Reading and writing from a file - c++

Question

I need to make card catalog entries for a library system and will need a menu and save the card and read the card from a file. I'm just looking for help and not saving for anyone to do it just tips if you have any because I want ro learn and not just copy and paste.
I already finished the information they need to add but having a problem making them save and read from a file and choosing from the menu to add new entry, review entry.
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;
struct libary
{
string title;
string author;
string ISBN_code;
int page_count;
int publish_year;
} s[10];
bool processMenu()
{
int choice, spot;
cout << "Main Menu" << endl;
cout << "Select your options" << endl;
cout << "1. Add a new entry to the system" << endl;
cout << "2. Review an entry" << endl;
cout << "3. Save entries to a file" << endl;
cout << "4. Read entries from a file" << endl;
cin >> choice;
switch (choice)
{
case 1:
cout << "which spot do you want to add a entry to the system " << endl;
cin >> spot;
break;
case 2:
cout << "which spot do you want to review to a file " << endl;
cin >> spot;
break;
case 3:
cout << "Save entries to a file" << endl;
ofstream myfile;
myfile.open("file.txt");
myfile << "this will show in the file";
break;
case 4:
cout << "read entries from a file :" << endl;
break;
case 7:
return 0;
}
}
int main()
{
while (!processMenu())
{
cout << "Sorry, that is not a valid choice." << endl;
cout << "Please try again." << endl << endl << endl;
}
cout << " Enter information of each card catalog" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
cout << endl;
cout << " Enter title " << endl;
cin >> s[i].title;
cout << endl;
cout << " Enter author " << endl;
cin >> s[i].author;
cout << endl;
cout << " Enter Page count " << endl;
cin >> s[i].page_count;
cout << endl;
cout << " Enter publish year " << endl;
cin >> s[i].publish_year;
cout << endl;
cout << " Enter ISBN code, it should be 13 digits" << endl;
cin >> s[i].ISBN_code;
while (s[i].ISBN_code.length() != 13)
{
cout << " Please enter a ISBN code thats 13 digits" << endl;
cin >> s[i].ISBN_code;
cout << endl;
cout << endl;
}
}
cout << " Displaying Information" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
cout << " title: " << s[i].title << endl;
cout << " author: " << s[i].author << endl;
cout << " page count: " << s[i].page_count << endl;
cout << " publish year: " << s[i].publish_year << endl;
cout << " ISBN code: " << s[i].ISBN_code << endl;
}
return 0;
}
It lets me pick a spot but won't add new entry nor review or save/read.

Answer 1

You can make your own type writable to a stream (cout or ofstream) and/or readable from a stream (cin or ifstream) just by overriding its output (operator<<) and/or input operator (operator>>).
#include <fstream> // ifstream, ofstream
#include <iostream> // cin, cout
#include <string> // getline, string
using namespace std;
struct Card
{
// Writing to the standard output ('cout').
friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const Card& card);
// Reading from the standard input ('cin').
friend istream& operator>>(istream& is, Card& card);
// Writing to a file ('ofstream').
friend ofstream& operator<<(ofstream& os, const Card& card);
// Reading from a file ('ifstream).
friend ifstream& operator>>(ifstream& is, Card& card);
string title = "";
string author = "";
string isbn = "";
int page_count = -1;
int publish_year = -1;
};
ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const Card& card)
{
os << "Title: " << card.title << '\n'
<< "Author: " << card.author << '\n'
<< "ISBN: " << card.isbn << '\n'
<< "Page count: " << card.page_count << '\n'
<< "Publish year: " << card.publish_year << '\n';
return os;
}
istream& operator>>(istream& is, Card& card)
{
// 'getline' needs for the reading of strings because the title of a book or
// its author's name may contain Space (' ') characters. 'cin' and
// 'ifstream' separate input by every whitespace. So, if we want to allow
// spaces in our fields we have to separate them by a special delimiter
// character. We use the Newline ('\n') character here to separate fields.
// `page_count` and `publish_year` are numbers, they don't contain
// whitespaces, so they simply can be read with 'operator>>'.
cout << "Title: ";
std::getline(is, card.title);
cout << "Author: ";
std::getline(is, card.author);
cout << "ISBN code: ";
std::getline(is, card.isbn);
cout << "Page count: ";
is >> card.page_count;
cout << "Publish year: ";
is >> card.publish_year;
return is;
}
// The next two functions is for files.
ofstream& operator<<(ofstream& os, const Card& card)
{
os << card.title << '\n'
<< card.author << '\n'
<< card.isbn << '\n'
<< card.page_count << '\n'
<< card.publish_year << '\n';
return os;
}
ifstream& operator>>(ifstream& is, Card& card)
{
std::getline(is, card.title);
std::getline(is, card.author);
std::getline(is, card.isbn);
is >> card.page_count;
is >> card.publish_year;
return is;
}
int main()
{
Card card;
// Read the informations of a card from the standard input.
cin >> card;
// Write the informations of a card to the standard output.
cout << card;
// Write the informations of a card to "file.txt".
ofstream ofs("file.txt");
ofs << card;
ofs.close();
// Read the informations of a card from "file.txt".
ifstream ifs("file.txt");
ifs >> card;
ifs.close();
return 0;
}
Important: For the sake of simplicity, I omitted error checking at the opening of a file and at the writing/reading of a stream. In your code you should do these.