Structures, will take a minute to answer!

I have a problem with one of my data pieces within my structure. Here, I have my structure:

Code:

---

struct StudentAccount
{
  string name;
  string major;
  int admission_year;
  int number;
  string admission_semester;
  string expected_graduation_year;
  string expected_graduation_month;
};

---

and here I have my declaration of a variable:

Code:

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account.expected_graduation_year = (account.admission_year + 4);

---

so why does this give me an invalid answer when I run my program? Thanks for the help in advance!

You can't assign an int to a string. One option is to use stringstream.

Post the error message next time.

there was no error message. when i ran the program, it just gave an invalid character and continued through the program. thank you though.

You may want to convert the admission_year member from a string (or stringstream) to an int or float by using atoi or atof. Just a suggestion.

well now i have two problems:

1.) When I output 'account.expected_graduation_year,' I get a very square white box. I would assume this has to do with a casting problem, but I do not really know how to fix this and I do not know how to utilize streamstring like cyberfish said. Is there a way besides streamstring that just uses strings?

2.) When the user is inputting data (in this case, ME), I can enter in the name, number, and the year admitted, but then the program displays "Semester admitted to school" but doesn't let me input anything and goes straight to major...why is this?!

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

struct StudentAccount
{
  string name;
  string major;
  int admission_year;
  int number;
  string admission_semester;
  string expected_graduation_year;
  string expected_graduation_month;
};

int main()
{
  StudentAccount account; //Accessing the member variables
 
  cout << "Please enter the following information: " << endl;
  cout << "Student Name: ";
  getline(cin, account.name); //Receives the entire line
  cout << "Student number: ";
  cin >> account.number;
  cout << "Year admitted to school: ";
  cin >> account.admission_year;
  cout << "Semester admitted to school: ";
  getline(cin, account.admission_semester);
  cout << "Major: ";
  getline(cin, account.major);
 
  account.expected_graduation_year = (account.admission_year + 4);
  if (account.admission_semester == "Fall")
      account.expected_graduation_month == "May";
  else
      account.expected_graduation_month == "December";
 
  cout << "Your personal information: " << endl;
  cout << "Student Name: " << account.name << endl;
  cout << "Student Number: " << account.number << endl;
  cout << "Major: " << account.major << endl;
  cout << "Expected Graduation Year: " << account.expected_graduation_year;
  cout << "Expected Graduation Month: " << account.expected_graduation_month;
}

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What's happening is, assigning an int to a string uses string's overloaded assignment operator for char. Meaning the int is converted to a char (remember that chars are just 8-bit ints that get converted to their ASCII (if your computer uses ASCII) symbol when printed).

That obviously won't make sense in this case.

You need some way to convert an int to a string, using either atoi (C way) or stringstream (C++ way).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by porsche911nfs

there was no error message. when i ran the program, it just gave an invalid character and continued through the program. thank you though.

---

std::string has an overloaded assignment operator that has a char parameter. As such, your int was converted to a char, and this assignment operator was invoked, thus leading to a bug.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by porsche911nfs

1.) When I output 'account.expected_graduation_year,' I get a very square white box. I would assume this has to do with a casting problem, but I do not really know how to fix this and I do not know how to utilize streamstring like cyberfish said. Is there a way besides streamstring that just uses strings?

---

A solution is to #include <sstream> and use a stringstream for conversion, e.g.,

Code:

---

std::stringstream ss;
ss << (account.admission_year + 4);
account.expected_graduation_year = ss.str();

---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by porsche911nfs

2.) When the user is inputting data (in this case, ME), I can enter in the name, number, and the year admitted, but then the program displays "Semester admitted to school" but doesn't let me input anything and goes straight to major...why is this?!

---

The problem is that formatted input with operator>> leaves trailing whitespace in the input stream buffer. As such, you should ignore the whitespace, either by using:

Code:

---

cin.ignore(1000, '\n');

---

where 1000 is selected arbitrarily, or by changing to:

Code:

---

cin >> account.admission_year >> ws;

---

where std::ws is an input stream manipulator that reads and discards consecutive whitespace. (If you are not familiar with manipulators, recall your own use of the std::endl manipulator.)

thanks for the help, i got to run as expected.