Populate an array with new objects

[savan12986]

I'm having problems populating an array with objects. I'm trying to read in a file and create an array of counties. I'm reading in a line then trying to create a new county object by calling its parameterized constructor but it keeps telling me county is not a type. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

#include <string>
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include "countylist.h"
#include "county.h"
using namespace std;
.
.
.
int i = 0;
char comma;
while(inFile >> state >> comma >> stateId >> comma >> countyId >> comma >> county && comma == ',')
{ 
   counties[i] = new county(state, county, stateId, countyId);
   i++;  
} 

[IceThatJaw]

counties[i] = new county(state, county, stateId, countyId);



Is counties[i] a pointer? Is county a class or struct that you have defined either in that file or another file you have included? I see that you included county.h but it it is obviously not finding it's declaration.


If you show all of the code we could fix it for you.

[savan12986]

here are the .h files for county and countylist. the part I'm having trouble with is in countylist.cpp

countylist.h

#ifndef COUNTYLIST_H
#define COUNTYLIST_H
#include <string>
#include "county.h"
using namespace std;

class countyList
{
    private:   
       county counties[3500];
       int countiesSize;
    
    public:       
       // constructor prototypes
       countyList();          
       
       // find county index by searching for Fips
       county findCounty(int, int);  
};

#endif 

county.h

#ifndef COUNTY_H
#define COUNTY_H
#include <string>
using namespace std;

class county
{
    private:   
       string state;
       string countyName;
       int stateId;
       int countyId;
    
    public:
       // set function prototypes    
       void setState(string);
       void setCountyName(string);
       void setStateId(int);
       void setCountyId(int);
       
       // get function prototypes
       string getState();
       string getCountyName();
       int getStateId();
       int getCountyId();
       
       // constructor prototypes
       county();
       county(string, string, int, int);              
};

#endif 

do I need to change county counties[3500]; to something like county* counties[3500];?

[IceThatJaw]

Oh, haha.

You have a variable with the same name as your class so the compiler is confused.

counties[i] = new county(state, county, stateId, countyId);

You will either need to change the 2 argument's name or change the class name to County.

[savan12986]

well, I feel like an idiot now. but now I'm getting a new problem. this is in a different part of countylist.cpp

it's saying getStateId is not declared which I assume means I'm not deferencing counties[i] properly.

// searches for and returns a the county instance that contains the info related to the state and fips code passed to it
county countyList::findCounty(int state, int fips)
{
   for (int i = 0; i <= countiesSize; i++)
   {
       // checks if countyList[i] has the correct state and fips id's
       if (&counties[i].getStateId == state);// && counties[i].getCountyId == fips)
          return counties[i];
   };          
   
   county* ptr; 
   ptr = new county();  
   return ptr;
}

and the return is giving me the error "conversion from `county*' to non-scalar type `county' requested"

I really hate pointers they are so confusing.

[IceThatJaw]

It doesn't even look like you are using pointers.

[atropos]

findCounty is defined to return a county, but the return statement itself returns a pointer-to-county.

[savan12986]

ok. thanks guys. I figured out my problem. I changed everything to return a county pointer and I changed counties[i].getStateId to counties[i]->getStateId()