Dating service program in c++ using text file, and linked lists

[weebies]

Hello, I'm VERY new to programming, and I'm working on my second c++ program right now. Its a dating service where you read data from an input .txt file and store into a linked list, so then you can search, and modify the data. The text file is in this format:

M Dr.Gregory House,237-8732 7 Vicodin,Guitar,Piano,Motorcycles,Television,Food,W hiteboards.endl; (all on a single line).

First, is the sex (M or F), then the person's name, phone number, number of interests, then a list of their interests (with commas between each one, and a period at the end.) and then if they have a match you put their name there and put endl; after.

The main problem I'm having is setting up the link list, I have no idea how to get it to read those as variables in the text, I know you have to use delimiters, but I can't quite figure out how to use them. You also have to keep two lists, one for males, and one for females in the output file. How do I do this? Is that a double linked list?

Any help would really be appreciated. Thank you!

Here is the code so far (I know it isn't much..)

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <limits>
#include <cstring>
 
using namespace std;
 
//Functions
void echoPrint();
void newClient();
void unMatch();
void printMatch();
void printFree();
void quitAsking();
void processing();
 
//Initialize Variables
string command = ""; // User command answer
std::string clientSex;
std::string clientName;
std::string clientPhone;
std::string clientNumInt;
std::string clientInterests;
std::string match;
 
 
ifstream inputfile;
char Clients[] = "Clients.mf.txt"; // Input file
ofstream outputfile;
char Dates[] = "Dates.out.txt"; // Output file
 
 
int main(){
 
inputfile.open(Clients, ios::in);
//If input file can't open, read out this
if (!inputfile) {
   cerr << "Can't open input file " << Clients << endl; 
   exit(1);
}
 
outputfile.open(Dates, ios::out);
 // If output file can't open, read out this
if (!outputfile){
    cerr << "Can't open output file " << Dates << endl;
    exit(1);
}
 
    //Questions & command list
    cout << "Hello, how may I help you today?" << endl;
    cout << endl;
    cout << "Here are a list of commands I can do:" << endl;
    cout << endl;
    cout << "NEWCLIENT- Add a new client to my database" << endl;
    cout << "UNMATCH- Remove client's current match" << endl;
    cout << "PRINTMATCH- Print a list of all matched clients" << endl;
    cout << "PRINTFREE- Prints the names and numbers of all clients without matches" << endl;
    cout << "QUIT- This will exit the program." << endl;
    cout << endl;
    cout << "Please choose a command from above." << endl;
 
    //Sends program to processing function
    processing(); 
 
do{
    cout << "What would you like to do now? Please enter another command." << endl;
    // Sends program to processing function
    processing();
}while(command == "QUIT" || command == "quit");
 
}// Closes main
 
 
void processing(){
do{
       cin >> command;
 
        if (command == "NEWCLIENT" || command == "newclient"){
                newClient();
       }else if
       (command == "UNMATCH" || command == "unmatch"){
                unMatch();
       }else if
       (command == "PRINTMATCH" || command == "printmatch"){
                printMatch();
        }else if
        (command == "PRINTFREE" || command == "printfree"){
                printFree();
        }else if
        (command == "QUIT" || command == "quit"){
                quitAsking();
        }else 
        {
            cout <<"****ERROR**** Please choose a command from above." << endl;
            // Only allows error message to print once
            cin.ignore( numeric_limits<int>::max() , '\n' );
        }
}while(!(command == "NEWCLIENT" || command == "newclient" || command == "UNMATCH" || command == "unmatch" ||
         command == "PRINTMATCH" || command == "printmatch" || command == "PRINTFREE" || command == "printfree" ||
         command == "QUIT" || command == "quit"));
 
// ECHO PRINTING HERE
 
}// Closes processing
 
 
void newClient(){
 
    //Client's Sex
    cout << "Please enter client's sex, F for female, M for male." << endl; // Ask for client's sex
    cin >> clientSex;
 
    //Client's Name
    cout << "Please enter client's name, no more than 20 characters." << endl; // Ask for client's name
    cin >> clientName;
 
    //Client's Phone
    cout << "Please enter client's phone number in XXX-XXXX format." << endl; // Ask for client's phone number
    cin >> clientPhone;
 
    //Client's Number of Interests
    cout << "Please enter number of client's interests (Can have up to 10)." << endl;// Ask for number of interests
    cin >> clientNumInt;
 
    //Client Interests
    cout << "Please enter client's interests. Place ',' between each (10 characters each) and a '.' after the last one." << endl;
    cin >> clientInterests;
 
}// Closes NEWCLIENT
 
 
void unMatch(){
char unClientName;
 
 
    cout << "Please enter the client's name you would like to unmatch." << endl;
    cin >> unClientName;
 
 
 
}
 
void printMatch(){}
 
void printFree(){}
 
void quitAsking(){}
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[weebies]

Please, any help at all?

[weaknessforcats]

Since you are using the C++ Standard Library, there is a linked list set up for you already. That means you don't need to design your own linked list.

Read up on #include <list>.

Next, the linked list does not read data. It just stores data in the order received.

So, write a function to read a record from your text file and have the function return it as a std::string.

Then, check the beginning of the string for M or F. Hint: std::string is implemented as an array, so [0] is the first element. If that element is M add the string to the male linked list. Otherwise, add it the female linked list.

Do the above two steps in a loop until the file is processed.

To add to a linked list:

//create your linked lists:
list<string> Mlist;    //male list
list<string> Flist;    /female list;
string str;
//code here to put a value in str;
 
//then add the string to a linked list:
 
if str[0] == "M"
     Mlist.push_back(str];     //adds string str to the end of the list
 
 

OK. Enough hints...