Couple of small questions. Buffer overflow and passing variables through functions?

Just a couple small ones that I couldn't seem to find solid answers to via either this message board or Google.

First of all, I've got a simple numbered menu utilizing an integer for user input via cin. When anything other than a number is entered, the program appears to shoot into an infinite loop.
I've attempted to use both char and string variables to no avail.

As for my second question, I need to pass a string variable with its value across multiple functions. How would I go about accomplishing something like that? I can't seem to find anything on that one either.

These are the last two issues that are preventing me from releasing this project, which was basically a self-taught experiment to see whether I could do it or not, spanning over the last couple of months.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by civix

First of all, I've got a simple numbered menu utilizing an integer for user input via cin. When anything other than a number is entered, the program appears to shoot into an infinite loop.
I've attempted to use both char and string variables to no avail.

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There are a few ways to fix this, one of which involves clearing the error state after a failed read, and another which involves reading into a string, then parsing the string for the integer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by civix

As for my second question, I need to pass a string variable with its value across multiple functions. How would I go about accomplishing something like that? I can't seem to find anything on that one either.

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You could pass it as an argument. The parameter could be a value, a (const) reference, or a pointer to a string, depending on your requirements.

Sorry for the long bump. I've been deployed.

As for the buffer overflow situation:

Code:

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stringstream ss(str);
int x;
ss >> x;

if(ss) { // <-- error handling
  // use x
} else {
  // not a number
}

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Would use of Stringstream be acceptable?

There is no danger of buffer overflows at all. If trying to read a string into an integer, it simply won't work.
What you describe is one of the most common methods to do input via the console properly and securely, so yes, it is acceptable.