problem with validating data inside function

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

void  Input_Employee(char*, char*, char*, float*, float*, float*); //prototype

int main(void)
{
#define MAXFL                        10                /*Maximum # of char's for first, last name*/
#define MAXFULL                        20                /*Maximum # of char's for full name*/

char    first_name[MAXFL], last_name[MAXFL], full_name[MAXFULL];

float hours, pay_rate, deferred;


 Input_Employee(full_name, last_name, first_name, &hours, &pay_rate,
        &deferred); //function call

  printf("\n\n  Press any key to terminate . . . \n");
  getchar();
  return 0;
}

/************************** Function Definition #x *****************************
* Function:                Input_Employee( )                                                                                       
* Description:        This function gets and validates Employee's input.                     
* Arguments:        *full_name_p, *last_name_p, *first_name_p, *hours_p,               
                            *pay_rate_p, *deferred_p                                               
* Return value:        NOTHING                                                                                                                 
*******************************************************************************/

void  Input_Employee(char *full_name_p, char *last_name_p, char *first_name_p,
        float *hours_p, float *pay_rate_p, float *deferred_p)
{
  printf("\n  Please enter your First Name: ");
  scanf("%s", first_name_p);
  while (first_name_p < MAXFL)
  {
      printf("  Your first name is too long, use shorter name");
    printf("\n  Please enter your First Name: ");
      scanf("%s", first_name_p);
  }
  printf("  Please enter your Last Name: ");
  scanf("%s", last_name_p);
  while (last_name_p > MAXFL)
  {
      printf("  Your last name is too long, use shorter name");
            printf("\n  Please enter your Last Name: ");
      scanf("%s", last_name_p);
  }
  strcpy(full_name_p, last_name_p);
  strcat(full_name_p, ", ");
  strcat(full_name_p, first_name_p);
  printf("  Please enter your hourly pay rate: ");
  scanf("%f", pay_rate_p);
  while (pay_rate_p < 0)
  {
      printf("  Invalid data, try again");
      printf("  Please enter your hourly pay rate: ");
      scanf("%f", pay_rate_p);
  }
  printf("  Please enter total hours worked for this pay period: ");
  scanf("%f", hours_p);
  while (hours_p < 0)
  {
      printf("  Invalid data, try again");
      printf("  Please enter total hours worked for this pay period: ");
      scanf("%f", hours_p);
  }
  printf("  Please enter the amount of your Deferred Earnings: ");
  scanf("%f", deferred_p);
  while (deferred_p < 0)
  {
      printf("  Invalid data, try again");
          printf("  Please enter the amount of your Deferred Earnings: ");
      scanf("%f", deferred_p);
  }
}

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What exactly is the problem?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by laserlight

What exactly is the problem?

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well... I'm not sure how to validate first and last name, and validating hours, pay_rate, and deferred fails (no matter what I input, it accepts it)

Try dereferencing your pointers in your while() conditions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by itsme86

Try dereferencing your pointers in your while() conditions.

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it worked!!! I swear I tried that yesterday and it was crashing in the middle...

anyways, now if I could only validate those damn strings... anyone?

Erased

Update, as it turns out the validation of hours, pay_rate, and deferred is working now but the first and last name does not. What happens is, whatever I input it says it's too long (even when I type only one character)

any help?

Code:

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while (last_name_p > MAXFL) {

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this compares a pointer and an int. You would have to use

Code:

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while (strlen(last_name_p) > MAXFL) {

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but then if the user would have entered a name that doesn't fit into the buffer your program would already have crashed.
you could use fgets() for the string input or
something like this

Code:

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scanf("%9s", last_name_p);

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Kurt