Inventory Data

[sea2017]

Okay, so I am supposed to write code that allows user input for inventory data that will but stored in a text file on a disk with each items data on a single line. The prompts for the user need to be:
stock number with a maximum of 5 chars
item description with a maximum of 20 chars
cost
price
and quantity in stock


The first problem i have is creating a file. I created a test, and the build succeeded (I am using Xcode by the way) but i cannot find a file that it wrote to. I'm not entirely sure whats wrong. Here is my code:

  #include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;

int main ( )
{
    ofstream myfile;
    myfile.open ("example.txt");
    myfile << "Writing this to a file.\n";
    myfile.close();
    return 0;
}

[Repeater]

The file will be created in the working directory of the executable that is your program. That directory is almost certainly not the same as your "project" directory.

Search your hard drive for the file "example.txt"

[sea2017]

sorry for such a late response. I have searched everywhere for this file and i cannot find it.

[Enoizat]

I can’t spot any errors in your code too.
You could try to:
a) add some code that warns you if there are problems (for example, you could be not allowed to write on some directory):

if(!myfile) {
        std::cout << "Can't create the file.\nExiting now.\n";
        myfile.close();
        return 1;
    }

b) Change the name of your file in something strange and unique, then launch a global search on your hard disks (sooner or later you’ll find it!):
std::ofstream myfile("sea2017_jdnfoiuw.txt");

c) Compile it from console: it will create the executable in the same directory of your source file.
Assuming your source file is named ‘main.cpp’, you can try this (GCC compiler: for Microsoft Visual Studio the command is different):
g++ -std=gnu++17 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic-errors main.cpp -o main.exe

d) Give us more information about your environment (operative system, programming suite...): that will help us to give more accurate directions.

#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

int main ( )
{
    std::ofstream myfile("sea2017_jdnfoiuw.txt");
    if(!myfile) {
        std::cout << "Can't create the file.\nExiting now.\n";
        myfile.close();
        return 1;
    }
    myfile << "Writing this to a file.\n";
    myfile.close();
    return 0;
}

[Ihatov]

I use GNU/Linux with vim and Makefiles but I think that in Windows most IDEs compile the project to 'release' or 'debug' (if I recall correctly) however when you run the program from an IDE it gets copied to a temporary location like C:\Users\Melinda\AppData\Roaming\Temp\a.exe and runs from there.

Perhaps that's what happens with Xcode too.

Since Xcode is an OS X program, perhaps you can save it in your Home directory instead.

myfile.open ("~/example.txt");

I assume that HFS+ filesystem resembles somewhat a standard Unix filesystem (I know a few differences though).