An array of char pointer & an array of string in C++ - c++

Question

I want to make a Class Color, and declare 2 Class Color objects to store a list of warm colors and cold colors respectively.
How do i initialize an array of char pointer and define it in the constructor in C++?
.h
Const int MAX = 5;
Class Color {
Char* list[MAX];
Int numList;
}
.cpp
//default constructor
Color() {
list[MAX] = nullptr;
numList = 0;
}
//custom constructor
Color(char* list_, int numList_) {
for (int i = 0; i < num_List_; i++) {
list[i] = list_[i];
}
numList = numList_;
}
main.cpp
//declaring 2 objects of Class Color
Color warm_color;
Char warmList = {red, pink, orange, yellow, brown};
Color cold_color;
Char coldList = {“green”, “blue”, “navy”};
warm_color = Color(warmList, 5);
cold_color = Color(coldList, 3);

Answer 1

You're trying to store a variable length list of strings of variable length. C++ offers very useful objects for this in the standard library.
std::vector: a variable length list, properly managed.
std::string: a variable length list of characters, all properly managed.
That way your code can be reduced to a simple:
#include <vector>
#include <string>
class Colors {
private:
std::vector<std::string> colorList;
public:
Colors(std::vector<std::string> const& colorList) : colorList(colorList) {}
};
int main() {
Colors warm_colors({ "red", "pink", "orange", "yellow", "brown" });
Colors cold_colors({ "green", "blue", "navy" });
}
Actually, in this case the constructor can be replaced by a move constructor:
Colors(std::vector<std::string>&& colorList) : colorList(std::move(colorList)) {}
... but that maybe too advanced for you yet.

Answer 2

So looking at your code you have some errors. Take the Menu constructor
Menu::Menu(const char* menuTitle, const char* items[], int numItems) {
m_menuTitle = new char[strlen(menuTitle) + 1];
strcpy_s(m_menuTitle, strlen(menuTitle) + 1, menuTitle);
for (int i = 0; i < numItems; i++) {
m_items[i] = &items[i];
}
m_numItems = numItems;
}
You have correctly handled the menu title, now you should use the same ideas on the menu items. That is you allocate each menu item with new, and then you copy each menu item with strcpy_s. Like this
Menu::Menu(const char* menuTitle, const char* items[], int numItems) {
m_menuTitle = new char[strlen(menuTitle) + 1];
strcpy_s(m_menuTitle, strlen(menuTitle) + 1, menuTitle);
for (int i = 0; i < numItems; i++) {
m_items[i] = new char[strlen(items[i]) + 1];
strcpy_s(m_items[i], strlen(items[i]) + 1, menuTitle);
}
m_numItems = numItems;
}
See? It's really no different to what you had already, except that m_items[i] replaces m_menuTitle.