Check out my C++ Scrolling Menu and give any tips - c++

Question

Right now I have a working scrolling menu, I just wanted to ask if there is anyone to give tips how to compact this because it's a bit "CHUNKY"!
Also I have two extra questions: How can I change it for my
"Rock,
Paper,
Scissors"
to be displayed like "Rock, Paper", Scissors"? If you try out my code, you'd see the text is all vertical, can I make it all horizontal? And is there any tips how to make it into a void statement to be used multiple times?
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <windows.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string Menu[3] = {"Rock", "Paper", "Scissors"};
int pointer = 0;
while(true)
{
system("cls");
SetConsoleTextAttribute(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), 15);
cout << "Main Menu\n\n";
for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i)
{
if (i == pointer)
{
SetConsoleTextAttribute(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), 11);
cout << Menu[i] << endl;
}
else
{
SetConsoleTextAttribute(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), 15);
cout << Menu[i] << endl;
}
}
while(true)
{
if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_UP) != 0)
{
pointer -= 1;
if (pointer == -1)
{
pointer = 2;
}
break;
}
else if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_DOWN) != 0)
{
pointer += 1;
if (pointer == 3)
{
pointer = 0;
}
break;
}
else if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_RETURN) != 0)
{
switch (pointer)
{
case 0:
{
cout << "\n\n\nStarting new game...";
Sleep(1000);
} break;
case 1:
{
cout << "\n\n\nThis is the options...";
Sleep(1000);
} break;
case 2:
{
return 0;
} break;
}
break;
}
}
Sleep(150);
}
return 0;
}

Answer 1

There's a bunch of different ways you could go about this. I'd prefer to go about it a different way in my own code,but have tried to write something that was as close to your own code as I could at this hour of the day.
You can re-use the same function for any menu that needs displaying - just give it a different value for the list of strings and the count of the number of strings in that array. Even better - use a std::vector<string>.
Rather than hard-code the number of menu items in the main function, I work it out by taking the total size of the array of strings and dividing it by the size of the first element. Since each element gives the same value for sizeof regardless of the length of the string, this allows you to calculate the number of elements in the array. Note though - this trick won't work inside of the getUserChoice function though - by that time, the array had been degraded to a pointer and the function has no way of telling how many items are in the array, unlike main - that's why I calculate the number there. Using a vector of strings would be much cleaner, since you could just pass a reference to the vector to the function, then inside the function you could call the .size() method of the vector to get the number of items it contains. Probably a little in front of where you're up to just now, hence the code in a similar style to your own.
Hope its helpful. :)
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <windows.h>
using namespace std;
int getUserChoice(string *items, int numItems)
{
int curSel = 0, textAttrib;
bool selectionMade = false, needsUpdate = true; // we want to clearscreen first time through
while (!selectionMade)
{
// only redraw the screen if something has changed, or we're on the first iteration of
// our while loop.
if (needsUpdate)
{
system("cls");
needsUpdate = false;
SetConsoleTextAttribute(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), 15);
cout << "Main Menu" << endl;
cout << "(navigate with arrow keys, select with enter)" << endl << endl;
for (int i=0; i<numItems; i++)
{
if (i == curSel)
textAttrib = 11;
else
textAttrib = 15;
SetConsoleTextAttribute(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), textAttrib);
if (i)
cout << " ";
cout << items[i];
}
}
if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_LEFT) != 0)
{
curSel--;
needsUpdate = true;
}
else if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_RIGHT) != 0)
{
curSel++;
needsUpdate = true;
}
else if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_RETURN) != 0)
selectionMade = true;
if (curSel < 0)
curSel = numItems-1;
else if (curSel > (numItems-1) )
curSel = 0;
Sleep(100);
}
char dummy[10];
cin.getline(dummy, 10); // clear the enter key from the kbd buffer
return curSel;
}
int main()
{
string Menu[] = {"Rock", "Paper", "Scissors"};
int selection;
selection = getUserChoice(Menu, sizeof(Menu)/sizeof(Menu[0]) );
cout << "You chose: " << Menu[selection] << endl;
}