Program reading from variables stored in itself and not from binary file - c++

Question

I'm working on a program very important to my programming class, and there's something I can't quite figure out; When I try to read from a binary file I've created after opening the program, it fails even if the file's in the directory, and after I try to wipe the contents of the file, I can still 'read' them from the file even though said file is empty when I examine it in explorer. I've determined from this that even though I'm using BinaryFile.read, it's not truly reading from the file, and instead reading from variables stored in the program itself. How can I get my program to read from the actual file?
(please note that this is not yet a complete program, hence the commented sections and empty functions.)
(Also please note that, due to the nature of my class, I am only allowed to use what has been taught already (namely, anything in the fstream header and most things before which are necessary to make a basic program - he's letting me use things in stdio.h, as well.)
//
// main.cpp
// Binary Program
//
// Created by Henry Fowler on 11/19/14.
// Copyright (c) 2014 Bergen Community College. All rights reserved.
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>
using namespace std;
struct Record
{
char Name[20];
char LastName[20];
double Pay;
int Clearance;
int ID;
};
void CreateFile(fstream&); //Working
void CheckExist(fstream&); //Working
void Populate(fstream&,Record[],int&,int&); //Working
void Display(fstream&,Record[],int&,int&); //Working
void Append(fstream&,Record[],int&,int&); //Working
void DeleteFromFile(fstream&,fstream&,Record[],int&,int&);
// void SearchInFile(fstream&,Record[],int&,int&);
// void ModifyRecord(fstream&,Record[],int&,int&);
//void SortFile();
void WipeFile(fstream&);
void DelFile(fstream&);
int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
Record EmpRecords[20];
char Binary[] = "BinaryFile.dat";
char Binary2[] = "BinaryFileTemp.dat";
int maxsize; //make sure to set i to max size so you can use it later for things like wiping the file or deleting specific records
fstream BinaryFile;
fstream BinaryFile2;
string InputStr;
// char Read;
//int Choice = 0;
int i = 0;
int choice = 0;
int switchchoice;
CreateFile(BinaryFile); //working
CheckExist(BinaryFile); //working
BinaryFile.close();
while(choice==0)
{
cout << "Options: " << endl;
cout << "End Program (0)" << endl;
cout << "Input new records to file (1)" << endl;
cout << "Display current contents of file (2)" << endl;
cout << "Append a record at the end of the file (3)" << endl;
cout << "Delete a record from the file (4)" << endl;
cout << "Search for a record in the file (5)" << endl;
cout << "Modify a certain record (6)" << endl;
cout << "Sort file (unimplemented)" << endl;
cout << "Wipe contents of file (8)" << endl;
cout << "Please choose an option: ";
cin >> switchchoice;
switch(switchchoice)
{
case 0:
{
cout << "Exiting.";
BinaryFile.close();
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
break;
}
case 1:
{
Populate(BinaryFile, EmpRecords,i,maxsize); //working
break;
}
case 2:
{
Display(BinaryFile, EmpRecords,i,maxsize); //working i think
break;
}
case 3:
{
Append(BinaryFile, EmpRecords,i,maxsize); //working
break;
}
case 4:
{
DeleteFromFile(BinaryFile,BinaryFile2,EmpRecords,i,maxsize); //!
break;
}
case 5:
{
// SearchInFile(BinaryFile, EmpRecords,i,maxsize); //!
break;
}
case 6:
{
// ModifyRecord(BinaryFile, EmpRecords,i,maxsize); //!
break;
}
case 7:
{
cout << "Error, file sorting is currently unimplemented. Please try again.";
break;
}
case 8:
{
WipeFile(BinaryFile);
break;
}
}
}
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
void CreateFile(fstream& BinaryFile)
{
BinaryFile.open("BinaryFile.dat", ios::out | ios::binary);
}
void CheckExist(fstream &BinaryFile)
{
if(BinaryFile.good())
{
cout << endl << "File does exist" << endl;
}
else
{
cout << "file named can not be found \n";
system("PAUSE");
}
}
void Populate(fstream &BinaryFile,Record EmpRecords[],int &i, int &maxsize)
{
BinaryFile.open("BinaryFile.dat", ios::out | ios::binary);
int choice = 0;
while(choice==0)
{
cout << "Please input employee first name: ";
cin >> EmpRecords[i].Name;
cout << "Please input employee last name: ";
cin >> EmpRecords[i].LastName;
cout << "Please input Employee Pay: ";
cin >> EmpRecords[i].Pay;
cout << "Please input Employee Clearance (1-10): ";
cin >> EmpRecords[i].Clearance;
cout << "Please input Employee ID (6 numbers, i.e. 122934): ";
cin >> EmpRecords[i].ID;
cout << "Input another employee's information? (0) = yes, (1) = no: ";
cin >> choice;
BinaryFile.write((char *) (&EmpRecords[i]),sizeof(EmpRecords[i]));
