selecting a month

[MrBackpack]

Hey all, I think that I'm finally getting the hang of this C++ thing.

So right now, I'm writing a program that takes user input and outputs the date in three different formats using classes, member functions, constructors, and the like:

9/25/2011
September 25, 2011
25 September 2011

I've got the majority of this program written, but I can't for the life of me get the month number (numMonth) to select the proper month.

Initially I tried creating a giant if statement but the complier just spat out error after error.

How should I write this bit of code?

[hamsterman]

Do you mean you don't know how to get "September" from 9?
I suggest using an array:

const char* month_list[] = {"Jan", "Feb", "etc."};
int current_month = 1;//1 to 12
const char* current_month_name = month_list[current_month-1];//Now this points to "Jan" 

[whitenite1]

Here is a small program to get you in the right direction.

#include "stdafx.h"

#include <iostream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

string Months[]={"January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"};

int main(void)
{
   int m;
  
   cout << "What month were you born? (1-12)";
   cin >> m;
   cout << "So, you were born in the month of " << Months[m-1]<< "\n\n"; // subtract 1 from input, since arrays start at 0
   return 0;
}

[MrBackpack]

Originally posted by Hamsterman
Do you mean you don't know how to get "September" from 9?
I suggest using an array:

const char* month_list[] = {"Jan", "Feb", "etc."};
int current_month = 1;//1 to 12
const char* current_month_name = month_list[current_month-1];//Now this points to "Jan" 

The thing is... we're not supposed to use arrays because its not in the chapters that we supposed to have read.

The first thing that I thought was to use an array, but I can't.

[firedraco]

A function. If you can't do that either...a giant if statement. :P

[sohguanh]

Besides if statement, you can consider a switch statement probably make the code easier to read.

[MrBackpack]

Originally posted by firedraco
A function. If you can't do that either... a giant if statement. :P

it's separated out into a function... several, and they're part of a class.

Originally posted by sohguanh
Besides if statement, you can consider a switch statement probably make the code easier to read.

This is what I have right now, but I can't get it to do what I want it to, granted I'm probably doing it very wrong.

string getMonthName(int numMonth)
{	
	string alphMonth;
	
	switch (numMonth) 
	{
		case 1: alphMonth = "January";
			break;
		case 2: alphMonth = "February";
			break;
		case 3: alphMonth = "March";
			break;
		case 4: alphMonth = "April";
			break;
		case 5: alphMonth = "May";
			break;
		case 6: alphMonth = "June";
			break;
		case 7: alphMonth = "July";
			break;
		case 8: alphMonth = "August";
			break;
		case 9: alphMonth = "September";
			break;
		case 10: alphMonth = "October";
			break;
		case 11: alphMonth = "November";
			break;
		case 12: alphMonth = "December";
			break;
		default: cout << "that is a non-vaild entry, using defualt month of January" << endl;
			alphMonth = "Janurary";
	}

	return alphMonth;
}

[firedraco]

That seems fine to me. Only thing I would change is remove "alphMonth" and just return the month name directly since you can't use arrays.

[MrBackpack]

Originally posted by firedraco
That seems fine to me. Only thing I would change is remove "alphMonth" and just return the month name directly since you can't use arrays.

for lack of a more intelligent response: huh?

[firedraco]

string getMonthName(int numMonth)
{	
	//string alphMonth; remove this
	
	switch (numMonth) 
	{
		case 1: //alphMonth = "January"; instead of this
                        return "January";
			break;
//etc 

[MrBackpack]

okay, now I see what you're getting at.

the problem, at least from my limited understanding, is that I need this function, getMonthName to return the name of the month to a variable that can then be printed out by the main function.

[Gaminic]

Whether you immediately return it, or use a temp variable first, doesn't matter. The following two functions are the exact same, except that the latter one is more efficient.

int gimmeFive() {
  int i = 5;
  return i;
}

int gimmeFive() {
  return 5;
}

I even think you can drop the "break" statement after return in a switch(), since return immediately ends the function.

[whitenite1]

To return the month name, use something like this.

int m;
	string month;
	do
	{
		cout << "What month were you born? (1-12) ";
		cin >> m;
		month = getMonthName(m);
		cout << "So, you were born in the month of " << month << ".\n\n";
	} while (m < 1 || m > 12);

And under getMonthName

.....
        case 12:
		return "December";
	default:
		return "WHAT?? !!";  // default for any input over/under 1 to 12