Infinite loop reading file into array - c++

Question

I have an infinite loop while trying to read a file. File is saved from user input, then it is to be read, finally, displayed using a separate function.
Here is my read function. The loop is not finding the eof(); from the file. I can't see what the issue is. No compiler errors.
void read(HouseholdItems items[AMOUNT], fstream& myFile, fstream& yourFile)
{
myFile.open("insured.dat", ios::in | ios::binary); // Open myFile
yourFile.open("uninsured.dat", ios::in | ios::binary); // Open yourFile
for(int i = 0; i < AMOUNT; i++)
{
myFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(&items[i]));
yourFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(&items[i]));
for(i = 0; i < AMOUNT; i++)
{
while (myFile)
{
cout << "description: ";
cout << items[i].description << endl;
cout << "quantity: ";
cout << items[i].quantity << endl;
cout << "price: ";
cout << items[i].price << endl;
cout << "insured: ";
cout << items[i].insured << endl;
}
}
}
myFile.close();
yourFile.close();
}

Answer 1

The following loop can never end : no modification is made to myFile inside its body :
while (myFile)
{
cout << "description: ";
cout << items[i].description << endl;
cout << "quantity: ";
cout << items[i].quantity << endl;
cout << "price: ";
cout << items[i].price << endl;
cout << "insured: ";
cout << items[i].insured << endl;
}
You have to read the file inside the while loop for it to end.
Besides, you most likely have a variable name conflict: you have two for loops that use the same variable i ; which is presumably not what you want.

Answer 2

Your problem is while(myFile), since nothing about myFile changes in that loop. It isn't clear what it is you mean for that loop to accomplish, so I can't say what to replace it with. (It does seem problematic that you have nested for loops, but don't seem to have a table of data.)

Answer 3

The answers by #ScottHunter and #Ekelog already answer the real problem. The following are peripheral problems.
These lines are not right:
myFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(&items[i]));
yourFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(&items[i]));
You need to use:
myFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(items[i]));
// ^^ Drop the &
yourFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(items[i]));
// ^^ Drop the &

Answer 4

try this in while
while (!myFile.eof())
{
cout << "description: ";
cout << items[i].description << endl;
cout << "quantity: ";
cout << items[i].quantity << endl;
cout << "price: ";
cout << items[i].price << endl;
cout << "insured: ";
cout << items[i].insured << endl;
}

Answer 5

See inline comments:
void read(HouseholdItems items[AMOUNT], fstream& myFile, fstream& yourFile)
{
// since you open and close those files here, you probably
// want to declare them here instead as a function parameter
myFile.open("insured.dat", ios::in | ios::binary); // Open myFile
yourFile.open("uninsured.dat", ios::in | ios::binary); // Open yourFile
// test in the loop
for(int i = 0; i < AMOUNT && myFile && yourFile; i++)
{
// these two reads do not make sense, the second one
// will overwrite the data just read by the first one...
// maybe you meant that one of the file might be smaller?
// or maybe to compare the results in some ways (in which
// case you need two arrays)
myFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(items[i]));
yourFile.read(reinterpret_cast <char*>(&items[i]),sizeof(items[i]));
// write current result
cout << "description: ";
cout << items[i].description << endl;
cout << "quantity: ";
cout << items[i].quantity << endl;
cout << "price: ";
cout << items[i].price << endl;
cout << "insured: ";
cout << items[i].insured << endl;
}
myFile.close();
yourFile.close();
}
As a side note:
Your second for() loop reused the i variable which means it would not work at all as expected.
As pointed out by others the sizeof() was wrong, you could also use sizeof(items[0]) since all items are equal in size.
As mentioned by SamIAm, the while() was blocking because the file was not being read so the EOF never actually reached in the file.
As shown in the comments, the file objects should probably be defined in the function instead of outside and passed in as references.