Hi, I'm trying to create a form for entering data

[SidneyT123]

I am very new to C++ and I've spent three days scouring the internet and testing different ways of getting this done, but I cannot find the answer.

I'm trying to get the program to display the fields that I want with half of them on the left side and half on the right side. All the fields need to be displayed at once, not after entering information. I also want to be able to enter the information directly below each field. I want it to look like this:

                                  ***************
                                  *     Header         *
                                  *  Personal Data  *
                                  ***************
First Name:                                                         Last Name:
<Information to be entered>                                        <Information>
Address:                                                            Phone:
<Information>                                                      <Information>
Email:                                                              Sex:    
<Information>                                                      <Information>
Age:                                                                Department:
<Information>                                                      <Information>
                                          

I realize that the header is displayed wrongly, I can't seem to fix it, but the rest of the output is displayed how I want the program to look.
Any help would be much appreciated!

[Darkmaster]

don't know if i understood that right. you first want to print:
First Name: Last Name:
<Information to be entered> <Information>
Address: Phone:
<Information> <Information>
Email: Sex:
<Information> <Information>
Age: Department:
<Information> <Information>

and then add each information, by selecting the according field?

if that's the case, you can't do that with c++. however you could write First Name = ... in the command prompt.
if you really want to select the fields, I'd create a GUI

[SidneyT123]

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <iomanip>



using namespace std;
int main () {
	string first_name;
	string last_name;
	string address;
	int phone;
	string email;
	char sex;
	int age;
	string class1;

	
	cout <<setw(52)<<"*************************" <<endl;
	cout <<setw(52)<<"*       Header          *" << endl;
	cout <<setw(52)<<"*  Personal Information *" <<endl;
	cout <<setw(52)<<"*************************" <<endl;
	cout <<setiosflags (ios::left)<<setw(20)<< "First Name:"<<setiosflags (ios::right)<<setw(60)<<"Last Name:\n"; 
    cin >>first_name;
	cout<< "\t \t \t \t \t \t \t \t     "; /I tried using tab spaces here to move where the information is input the last name, it moves, but it skips a line, which is not what I want
	cin >>last_name;
	
	cout<<setiosflags(ios::left)<< "Address:"<<setiosflags (ios::right)<<setw(68)<<"Phone:\n";

	cout<<setiosflags(ios::left)<<"Email:"<<setiosflags (ios::right)<<setw(68)<<"Sex:\n";

	cout <<setiosflags(ios::left)<<"Age:"<<setiosflags (ios::right)<<setw(77) <<"Department:\n";

	system ("PAUSE");
	return 0;
}

It's not very much

[SidneyT123]

I don't need to be able to select the fields, just be able to enter information below them. For example after the fields have displayed, I enter the first name, hit enter, enter the last name and so on.
Is that possible to do in the command prompt?

[Darkmaster]

like this ?

cout << "enter first name";
cin >> firstname;
etc...


and you are missing a "/" in line 26 to start your comment

[Darkmaster]

think i get your problem now. after you enter the first name you start in the next line, but you want to write the last name in the same line too. right?

[SidneyT123]

I get it to output the first name and the last name on the same line, but I can't get it to output all the fields and then allow me to input the data below each field.

[whitenite1]

@SidneyT123

Maybe this will help. It uses a gotoXY() function to place the input cursor at the location you want.

// Data Form.cpp : main project file.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <Windows.h>

using namespace std;


HANDLE console = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE); // For gotoXY() function
COORD CursorPosition;

void gotoXY(int x, int y);

int main ()
{
	string first_name;
	string last_name;
	string address;
	string email;
	string class1;
	int phone;
	int age;
	char sex;
		
	gotoXY(30,2);
	cout << "*************************";
	gotoXY(30,3);
	cout << "*       Header          *";
	gotoXY(30,4);
	cout << "*  Personal Information *";
	gotoXY(30,5);
	cout << "*************************";

