Interface Question

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06-02-2002
smog890

Interface Question

I'm making a program to enter and store cheats. I have the main menu that comes up asking for your choice. Delete code, Enter code etc. When the user enters the choice it brings up the new menu. But you can still see part of the old menu. How would I go about fixing this so the user only sees the new menu. I tryed using more blank printf(); but that just made the new menu and the ver bottom of the DOS screen. I want it centered like the First main menu. How would i go about doing this?

I've attaced the soure code if you want to look at it. Pluse could you please look at it and give me feed back on it. This is my first program i'm working on. I would like to know what i'm doing wrong. It only ask you for your menu choices it cant save or search for anything yet. Not that far in the book 20 more pages to go then it will be able to save and search for stuff.
06-02-2002
smog890

One more thing

My code is about 800 lins so i'm just warning you if you dont have the time too look at it.
06-02-2002
Bull

just clear the screen before displaying any menu:

in dos:
clrscr();
or
system("cls");

in unix:
system("clear");

you could also think about changing your functions so you have a function for enter cheat, passing it the name, ie Dreamcase or Gamecube, which you could use in your printf as we'll as determining where it should be saved as the rest of the checks like making sure it is the right size, etc are all the same, just seems like a lot of functions, but I havent really had a good read so it may be required.
06-03-2002
smog890

That's a good idea. Save me time on making all those functions.
I'm going to try the clrscr() now thanks.
06-03-2002
GaPe

smog890, I'll give an advice. For clearing screen, do not use system ("cls");, beacuse it is too slow.
06-03-2002
smog890

My compiler wont let me use clrscr(); do you have to put anything in the ()?
06-03-2002
GaPe

You should wrote clrscr (); and not clrscrn();.

Definition of the clrscr (); function is: void clrscr (void);
You don't have to put anything in ().
06-03-2002
Hammer

OK, here's some thoughts on your program in general:

>fflush(stdin);
Don't do this, it's wrong. Learn other ways of clearing the input buffer.

>main()
You have recursive calls to main. This is bad programming style, and you should avoid it unless you're trying to confuse other people who read your source. Only the OS should call main().

>scanf("%d", &selection );
Always check the return code of scanf(). If the user enters a character instead of a number, the value of selection won't be what you think.

>function return statement
You have some functions that are defined as returning a value, but don't.

>in function update(): if(UpdateExit == 1);
This line of code has no affect as it is terminated with a semi-colon. There are more examples of this same problem in other functions, I'll let you find them.

Code:

puts("\n\nEnter code to delete: "); fflush(stdin); scanf("%s", delete_catigory[maxinput]); if(delete_catigory[maxinput] < maxinput);

Your indentation has gone a bit wrong in the above example. Try to indent properly, it makes the code easier to follow.

>char enter_n64[maxinput];
>scanf("%s", enter_n64[maxinput]);
scanf() needs a pointer as it's second parameter. You have passed a char. This will break the program. Also, fgets() is better for obtaining input than scanf() for various reasons.

>more recursive function calling (in like, a whole bunch of functions.) Try using loops to control the code when doing user input validation.

Code:

if(goodbye == 'y') exit; else if(goodbye == 'n') main(); else exit_y_n();

The above is bad coding style for lots of reasons
- The exit call has no affect, exit is a function that requires a parameter.
- Again you're calling main() which is a no no.
- And you have a recursive call to exit_y_n() which would be better controlled via a loop of some sort.

You appear to have a lot of functions that all do a very similar thing. Why not consolidate them into one, and pass parameters for the bits you need to make variable.

To show you the trouble I had with your code, here's the output from my compiler:

Code:

