C++ - How to know where to put cin.ignore - c++

Question

I have a code from my friend and we do not know how to use cin. ignore very well.
Our problem is that we are using do while and at the end of loop we want to ask user to enter if he wants to again enter some values as you will see from the code itself.
If the answer is 'y' then he can "write" again but the problem is we are using getline and we have the problem with the first getline in this loop. The program does not recognise it after the first time use.
Here is the code:
int main() {
ofstream datoteka("podaci.txt", ios::app);
if (datoteka.fail()) {
cout << "Ne postojeca datoteka";
exit(1);
}
string ime;
string prezime;
char pol;
int godiste;
float prosjek;
char odluka;
do{
system("CLS");
cout << "Unesite ime: ";
getline(cin, ime);
datoteka << ime;
cout << "Unesite prezime: ";
getline(cin, prezime);
datoteka << " " << prezime;
cout << "Unesite pol(M - musko, Z - zensko): ";
cin >> pol;
datoteka << " " << pol;
cout << "Unesite godiste: ";
cin >> godiste;
datoteka << " " << godiste;
cout << "Unesite prosjek: ";
cin >> prosjek;
datoteka << " " << prosjek << endl;
cout << endl;
cout << "Da li zelite unijeti podatke za jos jednu osobu?" << endl;
cout << "[Y] za da, [N] za ne : ";
cin >> odluka;
} while (odluka != 'N' || odluka !='n');
The problem is with the
getline(cin,ime);
It wont recognize it after the first time use.
Can someone help me?

Answer 1

The basic problem is that this code mixes two different forms of input. Stream extractors (operator>>) do formatted input; they skip whitespace, then try to interpret non-whitespace characters, and stop when they encounter something that doesn't fit with what they're looking for. That works fine when you have multiple extractors: std::cin >> x >> y >> z;,
getline() is an unformatted input function; it grabs whatever is in the input stream, up to the first newline.
If you mix them you can get into trouble. The usual way to get around this is to call some variation of cin.ignore() when you switch from formatted to unformatted input, and that's where the code in the question goes astray.
At the end of the loop, the code calls std::cin >> odluka;. That reads one character from the console, and leaves any additional input in place. Since the console itself typically will sit waiting for characters until it sees a newline character, typing that single character also requires hitting the Enter key, which puts a newline into the input stream. The extractor leaves the newline there. When the loop repeats, the code calls std::getline(std::cin, ime), which sees the newline character and stops reading input.
So whenever you transition from formatted input to unformatted input you have to clear out any remnants from the previous input efforts.
Or you can always read a line at a time, and parse the input yourself.

Answer 2

i'm not sure exactly what the problem is. i took your code and it does what it's supposed to be doing on my machine (made a few adjustments so i can understand what's going on):
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
using namespace::std;
int main() {
ofstream datoteka("podaci.txt", ios::app);
if (datoteka.fail()) {
cout << "Ne postojeca datoteka";
exit(1);
}
string ime;
string prezime;
char pol;
int godiste;
float prosjek;
// changed it to a char pointer
char odluka[] = { "Y" };
do{
system("CLS");
cout << "1: ";
getline(cin, ime);
datoteka << ime;
cout << "2: ";
getline(cin, prezime);
datoteka << " " << prezime;
cout << "3: ";
cin >> pol;
datoteka << " " << pol;
cout << "4: ";
cin >> godiste;
datoteka << " " << godiste;
cout << "5: ";
cin >> prosjek;
datoteka << " " << prosjek << endl;
cout << endl;
cout << "6" << endl;
cout << "[Y], [N]: ";
cin >> odluka;
// added this. it was not waiting for my input properly.
cin.get();
// print results
system("cls");
printf("results (press any key to move on)\n\n1: %s\n2: %s\n3: %c\n4: %d\n5: %.02f\n6: %c\n\n", ime.c_str(), prezime.c_str(), pol, godiste, prosjek, odluka);
getchar();
} while (_stricmp(odluka, "n")); // while "odluka" is not "n" or "N" (the _stricmp is not case-sensitive so they both return the same result)
system("cls");
printf("press any key to exit!\n");
getchar();
getchar();
}
here is the output from "podaci.txt":
test1 test1 1 1 1.1
test2 test2 2 2 2.2
consider using scanf/sprintf/printf with c strings in the future if this keeps malfunctioning perhaps?