HELP GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

[channing0411]

I wrote the code listed below last week and need to change it to Storing the information of each car in an array (use multiple arrays if needed). Example: car numbers, colors of cars, lap time for each car, etc.
Validate user input via the following rules:
Car number must be an integer
Car color must be a string
Lap time format must be MM:SS
Print out an error message if the user gives invalid input.

I am lost! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 #include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	string driver1, driver2, driver3,
		color1, color2, color3;
	int number1, number2, number3,
		laptimeM1, laptimeS1,
		laptimeM2, laptimeS2,
		laptimeM3, laptimeS3;

	// Car1 Information
	cout << "Who is the driver for car one? ";
	std:: getline(cin, driver1);
	cout << "What is the color for car one? ";
	std::getline(cin, color1);
	cout << "What is car one's number? ";
	cin >> number1;
	cout << "What was car one's laptime? ";
	cin >> laptimeM1 >> laptimeS1;
	cin.ignore();

	// Car2 Information
	cout << endl << "Who is the driver for car two? ";
	std::getline(cin, driver2);
	cout << "What is the color for car two? ";
	std::getline(cin, color2);
	cout << "What is car two's number? ";
	cin >> number2;
	cout << "What was car two's laptime? ";
	cin >> laptimeM2 >> laptimeS2;
	cin.ignore();

	// Car3 Information
	cout << endl << "Who is the driver for car three? ";
	std::getline(cin, driver3);
	cout << "What is the color for car three? ";
	std::getline(cin, color3);
	cout << "What is car three's number? ";
	cin >> number3;
	cout << "what is car three's laptime? ";
	cin >> laptimeM3 >> laptimeS3;

	// Convert all to seconds
	int s1 = laptimeS1 + laptimeM1 * 60;
	int s2 = laptimeS2 + laptimeM2 * 60;
	int s3 = laptimeS3 + laptimeM3 * 60;

	cout << endl << "Fastests: " << endl;
	if (s1 <= s2 && s1 <= s3)
		cout << driver1 << " " << color1 << " " << number1 << " " << s1 << "seconds" << endl;
	if (s2 <= s1 && s2 <= s3)
		cout << driver2 << " " << color2 << " " << number2 << " " << s2 << "seconds" << endl;
	if (s3 <= s2 && s3 <= s1)
		cout << driver3 << " " << color3 << " " << number3 << " " << s3 << "seconds" << endl;


	return 0;
}

[Arslan7041]

Have you considered creating a struct Car with number, color and time as the data fields? Then simply make an array of Car objects.

[channing0411]

How would I do that? I am very new to this and I have been working on it for 6 hours now.

[Arslan7041]

Are you familiar with structs?
Read about them here: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/structures/

Thus, your struct can look like this:

struct Car
{
    string color;
    string driver_name;
    int number;
    int t_minutes;
    int t_second;
}

// then down in main you can make an array of Cars
int main()
{
    Car cars[3]; // creates an array of type Car, of size 3. 
    
    // fill up the array in the rest of the code. 
}

[channing0411]

Would I then need to make multiple array's?

[channing0411]

And where and how would I add the error message?

[Arslan7041]

#include <iostream>

struct Car
{
    std::string color;
    std::string driver_name;
    int number;
    int t_minutes;
    int t_seconds;
};


int main()
{
    const int SIZE = 3;
    Car cars[SIZE];
    // fill up the array with Cars
    for(int i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
    {
        std::cout << "Who is the driver for car " << i+1 << "? ";
        std::getline(std::cin, cars[i].driver_name);
        std::cout << "What is the color for car " << i+ 1 << "? ";
        std::getline(std::cin, cars[i].color);
        std::cout << "What is car number for car " << i + 1 << "? ";
        std::cin >> cars[i].number;
        std::cout << "What was the laptime for car " << i + 1 << "? ";
        std::cin >> cars[i].t_minutes >> cars[i].t_seconds;
        std::cin.ignore(1000, '\n');
        std::cout << "\n";
    }
    
    // print out info
    for(int i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
    {
        std::cout << cars[i].driver_name << std::endl;
        std::cout << cars[i].color << std::endl;
        std::cout << cars[i].number << std::endl;
        std::cout << cars[i].t_minutes << ":" << cars[i].t_seconds << std::endl;
        std::cout << "\n";
    }
}

You would check for errors in an if-statement after every std::cin, and add an error message in the if-clause.

[channing0411]

tHANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! SO I CAN PRETTY MUCH GET RID OF THE REST OF MY PREVIOUS CODE? LAST QUESTION

[Arslan7041]

Yea, pretty much. All that extra work is being done by the loop. Never duplicate code, always use loops.

[channing0411]

Do I need to include anything at the top to use the array?

[Arslan7041]

No, the program runs as posted.

[channing0411]

you are the best! Thank you!