334, when I want 1345. Please help me out.

[cloudstrife910]

Nevermind I fixed it, I used this code:

string *deleteEntry(string *dynamicArray, int &size, string entryToDelete)
{	int stop;
	// create a new dynamic array 1 element smaller than dynamicArray
   string *newArray = new string[size - 1];

   // copy all elements from dynamicArray into new array
   for(int i = 0; i < size - 1; i++)
   {
       if(dynamicArray[i]!=entryToDelete)
		   newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i];
	   else 
	   {stop=i;
	   break;}}
	 for(int i = stop; i < size-1; i++)
		   newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i+1];


   size--;

   // delete dynamicArray
   delete [] dynamicArray;

   // and return the new array
   return newArray;
}

Thank you for your help

[laserlight]

Sorry, but your indentation needs a lot of work. For example, it would have been easier to read if you had written the function like this:

string* deleteEntry(string* dynamicArray, int& size, string entryToDelete)
{
    int stop;
    // create a new dynamic array 1 element smaller than dynamicArray
    string* newArray = new string[size - 1];

    // copy all elements from dynamicArray into new array
    for (int i = 0; i < size - 1; i++)
    {
        if (dynamicArray[i] != entryToDelete)
            newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i];
        else
        {
            stop=i;
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = stop; i < size - 1; i++)
        newArray[i] = dynamicArray[i + 1];

    size--;

    // delete dynamicArray
    delete [] dynamicArray;

    // and return the new array
    return newArray;
}

However, there is one major problem with your implementation of deleteEntry: what happens if none of the strings in the dynamic array are equal to entryToDelete?

[cloudstrife910]

Yeah I know thats true, I realized that and tried to fix it by moving the size-- into the else statement but that messed everything else up, I'm not to sure how to fix it.

[whiteflags]

Unless your assignment gives you specific instructions about what to do when the entry to delete is not present, my guess would be to do nothing at all