c++ overload pointer ostream - c++

Question

I am a learning c++ and have a class project due in 5 days. I've spent 4 hours researching how to do this however I have not come up with an answer yet. Save me stack!
Problem. I have a pointer to a class which holds a dynamic array. I need to take that array and save it to a file to retrieve later. Here are my 2 headers and the implementation. I am not writing the code to "save to file" yet as that will be easy once I get around this issue. My problem is it keeps printing the address of the pointer and not the data within.
vehReg.h
class vehReg {
public:
/* STUFF */
};
}
#endif
vehData.h
#include "vehReg.h"
using namespace std;
class vehData {
public:
//CONSTRUCTORS
vehData();
//DECONSTRUCTOR
~vehData();
//METHODS
friend ostream &operator<<( ostream &output, const vehData &v);
private:
typedef unsigned long longType;
typedef std::size_t sizeType;
sizeType used,capacity;
vehReg *data;
};
}
#endif
vehData.cpp
//CONSTRUCTOR
vehData::vehData(){
capacity = 5;
used = 0;
data = new vehReg[capacity];
}
//DECONSTRUCTOR
vehData::~vehData(){
delete []data;
}
/* TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH THIS WITH AN OSTREAM OVERLOAD */
void vehData::saveDataSloppy(){
ofstream myFile;
myFile.open ("database.db");
for(int i=0;i<used;i++){
myFile << data[i].getOwnerName() << "|";
myFile << data[i].getVehicleLicense() << "|";
myFile << data[i].getVehicleMake() << "|";
myFile << data[i].getVehicleModel() << "|";
myFile << data[i].getVehicleYear() << "\n";
}
myFile.close();
}
void vehData::saveData(){
cout << data;
}
ostream &operator<<(ostream &stream, const vehData &v){
stream << v.data;
}
}

Answer 1

v.data is a pointer, so it prints a pointer. How do you want it to
print whatever the pointer points to. With the exception of character
pointers, the << always prints what you give it (formatted in some
way). If you don't want it to print a pointer, give is something else.
Suppose it did dereference the pointer. What should it print: one
vehReg? 20? A pointer has no information concerning the size. If
you'd used std::vector<vehReg> (a much better choice), it would know
the size, but there's still no overload on std::vector, since the
system still doesn't know how you want it formatted (comma separated?
each on a new line?). And you've not told it how to print a vehReg
either.
You apparently understand the idea of how to overload <<. The first
thing you'll have to do is provide an overload for vehReg as well.
And both overloads must be defined in terms of existing overloads:
there's not one for std::vector, and the one for pointer doesn't do
what you want (and couldn't), so you'll have to loop in your << for
vehData and output each element, with whatever separators you decide
on. (If it's each element on its own line, then you can use std::copy
and an ostream_iterator for the loop, but this may be a bit in advance
of what you've learnt so far.) And forward to the << for vehReg for
each vehReg.

Answer 2

v.data is a pointer so it's a memory address.
*v.data is what the pointer is pointing to (which in this case is an integer).
For example,
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void main () {
int *ptr;
int var = 5;
ptr = &var;
cout << ptr << endl;
cout << *ptr << endl;
system("pause");
}
First line will print out something like: 0043F930
Second line will print out: 5
This should print out the elements held in the data array.
void vehData::showStructure() const {
for (int i = 0; i < capacity: i++) {
cout << data[i];
}
cout << endl;
}