Opening a file using a String

I am trying to make a loop that repeats untill I get a valid file name from the user. Unfortunatly it only works if the correct file name is input on the first attempt. Can someone give me some ideas in the right direction on what I am doing wrong?

Code:

---

        cout << "Please enter the name of the file to open: ";

        cin >> fileName;

        cout << "You entered:" << fileName << endl;

        inFile.open(fileName.c_str());

        while (!inFile)
        {
                cout << "Please enter the name of the file to open: ";

                cin >> fileName;

                cout << "You entered:" << fileName << endl;

                inFile.open(fileName.c_str());
        }

---

What types of objects are inFile and fileName?

How about something like this?

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;
using std::ifstream;
using std::string;

int main(void)
{
  string fileName;
  ifstream inFile;
  do {
      cout << "Please enter the name of the file to open: ";
      cin >> fileName;
      cout << "You entered:" << fileName << endl;
      inFile.open(fileName.c_str());
  } while ( !inFile );
  return 0;
}

---

clear

maxhavoc, here are the declarations

Code:

---

ifstream inFile;

string fileName;

---

Thanks for the help guys I think a do while would work properly but I cant figure out why the only the priming read works in a regular while loop.

I am not sure what "clear" is refering too if that is a hint...

Code:

---

       
        ifstream inFile;

        string fileName;

        cout << "Please enter the name of the file to open: ";

        cin >> fileName;

        cout << "You entered:" << fileName << endl;

        inFile.open(fileName.c_str());

        while (!inFile)
        {
                inFile.clear();

                cout << "Please enter the name of the file to open: ";

                cin >> fileName;

                cout << "You entered:" << fileName << endl;

                inFile.open(fileName.c_str());
        }

---

Okay thanks everyone inserting inFile.clear seems to have fixed the problem. Can anyone tell me what it does? Thanks again!

JL

It resets all of the fail bits in the stream object.

ios::fail()
ios::bad()
ios::eof()

It clears any error flags on that object. Without that, the error flags that do happen to be set will prevent any action on that object (like trying to open the file a second time).

I see...

Thanks again for the help everyone! I was stuck for a while on that.