How to display the name from the array name? - c++

Question

I'm trying to study c++ about array
and I'm having a problem displaying the name from the array name
Because when I try to display the name of the passenger based on where he seat
the first letter becomes the last letter of his name..ahmm
Here's my code
#include <iostream.h>
#include <conio.h>
char* name[10]={" "};
int* seat=0;
char* pname="The Passenger is: ";
char ask;
void display();
int main()
{
clrscr();
cout<<"The Entering of name and seat number..."<<endl;
do
{
cout<<"\nEnter your name: ";
cin>>*name;
cout<<"Enter your seat number: ";
cin>>*seat;
cout<<"Do you want to input again?(Y/N): ";
cin>>ask;
}
while(ask=='y'||ask=='Y');
cout<<"\nDo you want to see the passenger's name?(Y/N): ";
cin>>ask;
if(ask=='y'||ask=='Y')
{
cout<<"\nThe Program will now direct you to the displaying of passenger's name...."<<endl;
display();
}
else
{
cout<<"\n\nThe Program will end shortly....";
}
getch();
return 0;
}
void display()
{
do
{
cout<<"\nEnter seat number to display passenger's name: ";
cin>>*seat;
cout<<pname<<*name[*seat-1]<<endl;
cout<<"Do you want to try again?(Y/N): ";
cin>>ask;
}
while(ask=='y'||ask=='Y');
cout<<"\nThe Program will now end shortly....";
getch();
}

Answer 1

To display the name from the array name you have at first to define the array correctly.:)
If you do not know yet about standard class std::string then the array should be defined as for example
char name[10][20];
that is it can store 10 names that have length no more than 20 characters.
Or if you know about class std:string then you can define it as
#include <string>
std::string name[10];
And it would be even better to define
#include <string>
#include <array>
std::array<std::string, 10> name;
For this program neither pointer is needed to be defined.
Take into account that when you ask to enter a seat number you should check that this number is in the range 1 - 10 (in this case you will need to decrease it by one when will use it to access the array) or 0 - 9.

Answer 2

You seem to be having a problem with pointers. Namely
int* seat=0;
will not allocate space for the integer, but instead allocate space for a pointer and then set this pointer and set it to address 0. When you perform
cin>>*seat;
Your program attempts to dereference the pointer which does not point to anything. Furthermore when you perform
cin >>*name
You are not writing to the whole string but instead writing to the dereference location, namely the first character of the string.
For a start change
int* seat=0;
to
int seat = 0
and
cin>>*name;
to
cin>>name;
good luck!
Edit:
also you want to change the:
cin >> *seat;
to
cin >> seat

Answer 3

Nevertheless you might need some more practice in the basic language features, like pointers, you could use some existing data structures. Since you are using cout and cin i assume your compiler supports the C++ standard library. I would use a map, to save the passengers.
#include <iostream>
#include <map>
struct passenger
{
char name[10];
};
std::map<int, passenger> passengers;
int seat;
char ask;
void display();
int main()
{
std::cout<< "The Entering of name and seat number..." << std::endl;
do
{
passenger p;
std::cout << "\nEnter your name: ";
std::cin >> p.name;
std::cout << "Enter your seat number: ";
std::cin >> seat;
// add passenger to the map
passengers.insert(std::pair<int, passenger>(seat, p));
std::cout << "Do you want to input again?(Y/N): ";
std::cin >> ask;
}
while(ask=='y'||ask=='Y');
std::cout << "\nDo you want to see the passenger's name?(Y/N): ";
std::cin >> ask;
if(ask=='y' || ask=='Y')
{
std::cout << "\nThe Program will now direct you to the displaying of passenger's name...." << std::endl;
display();
}
return 0;
}
void display()
{
do
{
std::cout << "\nEnter seat number to display passenger's name: ";
std::cin >> seat;
// check if passenger data is available for this seat
if(passengers.find(seat) != passengers.end()) {
std::cout << "The Passenger is: " << passengers[seat].name << std::endl;
} else {
std::cout << "Seat still available ..." << std::endl;
}
std::cout << "Do you want to try again?(Y/N): ";
std::cin >> ask;
}
while(ask=='y' || ask=='Y');
}

Answer 4

If you are using a pointer *seat you don't have to access it as
cin>>*seat. You only need to write cin>>seat.
While you are learning cpp, check out what pointers are too.
Here's a little info on that too, though that is not exactly the subject matter,
int *S; // pointer of type int
int x; // variable of type int
S = &x; // pointer S is now pointing to memory location of x
S = 4;
OR
x = 4; // changes the contents of memory location to which S points`
cout << *S; // displays the memory address to which S points i.e.
x