checking for errors..

[BODYBUILDNERD]

hey guys, i'm writing a program that schedules appointments, cancels them, etc..
i have 6 classes...
appointment- checks to see if an appointment is valid
car- holds all information about a car, reads and prints information
date-uses various functions to convert dates
time-uses various functions to convert times
schedule- schedules all the appointments
customer- keeps track of all the customer information

anyways..when i ask a customer for a date...it needs to be written in as MM/DD/YY..and then converted... but for this particular program we are only working on the days from 01/20/03 to 01/25/03...and for time it needs to be like this XX:YY in military time...open hours are from 8-6.

anyways i want to build in a check to make sure the user enters an appropriate date and time...

but for some reason it only catches certain errors if you enter the inproper month or year its find the error, but for days, and time...it doesnt' find the error...

here's the code i have right now...

while (cont == 'y')
{
     cout << "What day would you like to bring the car in   
     (MM/DD/YY):  ";
     date1.ReadDate(cin);

     if(date1.GetMonth() == 1 && date1.GetDay() >= 20 && 
     date1.GetDay() < 26 && date1.GetYear() == 2003)
	cont = 'n';

     cout << "What time would you like to bring in the car 
     (XX:YY): ";
     time1.ReadTime(cin);

     if((time1.GetHours() > 8 && time1.GetHours() <= 16) && 
     time1.GetMinutes() == 20 || time1.GetMinutes() == 40 || 
     time1.GetMinutes() == 00)
               cont = 'n';

     system("cls");
     if(cont == 'y')
    {
          cout << "\n\n\tI'm sorry, the date or time you've entered is 
          incorrect.\n";
          system("pause");
          system("cls");
    }

thanks for the help...somethings just a little bit off i think...

BBNERD

[joshdick]

The problem is you only have one variable, cont, that can catch an error. It can only catch one error, not two. Try setting up two seperate boolean variables to ensure that valid data is entered. Something like

bool goodDate = true, goodTime = false;
// is better than
char cont;

IMO. I think that's your problem.

[BODYBUILDNERD]

can you post that in a little more detail...i'm a little confused on what you mean...... I've been working on this program waaaay to long and my mind isn't working..and its due tomorrow! AHH

thanks BBNERD

[joshdick]

Here's another suggestion that might be easier.

cout << "prompt for date";
cin >> date;
while(/*conditions of bad data*/)
{
	cout << "error message";
	cout << "prompt for date";
	cin >> date;
}

cout << "prompt for time";
cin >> time;
while(/*conditions of bad data)
{
	cout << "error message";
	cout << "prompt for time";
	cin >> time;
}

There you go. I often use that method to guard against bad data. Using this method, you needn't even declare another variable. I hope this helps.

[BODYBUILDNERD]

i made it into a function...i think my error checks are off..i'm so confused!!

BBNERD

[joshdick]

Originally posted by BODYBUILDNERD
i made it into a function...i think my error checks are off..i'm so confused!!

BBNERD

If you want help from us then you have to tell us what you want to know. Post your modified code and ask a question.