passing an array of character to function c++ - c++

Question

Let's say I have the following:
char cipan[9];
then what should I pass to the function? how about the get and set method??
I'm currently doing like this
set method
void setCipan(char cipan[]){
this->cipan = cipan;
}
and the get method
char getCipan(){
return cipan;
}
and I get an error when compiling??
Im totally blur.. can someone explain what should i pass to the function??
class userData{
private:
string name;
char dateCreate[9];
void userDataInput(string name,char dateCreate[]){
this->name = name;
this->dateCreate = dateCreate;
}
public:
//constructor
userData(string name){
userDataInput(name,dateCreate);
}
userData(string name,char dateCreate[]){
userDataInput(name,dateCreate);
}
//mutator methods
void changeName(string name){this->name = name;}
void changeDateCreate(char *dateCreate){this->dateCreate = dateCreate;}
//accesor methods
string getName(){return name;}
char *getDateCreate(){return dateCreate;}
};

Answer 1

I'd do the following:
void setCipan(const char* new_cipan)
{
strcpy(cipan, new_cipan);
}
const char* getCipan() const
{
return cipan;
}
Of course, the better approach is to use std::string:
void setCipan(const string& new_cipan)
{
cipan = new_cipan;
}
string getCipan() const
{
return cipan;
}

Answer 2

Constructor's purpose is to initialize class variables. I think it's unnecessary to call another method in the constructor to do initialization.
void userDataInput(string name,char dateCreate[]){
this->name = name;
this->dateCreate = dateCreate; // Both the dateCreate are class variables.
}
userData(string name){
userDataInput(name,dateCreate); // dateCreate is already a class variable.
}
dateCreate is the class scope variable. You are just passing it to a method, and re-assigning the same to dateCreate. Assignment operation doesn't copy elements of one array to another and are invalid operations.
To copy array elements, use std::copy instead.