c++ coordinate grid map marking coordinates - c++

Question

ifstream myfile;
myfile.open("config.txt");
if (myfile.fail())
{
cerr << "Error opening config file" << endl;
myfile.close();
}
int line_no = 0;
while (line_no != 3 && getline(myfile, line3)) {
++line_no;
}
while (line_no != 7 && getline(myfile, line7)) {
++line_no;
}
while (line_no != 10 && getline(myfile, line10)) {
++line_no;
}
while (line_no != 14 && getline(myfile, line14)) {
++line_no;
}
while (line_no != 18 && getline(myfile, line18)) {
++line_no;
}
cout << line3 << endl;
cout << line7 << endl;
cout << line10 << endl;
cout << line14 << endl;
cout << line18 << endl;
gridXIdxA = stoi(ExtractString(line3, "=", "-"));
gridXIdxB = stoi(ExtractString(line3, "-", "\n"));
gridYIdxA = stoi(ExtractString(line7, "=", "-"));
gridYIdxB = stoi(ExtractString(line7, "-", "\n"));
cout << gridXIdxA << endl;
cout << gridXIdxB << endl;
cout << gridYIdxA << endl;
cout << gridYIdxB << endl;
int y = gridYIdxB + 1;
y > -1;
mapBoundaryX = gridXIdxB + 6; // dynamic array to print out boundary of city map
mapBoundaryY = gridYIdxB + 4;
int** dMapBoundaryArray;
dMapBoundaryArray = new int*[mapBoundaryX]();
for (int i = 0; i < mapBoundaryX; i++)
{
dMapBoundaryArray[i] = new int[mapBoundaryY];
}
for (int i = 0; i < mapBoundaryX; i++)
{
cout << endl;
for (int j = 0; j < mapBoundaryY; j++)
{
dMapBoundaryArray[i][j] = i;
if (i == 0 && j > 0 && j < gridXIdxB+4)
{
cout << "# "; // top
}
if (i == 0 && j == 0)
{
cout << " ";
}
if (i == (gridYIdxB+2) && j > 0 && j < gridXIdxB+4)
{
cout << "# "; // bottom
}
if (i == (gridYIdxB + 2) && j == 0)
{
cout << " ";
}
if (i>0 && i<12 && j==1)
{
cout << "#"; // left
}
else if (i == 6 && j == 3)
{
cout << " ";
cout << 3;
}
else if (i == 6 && j == 4)
{
cout << " ";
cout << 3;
}
else if (i == 7 && j == 4)
{
cout << " ";
cout << 3;
}
else if (i > 0 && i < 12 && j == 13) //right
{
cout << setw(24)<<right << "#";
}
if (i == 13 && j > -1 && j < 2) //x axis
{
cout << " ";
}
if (i == 13 && j > 1 && j < 13)
{
x = x++;
cout <<" " << x; //x axis
}
if (j == 0 && i <= gridYIdxB+1 && i >= 1) // y axis
{
y = --y;
cout << y; //y axis
}
}
}
Hi, have some questions that i need help with, beginner to c++ currently so definitely appreciate if stuff can be explained in simple terms. I can manage to create the edges of the coordinate map but I also need to pinpoint certain coordinates within the map and mark them for eg. with a '3'. Is there anyway to pinpoint the coords without moving the column of '#' on the right?
Output
before marking coords
after marking coords

Answer 1

You may already have noticed that C++ alone has no facilities to set a character at a certain position on the screen. curses is a rather wide-spread library that helps with that. However, if you want to stay with your own code you can still get some inspiration from how curses handles output. The contents of the screen are buffered in memory and only when you request it all of it is updated. You can do similar in your own code. Store the contents you want to print on the screen in a std::vector<std::vector<char> or a std::vector<std::string>. Modify the contents as desired and when printing you do not have to bother about alignment and formatting anymore, it is just a simple loop:
for (const auto& line : screen) {
for (const auto& character : line) std::cout << character;
std::cout << "\n";
}