Displaying an Error Message

[RawrDuy]

I'm trying to prompt an error message stating that when the user puts nothing into "lotName," it will spit out an error message. The error messages are stored as a function, but I'm not quite sure how to pull it out. Would I need an if statement here?

int main()
{
	char lotName;
	cout << "Enter lot name: ";
	cin >> lotName;

	return 0;

}

void printErrorMessage(int num)
{
if (num == 3) 
{
cout << endl
 << "  ERROR: Blank bidder ID, no bid allowed" << endl 
}
}

[Moschops]

if (lotName == "")
{
  printErrorMessage(3);
}

[ihato]

I'm not a C++ expert, but I'll try to help.

1st, lotName will take only 1 character, not the full name.
I think you should do this: char* lotName; /*or*/ char lotName[]; instead char lotName

I think this is what you should do:"

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void printErrorMessage(int num){
    if (num == 3)
    {cout << endl<< "  ERROR: Blank bidder ID, no bid allowed" << endl; }
}

int main()
{

	char* lotName;
    cout << "Enter lot name:";
    cin >> lotName;
    if (lotName=="") {printErrorMessage(3);}
	
	return 0;

}

EDIT: Ninja'd

[RawrDuy]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm still getting an error message stating that "lotName" is not being initialized. What does this mean?

[Moschops]

I see that lotName is a single char in your code (and a char pointer to random memory in ihato's code, which is also bad, although he does explain at the top of his post that it's not good). This is a fantastically bad idea if you want to store a C-string in it. It won't work. You will stomp all over memory that isn't yours.

I suggest you stop trying to use C-strings and use a proper C++ string.

[RawrDuy]

Alright, I can see that. If for example a person were to input a string like "1980 Chevrolet," how would I exactly declare that?

[Moschops]

string userEntry;
cin >> userEntry;

[RawrDuy]

thank you! I did not know it was something as easy as that.

Much appreciated