Is there a way to pass which "level" of structure is desired to a formula in (Arduino) C++? - c++

Question

I am not hugely experienced in C++ coding, but I learn pretty well as I go. But, I have not been able to properly query how to do this, may be using wrong terms or insufficiently expressing my desire. Here's the situation.
I have a lot of variables (3x12) that I have set up under a structure:
struct Tracking
{
String Title;
BoolArray n24hr;
bool State;
unsigned char Days, Weeks;
uint16_t Minutes, TotalMinutes, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, n7d[7], n4w[4];
} Components[3];
I also have code that performs basically the same thing 3 times but on different "levels", e.g. daily, weekly, monthly. It keeps tracks of status over those time periods, filling arrays, finding totals, and duty cycles, etc. It fills the minutes into days, and when that reaches a week, it puts the totals into a week format, and repeats until it reaches monthly levels. So basically, I have it doing something like:
in my main loop:
//calls status formula
StatusFormula();
in a separate file:
//status formula defined
void StatusFormula()
{
// for each element of Components:
//determine current status
//for daily
//add it to the correct spot in the array
//perform calculations on it
//when it reaches a week:
//add it to the correct spot in the next array
//perform calculations on it
//when it reaches a month:
//add it to the correct spot in the next array
//perform calculations on it
}
These calculations are all basically the same, the only differences are the structure member names & the constants for the calculations (i.e., MinsADay, DaysAWk, etc.).
I can get it to work this way, it just means a lot more lines and if I want to change something, I have to repeat it 3 times. What I want is something like this:
in my main loop:
//calls status formula
StatusFormula("Daily"); //sends the status formula information to decide which level (daily, weekly, monthly), it supposed to work on
if (Components[i].Minutes == MinsADay)
{
StatusFormula("Weekly"); //sends the status formula information to decide which level (daily, weekly, monthly), it supposed to work on
if (Components[i].Daily == DaysAWk)
{
StatusFormula("Monthly");
}
}
in a separate file:
//status formula defined
void StatusFormula()
{
//determine which level & variables to use (I would probably use case for this), then
//add it to the correct spot in the correct array
//perform calculations on it
}
I tried passing the level using a string, but it didn't work:
in my main loop:
StatusFormula(i, "Daily"); //sending data to formula, where i is value 0 to 2 for the Components array & defined earlier in the for loop.
in a separate file:
//formula defined as:
void StatusFormula(uint8_t counter, string level)
{Components[counter].level -= //etc... performing calculations as desired.
//so I thought this should evaluate to "Components[i].Daily -=" (& i would be a value 0 to 2) & treat it like the structure, but it doesn't work that way apparently.
I tried passing the structure & variable itself, but that didn't work either:
in my main loop:
StatusFormula(i, Components[i].Daily); //sending data to formula
in a separate file:
//formula defined as:
void StatusFormula(uint8_t counter, Tracking& level)
{level -= //etc... //(level should be Components[i].Daily -=" (& i would be a value 0 to 2)) this didn't work either.
I couldn't find any google searches to help me, and I trialed-and-errored a bunch of ways, but I couldn't figure out how to do that in C++, let alone on the Arduino platform. In Excel VBA, I would just have the variable passed as a string to the formula, which would substitute the word and then treat it like the variable that it is, but I couldn't make that happen in C++. Also to note, I am going to try and define this a separate file/tab so that my massive code file is easier to read/edit, in case that makes a difference. I would paste my code directly, but it is long and super confusing.
I guess what I am asking is how would I pass the structure and/or structure member to the formula in a way that would say the equivalent of:
case 1: //"Daily"
//use Components[i].Daily & Components[i].Minutes & MinsaDay
break;
case 2: //"Weekly"
//use Components[i].Weekly & Components[i].Days & DaysaWk
break;
//etc.
I feel like there should be a way & that I am just missing a small, vital piece. Several people in the comments suggested enums, and after researching, it might possibly be what I want, but I am having trouble visualizing it at the moment and need to do more research and examples. Any suggestions or examples on how to send the appropriate structure & members to the formula to be modified in it?