Thread: using constructor to initialize data

Heres some info on the problem.
the program has to read from a file (file contains information on
individuals bank accounts) and "As each data line is read (each line is a
persons bank account information) you should allocate a new record and
initialize the data". I want to store these lines of data from the file as
elements in an array. Hopefully you understand what I'm getting at. How can
I initialize the data im getting from the file without an array? Or how can
I do it with an array? Any ideas welcome. Some lines of data will require me to use a different constructor to initialize only 2 fields or a different constructor to initialize 3 fields.

Code:

class BankRecord
{
   public:   
      char *name;
      int accountNum;
      int balance;
   protected:
      BankRecord();
      void printInfo();
};

BankRecord::BankRecord()
{
   name = 0;
   accountNum = 0;
   balance = 0;
}

void BankRecord::printInfo()
{
   cout << "Name: " << name << endl
           << "Account #: " << accountNum << endl
           << "Balance: " << balance << endl;
}

BankRecord array[20];

Code:

class account
{
  public:
    int id;
    char name[30];
    account();
}

account::account()
{
  int = 0;
  strcpy(name, "none");
}

int main()
{
   account accounts[10]
   int index = 0;
   ifstream fin("myFile.txt");
   fin >> accounts[index].id;
   while(!fin.eof() && index < 10)
   {
      fin.ignore();
      fin.getline(accounts[index++].name; 30);
      fin >> accounts[index].id;
    }

    for(int i = 0; i < index; i++)
    {
       cout << accounts[i].id << ' ' << accounts[i].name << endl;
    }
return 0;
}

Example of code to do the task but is uncompiled code and lazy style. Ideally would use private variables, accessor and mutator functions. May be best to use a list or vector if you don't know how many customers are going to be in file. If using home grown list will need to use dynamic memory to declare each new account, and then be sure to delete memory when list is no longer needed. Should also always test that file opened, and adequate memory available if you are doing memory management.

My professor gave me this project and he has special rules that go along with it. I'm trying to initialize private members but there are no public methods of doing so. Only constructors can be used to initialize the data. There are 7 people that I have to keep bank accounts for. I have to read in the file and as I read each line of data (some lines contain and extra parameter like the balance left in an accout) I have to figure out how many parameters there are and judging by that.......I have to call the correct constructor to initialize the private members of a class called BankAccount. I'm trying to somehow use an array. Even if I create 7 objects.....i still have to initialize them right away and I cant since I didnt have a chance to read in the file. Any help would be appreciated.

If you must intialize data in a constructor only you try using a multi-argument constructor, something like this:

account::account(int Id, char * Name)
{
id = Id;
strcpy(name, Name);
//next = NULL; //to make this a node for a list, see below
}

and in main() read in data from file to dummy variables, passing the dummy variables to the (appropriate) constructor, and then assigning the "new" account to the array

int main()
{
int id;
char name[30];
account accounts[7];
ifstream fin("file.txt");
int index = 0;
fin >> id;
fin.ignore();
while(!fin.eof() && index < 7)
{
fin.getline(name, 30);
account temp(id, name);
account[index++] = temp;
}
//etc;


although it might be more appropriate to use the multi-argument constructor with the new operator to create a new node for a linked list of accounts doing something like this:

int main()
{
int id;
char name[30];
account accounts[7];
ifstream fin("file.txt");
int index = 0;
fin >> id;
fin.ignore();
while(!fin.eof() && index < 7)
{
fin.getline(name, 30);
account * temp = new account(id, name);
accountList.add(temp);
fin >> id;
fin.ignore();
}

You might need multiple, multi-argument constructors to cover all possibilities. Then you would probably need to read the entire line in at once using getline(), parse the line into approapriate variables, and then pass the variables to an appropriate constructor, although that seems like an over elaborate project, and I would reread your instructions to be sure you understand them correctly.

You guys just sent me back on the right track. I think i just figured it out and so far it worked on my little test program I made. I'm going to use a temporary Bankaccount to hold the values from the file and then set the bankaccount after proper initialization to an element in the array. Thank you again.