What character is this? - c++

Question

I'm writing a simple program to generate a box with a user-defined sidelength and border/fill characters. Everything is working as I want it to, except when it prints the box to the terminal, it produces a strange character I cannot find anywhere. I feel like if I know what it is, I might be able to fix it. My header file is here:
#ifndef Box_h
#define Box_h
class Box
{
private:
int pSidelength;
char pBorder;
char pFill;
public:
Box(int pSidelength, char pBorder = '#', char pFill = '*');
int Sidelength;
char Border;
char Fill;
int Area();
int Perimeter();
int GetSize();
int Grow();
int Shrink();
char SetBorder();
char SetFill();
void Draw();
void Summary();
};
#endif Box_h
My source for the class is:
#include <iostream>
#include "box.h"
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;
Box::Box(int pSidelength, char pBorder, char pFill)
{
if (pSidelength < 1)
{
Sidelength = 1;
}
else if (pSidelength > 39)
{
Sidelength = 39;
}
else
{
Sidelength = pSidelength;
}
if (pBorder != '#')
{
SetBorder();
}
if (pFill != '*')
{
SetFill();
}
}
int main(void)
{
Box MyBox1(3,'#','*');
Box MyBox2(7, '^', '*');
Box MyBox3(10, '$', '%');
MyBox1.Grow();
MyBox2.Shrink();
MyBox1.Summary();
MyBox2.Summary();
MyBox3.Summary();
return 0;
}
int Box::Shrink()
{
if (Sidelength == 1)
{
Sidelength = Sidelength;
}
else
{
Sidelength = Sidelength - 1;
}
return Sidelength;
}
int Box::Grow()
{
if (Sidelength == 39)
{
Sidelength = Sidelength;
}
else
{
Sidelength = Sidelength + 1;
}
return Sidelength;
}
char Box::SetFill()
{
Fill = pFill;
return Fill;
}
char Box::SetBorder()
{
Border = pBorder;
return Border;
}
int Box::Area()
{
int area = (Sidelength)*(Sidelength);
return area;
}
int Box::Perimeter()
{
int perimeter = 4 * (Sidelength);
return perimeter;
}
int Box::GetSize()
{
int size = Sidelength;
return size;
}
void Box::Draw()
{
int j = 1;
int k = 1;
if (Sidelength == 1 || Sidelength == 2)
{
for (int i = 1; i <= Sidelength; i++)
{
while (j <= Sidelength)
{
cout << setw(2) << Border;
j++;
}
j = 1;
}
cout << endl;
}
else
{
for (int i = 1; i <= Sidelength; i++)
{
if (i == 1 || i == Sidelength)
{
while (k <= Sidelength)
{
cout << setw(2) << Border;
k++;
}
cout << endl;
k = 1;
}
else
{
while (j <= Sidelength)
{
if (j == 1 || j == Sidelength)
{
cout << setw(2) << Border;
}
else
{
cout << setw(2) << Fill;
}
j++;
}
cout << endl;
j = 1;
}
}
cout << endl;
}
}
void Box::Summary()
{
cout << "The Sidelength of the box is: " << Box::GetSize() << endl;
cout << "The Perimeter of the box is: " << Box::Perimeter() << endl;
cout << "The Area of the box is: " << Box::Area() << endl;
Box::Draw();
}
The program has a default character associated with Border/Fill, as specified in the header file. When run, it produces this:
What character is that, and any ideas on why it would be appearing in the first place?

Answer 1

The character is random, and could in theory be different every time you run the program.
It's coming from the pBorder member, which is never set to anything.

Answer 2

You got confused with same name of variables.
Box::Box(int pSidelength, char pBorder, char pFill)
{
if (pSidelength < 1)
{
Sidelength = 1;
}
else if (pSidelength > 39)
{
Sidelength = 39;
}
else
{
Sidelength = pSidelength;
}
if (pBorder != ' ') //Here pBorder has '*' but this is local
// pBorder to this Function
{
SetBorder();
}
if (pFill != ' ')
{
SetFill();
}
}
And When you call SetBorder();
It makes Border as pBorder as that was declared in the class which is still unintialized.
char Box::SetBorder()
{
Border = pBorder; //This pBorder is not initialized
return Border;
}
Solution 1
Dont use Function
if (pBorder != ' ')
{
Border = pBorder;
}
Solution 2
Pass pBorder
if (pBorder != ' ')
{
SetBorder(pBorder);
}
char Box::SetBorder(char pBorder)
{
Border = pBorder; //This pBorder is not initialized
return Border;
}