Formatting Ouput

[AlexanderGreen]

I'm writing a display function that takes an array of record objects which contain a first name, last name, classification, age, zip code, hometown, and GPA. I'm having a difficult time getting the output aligned with the column headers.

I tried using setw(), but the problem is that everything is of variable length, so I can't use a fixed setw() field that aligns the first character or number of a field under the first character of the specified column.
Any Ideas?

The first line is:
First Name Last Name Class Zip Age HomeTown GPA

void display(ostream& out, Record array[], int elems)
{

  for(int i = 0; i < elems; i++)
  {
    if(array[i].getFirst() == "I THINK THIS IS A DUPLICATE RECORD")
    {
      cout << array[i].getFirst() << endl;
    }
    else
    {
      cout << array[i].getFirst() << setw(15) << array[i].getLast() << 
      setw(15);
      
      cout << array[i].getClass() << setw(15) << array[i].getZip()  << 
      setw(15);
      
      cout << array[i].getAge()   << setw(15) << array[i].getHome() << 
      setw(15);
      
      cout << showpoint << setprecision(3)  << array[i].getGPA()   << endl;
    }

  }
}

[Chervil]

having a difficult time getting the output aligned with the column headers.

I cannot be entirely sure here, since you don't show the code which generates those headings. However it appears that you are using the tab character '\t' in the headings? Thus:

The first line is:

First Name  \tLast Name      \tClass\tZip   \tAge\tHomeTown         \tGPA 

If I'm mistaken, please clarify. As it is, I can only advise against mixing setw() and the tab character for formatting. I would remove the tab character - if that is indeed what you are using - and use plain spaces.

In the actual code you have shown, it looks like you have things in the wrong order.
Here for example:

    cout << array[i].getFirst() << setw(15) << array[i].getLast() << setw(15);

I think what you are aiming to do is this:

    cout << setw(15) << array[i].getFirst() << setw(15) << array[i].getLast();

The point being here that setw() specifies the width of the next item to be output. It doesn't retrospectively act on items which have already been output.