Struct Members initialization - c++

Question

How do I initialize the member variables in the following code?
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
typedef struct Employee{
char firstName[56];
char lastName[56];
};
typedef struct Company {
int id;
char title[256];
char summary[2048];
int numberOfEmployees;
Employee *employees;
};
typedef struct Companies{
Company *arr;
int numberOfCompanies;
};
}

Answer 1

You can add a constructor like this one:
struct Employee{
char firstName[56];
char lastName[56];
Employee() //name the function as the struct name, no return value.
{
firstName[0] = '\0';
lastName[0] = '\0';
}
};

Answer 2

As you are already use std::string as indicated from the #include statement, you should change your classes declarations as follows (and do so outside of main() functions body):
struct Employee {
std::string firstName;
std::string lastName;
};
typedef struct Company {
int id;
std::string title;
std::string summary;
int numberOfEmployees;
Employee *employees;
};
typedef struct Companies{
Company *arr;
int numberOfCompanies;
};

Answer 3

first: u use typedef in a wrong way
typedef struct Employee{
char firstName[56];
char lastName[56];
};
you need the other name for typedef
typedef struct _Employee{
char firstName[56];
char lastName[56];
}Employee;
but since u're using c++ typedef is not needed.
Second: don't declare structs inside the function. Declare them outside of main.
Third: use constructors to initialize members to default value, example:
struct Employee{
Employee()
{
strcpy (firstName, ""); //empty string
strcpy (lastName, "asdasd"); // some value, every object now by default has this value
}
char firstName[56];
char lastName[56];
};
fourth: use std::string class (#include) for easier string handling
fifth: consider to type class instead struct, the only difference between those two, is that class declares the variables as private by default(you can change visibility of variable urself), while struct declares them as public by default.