Borland C++ 5.5 for Win32 Copyright (c) 1993, 2000 Borland smog.c: Warning W8065 smog.c 142: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function main Warning W8065 smog.c 255: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function search_for_cheat Warning W8065 smog.c 360: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function enter_cheat Warning W8065 smog.c 429: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function delete_cheat Warning W8066 smog.c 449: Unreachable code in function delete_cheat Warning W8065 smog.c 492: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function history Warning W8066 smog.c 506: Unreachable code in function history Warning W8065 smog.c 532: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function help Warning W8070 smog.c 539: Function should return a value in function help Warning W8070 smog.c 558: Function should return a value in function help_search Warning W8070 smog.c 577: Function should return a value in function help_enter_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 596: Function should return a value in function help_delete_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 609: Code has no effect in function update Warning W8065 smog.c 610: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function update Warning W8019 smog.c 629: Code has no effect in function exit_y_n Warning W8065 smog.c 632: Call to function 'main' with no prototype in function exit_y_n Warning W8070 smog.c 637: Function should return a value in function exit_y_n Warning W8019 smog.c 648: Code has no effect in function search_all_catigorys Warning W8070 smog.c 653: Function should return a value in function search_all_catigorys Warning W8019 smog.c 663: Code has no effect in function n64_search Warning W8070 smog.c 667: Function should return a value in function n64_search Warning W8019 smog.c 677: Code has no effect in function playstation_search Warning W8070 smog.c 680: Function should return a value in function playstation_search Warning W8019 smog.c 691: Code has no effect in function playstation2_search Warning W8070 smog.c 694: Function should return a value in function playstation2_search Warning W8019 smog.c 704: Code has no effect in function dreamcast_search Warning W8070 smog.c 707: Function should return a value in function dreamcast_search Warning W8019 smog.c 718: Code has no effect in function gamecube_search Warning W8070 smog.c 721: Function should return a value in function gamecube_search Warning W8019 smog.c 732: Code has no effect in function xbox_search Warning W8070 smog.c 735: Function should return a value in function xbox_search Warning W8019 smog.c 746: Code has no effect in function pc_search Warning W8070 smog.c 749: Function should return a value in function pc_search Warning W8019 smog.c 760: Code has no effect in function enter_new_catigory Warning W8070 smog.c 766: Function should return a value in function enter_new_catigory Warning W8019 smog.c 777: Code has no effect in function enter_n64_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 781: Function should return a value in function enter_n64_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 791: Code has no effect in function enter_ps_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 795: Function should return a value in function enter_ps_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 805: Code has no effect in function enter_ps2_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 809: Function should return a value in function enter_ps2_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 819: Code has no effect in function enter_dc_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 823: Function should return a value in function enter_dc_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 833: Code has no effect in function enter_gc_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 837: Function should return a value in function enter_gc_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 847: Code has no effect in function enter_xbox_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 851: Function should return a value in function enter_xbox_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 861: Code has no effect in function enter_pc_cheat Warning W8070 smog.c 865: Function should return a value in function enter_pc_cheat Warning W8019 smog.c 875: Code has no effect in function delete_cheat_catigory Warning W8070 smog.c 878: Function should return a value in function delete_cheat_catigory Warning W8019 smog.c 888: Code has no effect in function delete_cheat_code Warning W8070 smog.c 892: Function should return a value in function delete_cheat_code Warning W8019 smog.c 902: Code has no effect in function delete_code_catigory Warning W8070 smog.c 905: Function should return a value in function delete_code_catigory Warning W8070 smog.c 915: Function should return a value in function his_nintendo Warning W8070 smog.c 924: Function should return a value in function his_sega Warning W8070 smog.c 932: Function should return a value in function his_sony Turbo Incremental Link 5.00 Copyright (c) 1997, 2000 Borland
06-03-2002
smog890

oh wow, all the functions that get the input do nothing now becuase i'm not that far in the book. well i'm going to go to work on my program now. Thanks for your help.
06-03-2002
Hammer

Quote:

Originally posted by smog890
oh wow, all the functions that get the input do nothing now becuase i'm not that far in the book.

I guess as much :) To shut the compiler up, you can just add a return 0; statement to each of the functions that require it.

Trouble is, if you have too many error messages being generated, it becomes hard to tell the good from the bad.
06-03-2002
smog890

would this work for fflush(); This is an example in the book i'm reading. Should I use this way?

void clear_kb( void );

int main()
{
/*code that gets input here*/

/*Now call clear_kb(); to clear input buffer*/
clear_kb();

/*Now code to get second input*/

}

/*Clear input buffer function*/
void clear_kb( void )
{
char junk[80];
gets(junk);
}

Thanks for looking at my code.
06-03-2002
Hammer

In short.... no.

I should point out that gets() is bad. It doesn't do any bounds checking, so if the user enters too many characters, the buffer will overflow. It is a function that I see many newbies use, presumably because they have a lame teacher or book. ;)

A better way to flush stdin is to
>while (getchar() != '\n');
This will read in a character at a time, until the newline is reached. All characters are discarded.

It does however assume that there is actually garbage in the buffer. If there isn't (meaning the buffer is already empty), then the user will need to press enter again to satisfy the loop, which is not a user-friendly situation. Use it with care!