Function to interrupt the loop by any pressed key - c++

Question

I'm new to C++. Have decided to do my own game. And i want to make a starting screen for it. And the problem is that i havent found the way to make an "Press any key to continue" function while dots continue. I made the loop for the programm to wait till any would be pressed but dots dont want to display in.
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <fstream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
using namespace std;
int pressCheck(){
char c = 0;
c = getchar();
if (c == 0)
return 1;
return 0;
}
int main()
{
cout << "\t\t\t\t Hello" << endl;
Sleep(300);
cout << "\t\t Welcome to my new game BITHCES!" << endl << endl;
Sleep(700);
cout << "\t\t\tPress any key to proceed";
while(!pressCheck()){
Sleep(300);
cout << ".";
Sleep(300);
cout << ".";
Sleep(300);
cout << ".";
}
getchar();
system("cls");
Sleep(100);
return 0;
}

Answer 1

If you are creating a text based game I would recommend using ncurses (or pdcurses for windows):
[...] a toolkit for developing "GUI-like" application software that runs
under a terminal emulator.
Implementing what you have above would be something like
#include <string>
#include <ncurses.h> // This header might be different on windows
#include <unistd.h> // for usleep, replace with Windows.h (?)
void DisplayCentre(int yy, const std::string& str)
{
// Get the screen size
int y, x;
getmaxyx(stdscr, y, x);
// Compute starting location for string (centre)
x = (x - str.size())/2;
// Write the string to the window
mvwprintw(stdscr, yy, x, str.c_str());
// Make sure the screen is updated
refresh();
}
void PromptForKey(void)
{
// Get the screen size
int y, x;
getmaxyx(stdscr, y, x);
// Write a message at the bottom left of the screen
mvwprintw(stdscr, y-1, 0, "Press any key to continue");
// Set a time-out for wgetch
wtimeout(stdscr, 300);
// While the user hasn't entered a character
while (wgetch(stdscr) == ERR)
{
// Add another dot to the screen
waddch(stdscr, '.');
refresh();
}
// Clear time-out
notimeout(stdscr, true);
}
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
initscr(); // Initialize curses
cbreak(); // Make typed characters immediately available
noecho(); // Don't automatically print typed characters
curs_set(0); // Make the cursor invisible (where supported)
// Display `Hello' (at line 10)
DisplayCentre(10, "Hello");
// Delay (you might want to use Sleep())
sleep(1);
// Display `Welcome to my new game' (at line 15)
DisplayCentre(15, "Welcome to my new game");
sleep(1);
// Prompt user for key
PromptForKey();
// Close down curses
endwin();
return 0;
}
To compile this program on Linux I use g++ test.cpp -lncurses. On windows you will probaly need to replace sleep with the windows Sleep function and use the appropriate header. You may also need to use an alternative to ncurses.
However, if you are just learning to program I would suggest you try using ncurses in Python. Python has the benefit of being an interpreted language so you don't need to worry too much about compiling or linking executables. Python is also mostly cross platform. The above implemented in Python:
#!/usr/bin/python
from curses import *
from time import sleep
def promptForKey(win):
""" Ask the user to press any key to continue. """
# Get screen size
y,x = win.getmaxyx()
# Display prompt
win.addstr(y-1, 0, "Press any key to continue")
win.refresh()
# Set time-out
win.timeout(300)
while (win.getch() == ERR):
win.addch('.')
# Disable time-out
win.notimeout(True)
def dispCentre(win, yy, string, delay):
""" Display string at line yy and wait for delay milliseconds. """
# Get screen size
y,x = win.getmaxyx()
# Display string in centre
x = (x - len(string))/2
win.addstr(yy, x, string)
win.refresh()
# Delay
sleep(delay)
if __name__ == '__main__':
# Initialize curses
win = initscr()
cbreak()
noecho()
curs_set(0)
# Display some stuff
dispCentre(win, 10, "Hello", 0.3)
dispCentre(win, 15, "Welcome to my new game", 0.7)
promptForKey(win)
# Close down curses
endwin()

Answer 2

i know i am late but i think maybe you wanted to do this? (Run the attached code)
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <fstream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include<conio.h>
using namespace std;
bool pressCheck(){
if (getch())
return 1;
return 0;
}
int main()
{
cout << "\t\t\t\t Hello" << endl;
Sleep(300);
cout << "\t\t Welcome to my new game BITHCES!" << endl << endl;
Sleep(700);
cout << "\t\t\tPress any key to proceed";
while(!pressCheck()){
Sleep(300);
cout << ".";
Sleep(300);
cout << ".";
Sleep(300);
cout << ".";
}
system("cls");
Sleep(100);
return 0;
}