Force destructor to print only 1 statement

[Exculibar]

Hello,

I'm wondering how to force the destructor to only print 1 cout statement
mine prints all names
i made a pointer dynamic array of name and other variables and i did delete the array
but it prints all names inserted into the array
here's my code:

 ~Person(){cout << "Good bye " << name << endl;}

[Kevin2341]

The thing about destructors is that when the object leaves scope, the destructor is called for every object. Hence why you're probably getting something like...

Good bye John
Good bye Sally
Good bye Bobby
....

If you want it to print out a specific name ONLY, you're going to need to add some logic of something along the lines of

~Person()
{
     if (name == "John")
         cout << "Good bye " << name << endl;

    delete [] array;
}

//Or if you want it to print out the first name in the array...

~Person()
{
   cout << "Good bye " << array[1].name << endl;

  delete[] array;
}

The gist of this: You need to indicate somehow that you want only a specific condition to print out a destructor message.

I also added in the delete[] var_name because that should be in the destructor if you're calling a destructor (only if the array is dynamically allocated, otherwise a nondynamically won't need the delete operator).

[Exculibar]

@Kevin2341
Thank you, i'll send you the code because i won't share it in public please read it :)

Can you please enable private messages so i can message you ?

[booradley60]

The destructor gets invoked for each object that must be destroyed. If you have 5 objects in your array, then you're going to get 5 destructor calls when you delete the array. If you only want 1 print, then you'll have to move the print out of the destructor and up to where the delete is called on the array.

std::cout << "Good bye" << endl;
delete[] arrayofObjects;

[Exculibar]

Thank you @booradley60
i sent you the code so you can exactly know my problem :)

[booradley60]

I won't be able to look over it for a couple of hours. You should post it in the thread so others may help you. Is there any reason you don't want to post the code?

[Exculibar]

I took hours writing it, and i won't my friends steel it :D
you know "google" :D
i just need to fix that destructor thing so i can run it very well

[Kevin2341]

Remessage me Exculibar. I only hop on these forums every now and then, so I never had anyone PM me before. I'm only in my third semester of C++ so I can't guarantee I'll know what's going on in your code (hence a beginner being in a beginners forum, who knew?!)

[Exculibar]

Thanks anyway mate, at least u r trying to help :)

[D80DSL3A]

Will this work for you?

~Person()
{
    static bool firstTime = true;
    if( firstTime )
    {
         cout << "Good bye " << name << endl;
        firstTime  = false;
    }
}

[Exculibar]

@fun2code, Working like a charm!! thank you mate
Genius way :D, im sure there's another way editing my code but it require u to read the whole code and takes a lot of time but this is a great way to fix this problem :D

1 more thing, it doesnt print Good bye (name) in the last statement
it prints
statement
Good bye (name)
statement
how to make it the last one ?

[D80DSL3A]

Not sure I understand. Do you mean that "Good bye (name)" should display only when the last instance of a Person is destroyed?

If so, then one method would be to add a static int instanceCount; variable to your Person class. Initialize it to 0, increment it in every constructor, decrement it in the destructor, then print your message when instanceCount == 0. This isn't bulletproof though. You could make it fail by creating more instances of Person after destroying all current ones.

You have created a bit of a tricky problem with your requirement.

[Exculibar]

@fun2code unfortunately i can't add new members as im forced to write the code with given classes and given members by my teacher

ill pm u the code so u can take a look on it :)
thank you so much for ur great help!

[D80DSL3A]

Maybe the cout << "Good bye " << name << endl; code belongs in ~Student(), not ~Person(). Call getName() though since name is private in the base Person class.
I say get rid of that global variable string StuName;.

[Exculibar]

when i removed the string StuName
it prints the teacher name not the student name
and still the same problem
Student name isnt the last message

sample output of 2 courses:

You fail in Math
Good bye Exculibar
You fail in C++

what i need is

You fail in Math
You fail in C++
Good bye Exculibar

P.S Exculibar is the student name that inserted in the main
The destructor ~Person(): Print “ GoodBye “ and his name (that's what is written in the assignment provided by the teacher