help with class structure assignment

I'm doing an assignment where you have to create class structures. The problem I'm having is when you read in a string into the array. Here is my program so far:

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

const int NUMCONS = 15;
class author_name {
      public:
            string last;
            string first;
};
class other_info {
      public:
            string publisher;
            int year;
};

class book_info {
      public:
           
            string title;
            int pages;
            string genre;
            other_info other;
};

class mybooks {
      public:
            author_name name;
            book_info book;
};
void readdata (mybooks [], int &);
void prettyprint (mybooks [], int);
int main ()
{
    mybooks library[NUMCONS];
    int num;
   

      readdata (library, num);
      prettyprint (library, num);
   
   
   
    return 0;
}
void readdata (mybooks library [], int &num)
{
    ifstream cfile("program8in.dat");
    cfile >> num;
       
   
    for (int count = 0; count < num; count++) {
        cfile >> library[count].name.last;
        cfile >> library[count].name.first;
        cfile >> library[count].book.title;
        cfile >> library[count].book.pages;
        cfile >> library[count].book.genre;
        cfile >> library[count].book.other.publisher;
        cfile >> library[count].book.other.year;
       
   
    }
    cfile.close();
    return;
}
void prettyprint (mybooks library [], int num)
{   
    ofstream dbfile("program8.out");
   
    for (int count= 0; count < num; count++) {
        dbfile << "\t" << library[count].name.last;
        dbfile << "\t" << library[count].name.first;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.title;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.pages;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.genre;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.other.publisher;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.other.year;
        dbfile << endl;
    }
   
    dbfile.close();
    return;
}

---

Here is my data file:

Code:

---

2
Jk Rowling
Harry  167 Fantasy Scholastic 1999
JRR Tolkien
LOTR 999 Fantasy Penguin 1956

---

And this is my output:
Jk

Code:

---

        Rowling        Harry        167        Fantasy        Scholastic        1999
        JRR        Tolkien        LOTR        999        Fantasy        Penguin        1956

---

But let's say I want the title to be "Harry Potter". The program will read in "Harry" into a different location in the array from "Potter".

I've tried using getline(), because that's the only thing I can think of to do that.

I tried this:

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

const int NUMCONS = 15;
class author_name {
      public:
            string last;
            string first;
};
class other_info {
      public:
            string publisher;
            int year;
};

class book_info {
      public:
           
            string title;
            int pages;
            string genre;
            other_info other;
};

class mybooks {
      public:
            author_name name;
            book_info book;
};
void readdata (mybooks [], int &);
void prettyprint (mybooks [], int);
int main ()
{
    mybooks library[NUMCONS];
    int num;
   

      readdata (library, num);
      prettyprint (library, num);
   
   
   
    return 0;
}
void readdata (mybooks library [], int &num)
{
    ifstream cfile("program8in.dat");
    cfile >> num;
       
   
    for (int count = 0; count < num; count++) {
        cfile >> library[count].name.last;
        cfile >> library[count].name.first;
        getline(cfile, library[count].book.title);
        cfile >> library[count].book.pages;
        getline(cfile, library[count].book.genre);
        getline(cfile, library[count].book.other.publisher);
        cfile >> library[count].book.other.year;
       
   
    }
    cfile.close();
    return;
}
void prettyprint (mybooks library [], int num)
{   
    ofstream dbfile("program8.out");
   
    for (int count= 0; count < num; count++) {
        dbfile << "\t" << library[count].name.last;
        dbfile << "\t" << library[count].name.first;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.title;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.pages;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.genre;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.other.publisher;
        dbfile <<"\t" << library[count].book.other.year;
        dbfile << endl;
    }
   
    dbfile.close();
    return;
}

---

With this data file:

Code:

---

2
Jk Rowling
Harry Potter 
167
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Scholastic
1999
JRR Tolkien
Lord of the Rings
999
Science Fiction
Penguin Classics
1956

---

But it gives me crazy output, like this:

Code:

---

        Jk        Rowling                211400                        211400
                                205920                        205936

---

So if someone can explain what I'm doing wrong, I'd be quite grateful.

Take a look at this code:

Code:

---

    for (int count = 0; count < num; count++) {
        cfile >> library[count].name.last;
        cfile >> library[count].name.first;
        getline(cfile, library[count].book.title);
        cfile >> library[count].book.pages;
        getline(cfile, library[count].book.genre);
        getline(cfile, library[count].book.other.publisher);
        cfile >> library[count].book.other.year;
    }

---

After you cin>> name.first and name.last, you will have read "Jk" and "Rowling", respectively, but you've left the newline in the stream. The call to getline will receive an empty line, and when you try to convert that empty string to a number, you get something completely random like 211400.

So, you have to get rid of the newline. Perhaps the easiest way to do this would be to use getline() to get the line "Jk Rowlings" into one string, and then use stringstreams to parse the two parts of that line.

Stringstreams are covered in this FAQ. In the FAQ, numbers are being extracted from the string, but it's the same idea for strings. http://faq.cprogramming.com/cgi-bin/...&id=1043284385

Is there another way to get rid of the newline character, like cin.ignore or something like that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crcullen3916

Is there another way to get rid of the newline character, like cin.ignore or something like that?

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There's more than one way to do pretty much anything, but I'd recommend learning to use stringstreams. Really, it's not hard, and they are terribly useful things.

You could use ignore() if you wanted to, just like when you stop the console from closing:

Code:

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in.ignore ( std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(), '\n' );

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From http://faq.cprogramming.com/cgi-bin/...&id=1043284385

But using stringstreams would be a good idea, in case you want to expand your program in the future or something.