Expert: vijayan - 8/26/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi Vijayan

now i working on searching in sequential file with the key 'ID'.i've used binary_search function.
and want the user to insert an 'id' to find.the code doesn't have any errors but it has a crash during the runing.and as i worked on it i found that my problem is in binary_search function,but can't find whats wrong with it.could you plz check it out.i will be pleased if you help me?  


#include<iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;
using std::ios;
using std::cerr;

#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>

#include<string>
using std::string;
using std::getline;

#include<fstream>
using std::ofstream;
using std::ifstream;

#include<cstdlib>
using std::exit;

int main()
{
   ofstream employee( "c:\\tests.dat",ios::app );

   if(!employee)
   {
       cerr<<"File could not be opened" <<endl;
       exit(1);
   }

   cout<<id<<endl;
   cout<<"Enter the ID,Fname,Lname,City and Salary."<<endl
       <<"Enter end-of-file to end input.\n?";
   string ID;
   char Fname[10];
   char Lname[10];
   char City[10];
   double Salary;

   while(cin>>ID>>Fname>>Lname>>City>>Salary)
   {
       employee<<ID<<' '<<Fname<<' '<<Lname<<' '<<City<<' '<<Salary<<endl;
       cout<<"?";
   }
   std::vector< std::string > lines;//strores string values in 'lines'

  // read each line into the vector
  {
      std::ifstream fin("c:\\tests.dat");
      std::string line;
      while( std::getline( fin, line ) ) lines.push_back( line );//get a 'line' from 'fin'
      //function push_backavailable in all sequence containersto add an element to the end of the vector
  }

  string id;

  cout<<"enter the ID to find: ";
  getline(cin,id);

  if (std::binary_search( lines.begin(), lines.end(), id ) )//<----------------------HERE IS THE PROBLEM!
      cout << "\n\n was found in lines";
  else
      cout << "\n\n was not found in lines";

      std::ofstream fout("c:\\tests.dat");
      for( std::size_t i = 0; i < lines.size(); ++i )
         cout << lines[i] << '\n';          
   cout<<"aaaaa";
  return 0;
}

Thanx
Bita

ANSWER: There are several issues with this code.

1. The file is first opened for output in append mode
       ofstream employee( "c:\\tests.dat",ios::app );

before it is closed, it is attempted to be opened for input
       std::ifstream fin("c:\\tests.dat");

before it is closed, it is again attempted to be opened for output in truncate mode
       std::ofstream fout("c:\\tests.dat");

This will not work correctly; close the file first if you want to open it again in a different mode.




cout<<"Enter the ID,Fname,Lname,City and Salary."<<endl
      <<"Enter end-of-file to end input.\n?";
//...
while(cin>>ID>>Fname>>Lname>>City>>Salary)
  {
     //...

2. Once end-of-file is entered, std::cin will be in a fail and eof state. Nothing more can be read from std::cin while it is in this state.




3. std::binary_search can only be used on sorted sequences; the vector is not sorted.




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanx vijayan for answering

but about my second problem what should i do to input an id for searching,i tried a lot but it didn't work!
it seems that after inputting records in the file i can't get anything,is it right?
but i don't want to put the 'id' variable in the file,i want to get a value and put it in the 'id' variable and then search for it not in the file.
so why i can't use 'cin' or 'getline'?!

Thanx
Bita

Answer
The problem is because after the input of records, std::cin is in an end-of-file state. Any attempt to read more items would fail.

You could rewrite the input loop as:

char more_input = 'y' ;
while( more_input != 'n' )
  {
      cin>>ID>>Fname>>Lname>>City>>Salary ;
      employee<<ID<<' '<<Fname<<' '<<Lname<<' '<<City<<' '<<Salary<<endl;
      cout << "add more records (y/n)?";
      std::cin >> more_input ;
  }

 std::cin >> std::ws ; // eat up white spaces remaining in the input buffer.
 std::string id ;
 cout<<"enter the ID to find: ";
 getline(cin,id);