Passing ifstream to a function help

[BrianDehn]

I am trying to do a couple things that I am not having any luck with.
1] Do i have to send ifstream to the function for the function to read data from that file? If so, what is the correct syntax?

2] I am trying to use a while(infile) loop to count how many instances of first name, Last name, and number there are. Is there a better way to do that then the way I am trying to do it? (remember, I am a beginner so no super advanced stuff please)

Sample Data:
{
Duckey Donald 85
Goof Goofy 89
Brave Balto 93
Snow White 93
}

 #include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;

ifstream infile;

int fileCount(ifstream&);

int main()//================================================== MAIN ===================
{

		infile.open("Ch9_Ex2Data.txt");
				if (!infile)
				{
					cout << "Cannot open the input file. Program terminates!"<< endl;	 
					return 1;
				}

cout << fileCount(infile);


system("PAUSE");
return(0);
}

int fileCount(ifstream&)
{
	int counter = 0;
	int discard;
	string discard1;

	while (infile)
		{
			cin >> discard1;
			cout << discard1<<endl;
			cin >> discard1;
			cout << discard1<<endl;
			cin >> discard;
			cout << discard<<endl;
			counter++;
		}
	cout <<endl;
	cout <<endl;
	cout <<endl;
	return(counter - 1);
}

[OxBADC0DE]

line 28:

int fileCount(istream &infile);

Line 34: (Preferably) use while

(!infile.eof())

Then I noticed you didn't need any processing on the data in infile, so you may want to replace lines 36 through 41 with

cin.getline(discardl);

then just leave your count++

[vlad from moscow]

@Matri X
Line 34: (Preferably) use while

(!infile.eof())

It is while (infile) that is the preferable method not while (!infile.eof())

@BrianDehn

You are always trying to read in a variable of type int while records of the file contain data as string literal: first name and last name.

[BrianDehn]

GREAT! It works.. I finally figured it out. I have been using cin >> to read the files insted of ifile >> . Thank you for your help though.
The working code is as follows

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;


		// declare functions
		// void function to open the input and output files
void openFiles (ifstream& infile, ofstream& output);
int fileCount(ifstream &infile);

int main()//================================================== MAIN ===================
{
ifstream infile;
ofstream outfile;
int a = 0;

openFiles (infile, outfile);
a = fileCount(infile);

 
system("PAUSE");
return(0);
}

void openFiles (ifstream& infile, ofstream& outfile)//=======================
{
			infile.open("Ch9_Ex2Data.txt");
				if (!infile)
				{
					cout << "Cannot open the input file. Program terminates!"<< endl;	 
					//return 1;
				}
		cout << "this is the open files function" << endl;
}

int fileCount(ifstream &infile)
{

int counter = 0;
int discard;
string discard1;

while (infile)
		{
			infile >> discard1;  //cin.getline(discardl);
			cout << discard1<<endl;
			infile >> discard1;  //cin.getline(discardl);
			cout << discard1<<endl;
			infile >> discard;  //cin.getline(discardl);
			cout << discard<<endl;
			counter++;
		}
return(counter - 1);
}