Having trouble moving class to seperate .cpp and .h file. - c++

Question

I created a basic consol program that creates a box of the users desired height and width. I wanted to learn how classes worked so I just used one file. Now i'm trying to properly put the class into a .h and .cpp file. Can someone point out what I'm doing wrong and how I should fix it?
Original Code with just a main.cpp:
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class BoxClass {
//prv variables
unsigned short int width;
int height, i;
float space_Value;
float height_Count = 1;
bool error = false;
//prv functions
void Print_Rectangle(int x, int y) {
//calc
space_Value = (3 * x) - 4;
//draw top of box
for (width = 1; width < x; width += 1) {
cout << "...";
}
cout << "\n";
//draw sides
for (height = 1; height < y; height += 1) {
cout << ":";
height_Count++;
for (width = 1; width < space_Value; width += 1) {
cout << " ";
}
cout << ":\n";
}
//draw bottom
cout << ":";
for (width = 1; width < space_Value; width += 1) {
cout << ".";
}
cout << ":\n";
}
public:
//function shows area of individual spaces
float Rectangle_Area() {
if (error == false) {
return (height_Count - .5)*(space_Value - 1);
}
else {
return 0;
}
}
//function shows area of individual spaces
// constructor
BoxClass(int x, int y, int amount) {
if (x <= 41) {
for (i = 1; i <= amount; i += 1) {
Print_Rectangle(x, y);
}
}
else {
error = true;
cout << "Error - width must be below 42!\n";
}
};
};
int main() {
//variable declaration/definition
int width_Var;
int height_Var;
int number_of_Boxes;
//object declaration/Body
cout << "Enter width of rectangle/box\nWidth = ";
cin >> width_Var;
cout << "Enter height of rectangle/box\nHeight = ";
cin >> height_Var;
cout << "How many rectangles/boxes do you want?\n";
cin >> number_of_Boxes;
BoxClass box1(width_Var, height_Var, number_of_Boxes);
cout <<"Box Area = "<<box1.Rectangle_Area() << endl;
//exit
cout << "\n\n\n\n\n";
system("pause");
return 0;
}
New Code with main.cpp, BoxClass.h, Boxclass.cpp:
main.cpp:
#include "BoxClass.h"
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
//variable declaration/definition
int width_Var;
int height_Var;
int number_of_Boxes;
//object declaration/Body
cout << "Enter width of rectangle/box\nWidth = ";
cin >> width_Var;
cout << "Enter height of rectangle/box\nHeight = ";
cin >> height_Var;
cout << "How many rectangles/boxes do you want?\n";
cin >> number_of_Boxes;
BoxClass box1(width_Var, height_Var, number_of_Boxes);
cout <<"Box Area = "<<box1.Rectangle_Area() << endl;
//exit
cout << "\n\n\n\n\n";
system("pause");
return 0;
}
BoxClass.h:
#ifndef BOXCLASS_H
#define BOXCLASS_H
class BoxClass {
//prv variables
unsigned short int width;
int height, i;
float space_Value;
float height_Count = 1;
bool error = false;
//prv functions
void Print_Rectangle(int x, int y);
public:
//function shows area of individual spaces
float Rectangle_Area();
//function shows area of individual spaces
// constructor
BoxClass(int x, int y, int amount);
};
#endif
BoxClass.cpp:
#include "BoxClass.h"
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
BoxClass::Print_Rectangle(int x, int y) {
//calc
space_Value = (3 * x) - 4;
//draw top of box
for (width = 1; width < x; width += 1) {
cout << "...";
}
cout << "\n";
//draw sides
for (height = 1; height < y; height += 1) {
cout << ":";
height_Count++;
for (width = 1; width < space_Value; width += 1) {
cout << " ";
}
cout << ":\n";
}
//draw bottom
cout << ":";
for (width = 1; width < space_Value; width += 1) {
cout << ".";
}
cout << ":\n";
}
//function shows area of individual spaces
BoxClass::Rectangle_Area() {
if (error == false) {
return (height_Count - .5)*(space_Value - 1);
}
else {
return 0;
}
}
// constructor
BoxClass::BoxClass(int x, int y, int amount) {
if (x <= 41) {
for (i = 1; i <= amount; i += 1) {
Print_Rectangle(x, y);
}
}
else {
error = true;
cout << "Error - width must be below 42!\n";
}
};

Answer 1

You forgot about type specifier so you should change this in your BoxClass.cpp:
BoxClass::Print_Rectangle(int x, int y)
...
BoxClass::Rectangle_Area()
to this:
void BoxClass::Print_Rectangle(int x, int y)
...
float BoxClass::Rectangle_Area()
Also a bit aside of topic, thing that I can suggest you for future is to use #pragma once instead include guards.

Answer 2

You need a constructor, which is where you'll set the values of height_Count and error. You should probably also define a destructor, even though at this point there is probably nothing to do there. It's just a good idea. According to Scott Meyers in Effective C++, you should also define a copy constructor and a copy assignment operator.
This is in addition to the type-specifier suggestion already posted.