C++ Container and Entity Classes - c++

Question

I'm new to the site (and to programming) so I hope I post this question appropriately and under all the proper guidelines of the site. Ok, here it goes:
So I pretty new to C++ and am trying to create classes for a program. I have to construct "container and entity classes", but where I'm struggling is trying to nail down the proper syntax for my getter and setter functions in the container class. So here's the code I have so far:
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
const int MAX_STUDENTS=100;
const int MAX_COURSES=25;
const int NAME_SIZE=30;
const int COURSE_COLUMNS=4;
const int GRADE_ROWS=10;
//Entity Classes
class Course
{
//Two private member variables
private:
string courseText;
int courseID;
public:
//Constructor
Course(void)
{
//Just providing initial value to the two object variables
courseText;
courseID=-1;
}
//Setters and Getters for each variable
string getCourseText(){
return courseText;}
void setCourseText(string userEnteredText){
courseText = userEnteredText;}
int getCourseID(){
return courseID;}
void setCourseID(int userEnteredID){
courseID = userEnteredID;}
};
class Student
{
//Private member variables
private:
string studentText;
int studentID;
int** coursesAndGrades;
int enrolledCoursesCount;
int timesReallocatedColumns;
int timesReallocatedRows;
public:
//Constructor
Student(void)
{
//Just providing initial value to the object variables
studentText;
studentID=-1;
coursesAndGrades = new int*[GRADE_ROWS+1];
for(int i=0;i<(GRADE_ROWS+1);i++)
{
coursesAndGrades[i] = new int[COURSE_COLUMNS];
}
enrolledCoursesCount=0;
timesReallocatedColumns=0;
timesReallocatedRows=0;
}
//Setters and Getters for each variable
string getStudentText(){
return studentText;}
void setStudentText(string userEnteredText){
studentText = userEnteredText;}
int getStudentID(){
return studentID;}
void setCourseID(int userEnteredID){
studentID = userEnteredID;}
int getCoursesAndGrades(int gradeRow, int courseColumn){
return coursesAndGrades[gradeRow][courseColumn];}
void setCoursesAndGrades(int gradeRow, int courseColumn, int entry){
coursesAndGrades[gradeRow][courseColumn]=entry;}
int getEnrolledCoursesCount(){
return enrolledCoursesCount;}
void setEnrolledCoursesCount(int enrolledCount){
enrolledCoursesCount = enrolledCount;}
int getTimesReallocatedColumns(){
return timesReallocatedColumns;}
void setTimesReallocatedColumns(int reallocColumnCount){
timesReallocatedColumns = reallocColumnCount;}
int getTimesReallocatedRows(){
return timesReallocatedRows;}
void setTimesReallocatedRows(int reallocRowCount){
timesReallocatedRows = reallocRowCount;}
};
Now, I've got a container class called GradeBook which contains dynamically allocated arrays of these two entity class objects.
class GradeBook
{
private:
Course* courses;
Student* students;
public:
//Constructor
GradeBook(void)
{
courses = new Course [MAX_COURSES];
students = new Student [MAX_STUDENTS];
}
}
I'm trying to figure out the proper way to translate the setter and getter functions from my entity classes to the container class so I can change individual elements of each class object in the dynamically allocated array. These changes will happen in more public member functions in the container class, but I'm completely stumped. I hope this question makes sense, and I'm not looking for anyone to write all of the setters and getters for me, I just need someone to point me in the proper direction for the syntax. Thanks everyone who made it through this!

Answer 1

If you will have something like this:
class GradeBook
{
public:
...
Student& student(int idx) { /*some boundary check here*/
return students[idx]; }
}
then you can use that method as:
GradeBook theBook;
...
auto idOfFirstStudent = theBook.student(0).getStudentID();
You just need to decide what that student() method shall return: it can return reference (as above) or pointer to student (instance). In later case you can return nullptr in case of out-of-bound errors. In first case the only reasonable option is to throw an error.

Answer 2

So there's no magic needed here, but you do need to decide how you want to do it. One way would be to just write something like:
void GradeBook::setCourseText(int i, const string &txt) {
courses[i].setCourseText(txt);
}
BTW, I would highly recommend using std::vector and at() rather than new.