i = i+1;
}
maxsize = i;
cout << "i is " << i << endl;
cout << "maxsize is " << maxsize << endl;
BinaryFile.close();
}
void Display(fstream &BinaryFile,Record EmpRecords[],int &i,int &maxsize)
{
BinaryFile.open("BinaryFile.dat", ios::in | ios::binary | ios::app);
int i2 = maxsize;
i = 0;
while(i2>0)
{
BinaryFile.read((char *) (&EmpRecords[i]),sizeof(EmpRecords[i]));
cout << i << endl;
cout << EmpRecords[i].Name << " " << EmpRecords[i].LastName << endl;
cout << "Pay: $" << EmpRecords[i].Pay << endl;
cout << "Clearance: " << EmpRecords[i].Clearance << endl;
cout << "Employee ID: " << EmpRecords[i].ID << endl;
BinaryFile.read((char *) (&EmpRecords[i]),sizeof(EmpRecords[i]));
cout << endl;
i2 = i2-1;
i = i+1;
}
BinaryFile.close();
}
void Append(fstream &BinaryFile,Record EmpRecords[],int &i,int &maxsize)
{
BinaryFile.open("BinaryFile.dat", ios::out|ios::binary|ios::ate|ios::app);
cout << "Please input employee first name: ";
cin >> EmpRecords[maxsize].Name;
cout << "Please input employee last name: ";
cin >> EmpRecords[maxsize].LastName;
cout << "Please input Employee Pay: ";
cin >> EmpRecords[maxsize].Pay;
cout << "Please input Employee Clearance (1-10): ";
cin >> EmpRecords[maxsize].Clearance;
cout << "Please input Employee ID (6 numbers, i.e. 122934): ";
cin >> EmpRecords[maxsize].ID;
cout << "Input another employee's information? (0) = yes, (1) = no: ";
BinaryFile.write((char *) (&EmpRecords[i]),sizeof(EmpRecords[i]));
maxsize = maxsize+1;
cout << "maxsize is " << maxsize << endl;
BinaryFile.close();
}
void DeleteFromFile(fstream &BinaryFile,fstream &BinaryFile2, Record EmpRecords[],int &i,int &maxsize)
{
BinaryFile.open("BinaryFile.dat", ios::out|ios::binary|ios::app);
BinaryFile2.open("BinaryFileTemp.dat", ios::out|ios::binary|ios::app);
int Choice;
cout << "Would you like to delete a file by name or by employee number?" << endl;
cout << "Name (1)" << endl;
cout << "Number (2)" << endl;
cout << "Choice: ";
cin >> Choice;
int i2 = maxsize;
if(Choice==1)
{
cout << "Please input employee first name: ";
// cin >> firstname;
cout << "Please input employee last name: ";
// cin >> lastname;
cout << "Searching...";
int i2 = maxsize;
i = 0;
while(i2>0)
{
BinaryFile.read((char *) (&EmpRecords[i]),sizeof(EmpRecords[i]));
cout << i << endl;
BinaryFile.read((char *) (&EmpRecords[i]),sizeof(EmpRecords[i]));
// if(EmpRecords[i].Name == firstname)
// {
// cout << "Found first name." << endl;
// if (EmpRecords[i].LastName == lastname)
// {
// cout << "Found last name." << endl;
/// }
// }
// else
// {
// cout << "Could not find name.";
// // BinaryFile2.write((char *) (&EmpRecords[i]),sizeof(EmpRecords[i]));
// }
cout << endl;
i2 = i2-1;
i = i+1;
}
}
BinaryFile.close();
if( remove( "BinaryFile.dat" ) != 0 )
cout << endl << "Error deleting file" << endl;
else
{
cout << "File successfully deleted" << endl << endl;
}
int result;
char oldname[]="BinaryFileTemp.dat";
char newname[]="BinaryFile.dat";
result = rename(oldname,newname);
if(result == 0)
cout << "DEBUG: Success" << endl;
else
cout << "DEBUG: Failure" << endl;
}
void WipeFile(fstream &BinaryFile)
{
int sure;
cout << "There is no undoing this action." << endl;
cout << "Continue (1)" << endl;
cout << "Cancel (2)" << endl;
cout << "Wipe file? ";
cin >> sure;
if(sure == 1)
{
cout << "Wiping file.";
BinaryFile.open("BinaryFile.dat", ios::out | ios::binary | ios::trunc);
BinaryFile.close();
}
else
{
cout << "Canceling.";
}
}
void DelFile(fstream &BinaryFile)
{
BinaryFile.close();
if( remove( "BinaryFile.dat" ) != 0 )
cout << endl << "Error deleting file" << endl;
else
{
cout << "File successfully deleted" << endl << endl;
}
}

Answer 1

Here the problem seems to be, even though you are wiping the file contents, you are not clearing the data you had stored in Record EmpRecords[20]; or the int maxsize value.
Few things you can do inside void WipeFile(fstream &BinaryFile) function: To keep it simple, we'll just reset maxsize to 0:
Pass the maxsize variable as reference to WipeFile(), the same way you are passing for Populate()
Update maxsize = 0, to indicate all the records are removed, when you delete the file contents.
It is better to memset the contents of EmpRecords as well similarly.
For now, I just modified your code to reset maxsize to 0 in WipeFile() and it worked.
void WipeFile(fstream &BinaryFile, int &maxsize)
{
int sure;
cout << "There is no undoing this action." << endl;
cout << "Continue (1)" << endl;
cout << "Cancel (2)" << endl;
cout << "Wipe file? ";
cin >> sure;
if(sure == 1)
{
cout << "Wiping file.";
BinaryFile.open("BinaryFile.dat", ios::out | ios::binary | ios::trunc);
BinaryFile.close();
maxsize = 0;
}
else
{
cout << "Cancelling.";
}
}