Input parsing problems - c++

Question

When a user enters spaces in between digits to create a reference string it throws everything off and will even carry numbers over to the next cin. If however they have letters in between and no spaces it works fine. The assignment was for a page replacement sim.
Code (this is only the part of the code that should effect my problem):
void main()
{
bool again = false;
bool reuse = false;
bool valid;
int use;
int refLength;
vector<int> ref(0);
vector<frame> frames(0);
string refString;
string user;
//ask how long the user wants the ref string to be
do{
valid = false;
while (!valid&&!reuse)//take choice of ref string
{
cout << "How long do you wish the reference string to be? ";
if (!(cin >> refLength))
{
cin.clear();//.clear and .ignore keep cin from errors and forced infinite loop repeating following cout
cin.ignore(numeric_limits<streamsize>::max(), '\n');
cout << "The length must be enter as an integer value between ";
valid = false;
}
else
{
cout << "You have chosen to have a Ref string of " << refLength << " length " << endl;
valid = true;
}
}
valid = false;
while (!valid&&!reuse)
{
cout << "Do you want to enter a ref string or randomly generate one" << endl;
cout << "of your chosen length? Enter 1 to generate and 2 to input the string ";
if (!(cin >> use) | (use<0 || use>2))
{
cin.clear();//.clear and .ignore keep cin from errors and forced infinite loop repeating following cout
cin.ignore(numeric_limits<streamsize>::max(), '\n');
cout << "You must enter an integer between 1 and 2";
}
else
{
valid = true;
if (use == 1)
{
make(ref, refLength);
}
else
{
cout << "please enter a ref string of chosen length entering" << endl;
cout << "fewer digits will cause 0's to be added. Entering more" << endl;
cout << "will cause those past the chosen length to be dropped " << endl;
cout << "any letters will be ignored but spaces throw things off" << endl;
cout << "Also all entries must be single digit integers (0-9) " << endl;
cin >> refString;
make(ref, refLength, refString);
}
use = 0;
}
}
cout << endl;
/*for(int i=0;i<ref.size();i++)
{
cout<<ref[i]<<" ";
}*/
valid = false;
while (!valid)
{
cin.clear();
//errors ********************************************88
cout << "How many frames do you want (1-7) ";
if (!(cin >> use) | (use<0 || use>7))
{
cin.clear();
cin.ignore(numeric_limits<streamsize>::max(), '\n');
cout << "You must enter an integer between 1 and 7 ";
valid = false;
}
else
{
valid = true;
setUpFrames(use, frames);
use = 0;
}
}
valid = false;
while (!valid)
{
cout << "Enter 1 for FIFO or 2 for LRU pageRep algo or 3 for Optimal";
if (!(cin >> use) | (use<0 || use>3))
{
cin.clear();
cin.ignore(numeric_limits<streamsize>::max(), '\n');
cout << "Must be int between 1 and 3";
}
else if (use == 1)
{
cout << endl << "# of Page Faults ";
cout << FIFO(ref, frames);
valid = true;
}
else if (use == 2)
{
cout << endl << "# of Page Faults ";
cout << LRU(ref, frames);
valid = true;
}
else
{
cout << endl << "# of Page Faults ";
cout << Optimal(ref, frames);
valid = true;
}
}
cout << endl;
cout << "do you want to try again ? Enter y for yes anything else for no" << endl;
cin >> user;
if (user == "y")
{
again = true;
cout << "do you want to use the same reference string? y for yes anything else for no" << endl;
cin >> user;
if (user == "y")
{
reuse = true;
}
else
{
reuse = false;
}
}
else
{
again = false;
}
} while (again);
}

Answer 1

If you want cin/cout interaction word/line by word/line use getline, otherwise confusion will arise.