Thread: Need help with using strings in classes

I need help getting strings to work with my class. Integers, floats etc all seem to work, but strings won't. I think I need to use a pointer but I'm a noob and can't figure out how to do that.

Here's the code

Code:

#include<stdlib.h>
#include<iostream>
#include<string>
using namespace std;


class object
        {
        private:
                char name[20];
                char description[80];   // Longer description
                int where;              // Where object is, -1 if carried
        public:
                void setup(char n, char d, int w);
                void desc(int room);
        };

void object::setup(char n, char d, int w)
        {
        strcpy(name[20], n);
        strcpy(description[100], d);
        where = w;
        }

void object::desc(int room)
        {
        if ((room == where) || (where == -1))
                {
                cout << "The cheese is "<< description << endl;
                }
        else
                {
                cout << "I can't find the " << name << ", can you?" << endl;
                }
        }

int main()
        {
        object cheese;
        cheese.setup("Swiss cheese","holey and yellow",1);
        cheese.desc(1);
        cheese.desc(2);
        }

and here are the errors:

Code:

object.cpp: In member function `void object::setup(char, char, int)':
object.cpp:20: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `char*'
object.cpp:20: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `const char*'
object.cpp:21: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `char*'
object.cpp:21: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `const char*'
object.cpp: In function `int main()':
object.cpp:40: error: invalid conversion from `const char*' to `char'
object.cpp:40: error:   initializing argument 1 of `void object::setup(char,
   char, int)'
object.cpp:40: error: invalid conversion from `const char*' to `char'
object.cpp:40: error:   initializing argument 2 of `void object::setup(char,
   char, int)'

thanks for the help, but that didn't seem to work. though I did make a few changes and got rid of most of the errors.
btw im not sure how to use the std::string class

here's the updated code

Code:

#include<stdlib.h>
#include<iostream>
#include<string>
using namespace std;


class object
        {
        private:
                char name[20];
                char description[80];   // Longer description
                int where;              // Where object is, -1 if carried
        public:
                void setup(char n[20], char d[80], int w);
                void desc(int room);
        };

void object::setup(char n[20], char d[80], int w)
        {
        strcpy(name[20], n);
        strcpy(description[100], d);
        where = w;
        }

void object::desc(int room)
        {
        if ((room == where) || (where == -1))
                {
                cout << "The cheese is "<< description << endl;
                }
        else
                {
                cout << "I can't find the " << name << ", can you?" << endl;
                }
        }

int main()
        {
        object cheese;
        cheese.setup("Swiss cheese","holey and yellow",1);
        cheese.desc(1);
        cheese.desc(2);
        }

and the errors:

Code:

object.cpp: In member function `void object::setup(char*, char*, int)':
object.cpp:20: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `char*'
object.cpp:21: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `char*'

sorry, I was still getting alot of errors,
Here's what I had with that code

Code:

object.cpp: In member function `void object::setup(const char**, const char**,
   int)':
object.cpp:20: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `char*'
object.cpp:20: error: cannot convert `const char**' to `const char*' for
   argument `2' to `char* strcpy(char*, const char*)'
object.cpp:21: error: invalid conversion from `char' to `char*'
object.cpp:21: error: cannot convert `const char**' to `const char*' for
   argument `2' to `char* strcpy(char*, const char*)'
object.cpp: In function `int main()':
object.cpp:40: error: no matching function for call to `object::setup(const
   char[13], const char[17], int)'
object.cpp:19: error: candidates are: void object::setup(const char**, const
   char**, int)