	gotoXY(10,10);
	cout << "First Name:";
	gotoXY(40,10);
	cout << "Last Name:";
	gotoXY(10,13);
	cout << "Address:";
	gotoXY(40,13);
	cout << "Email:";
	gotoXY(10,16);
	cout << "Phone:";
	gotoXY(40,16);
	cout << "Sex: [M] [F]";
	gotoXY(10,19);
	cout << "Age:";
	gotoXY(40,19);
	cout << "Department:";

    gotoXY(10,11);
	cout << "_\b";
	cin >>first_name;

	gotoXY(40,11);
	cout << "_\b";
	cin >>last_name;
	cin.ignore();

	gotoXY(10,14);
	cout << "_\b";
	getline(cin, address); // So a space between address number and street name, stays as one input

	gotoXY(40,14);
	cout << "_\b";
	cin >> email;
	cin.ignore();

	gotoXY(10,17);
	cout << "_\b";
	cin >> phone;

	gotoXY(40,17);
	cout << "_\b";
	cin >> sex;

	gotoXY(10,20);
	cout << "_\b";
	cin >> age;

	gotoXY(40,20);
	cout << "_\b";
	getline(cin, class1);
	cin.ignore();

	system ("PAUSE");
	return 0;
}

void gotoXY(int x, int y) 
{ 

	CursorPosition.X = x; 
	CursorPosition.Y = y; 
	SetConsoleCursorPosition(console,CursorPosition);
}

[SidneyT123]

Thank you SO much!
I saw the gotoXY function but I could not understand how to get it to work.
Why did you have to use getline commands for some and not others?
Also, is the cin.ignore() for ignoring whitespace?
I'm a beginner at programming obviously, sorry if the answer to any of these was obvious.
Thanks again to everyone that tried to help!

[whitenite1]

@SidneyT123

Why did you have to use getline commands for some and not others?

I put it on lines that would most likely have an input that would contain a space. Otherwise, each time a space is encountered, the next input request would use it as data. Example, for address, you would type the house number, a space, then street name. Even the street name may contain a space, like 'Main Street'. So, without the 'getline', address would contain the house number, then email would contain street name, and if the street name has a space in it, then phone would try to contain the rest of the street name, except phone is an int, and the street name, a string. Either the program crashes, or you'll get some really weird data.

Also, is the cin.ignore() for ignoring whitespace?

No, I was using the cin.ignore() to prevent the next input from accepting the return value from the previous input. May not have been really needed, but it couldn't hurt.

I'm a beginner at programming obviously, ...

Don't worry about it. We all started somewhere. I've only really been using C++ for about 2 years. It won't take too long, and a lot of the ins and outs of the language becomes a lot clearer for you. And then pretty soon, it'll be us asking you how to get our program over obstacles.

Thanks again

You're very welcome..

[Stormhawk]

Thanks for the new idea for some practice. This is how I went about doing it. Honestly there is so many ways you can write this up so choose which one you feel is best or take a little bit of everyones.

Note: I didn't add the code to write to text files yet I will update it tomorrow with the addition for all of those that want to see.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;
/* This data structure called struct add acts like a database and stores the personal information
** This information will then be save to a binary or text file to be opened later***/
	struct add {
		string fname;
		string lname;
		string address;
		string phone;
		string email;
		string sex;
		int age;
		string department;
	}account;

	/*A void function that displays the information to the viewer. 
	It is a void function because it will not return back a value 
	to later be used or displayed. Also all information display 
	is taken from the data structure*/
	void printAccount (){
		
		cout<<"****************\n";
		cout<<"*    Header    *\n";
		cout<<"* Personal Data*\n";
		cout<<"****************\n";

		cout<<"First name:\t"<<"Last name:\n";
		cout<<account.fname<<"\t"<<account.lname<<"\n";
		cout<<"Address:\t\t\t\t\t"<<"Phone\n";
		cout<<account.address<<"\t"<<account.phone<<"\n";
		cout<<"Email:\t\t\t\t"<<"Sex:\n";
		cout<<account.email<<"\t"<<account.sex<<"\n";
		cout<<"Age:\t"<<"Department:\n";
		cout<<account.age<<"\t"<<account.department<<"\n";

	}

	// This function takes the personal information and sends it off to the data structure
	void AccountInfo(){

		cout<<" Please type your first and last name.";
		cin>>account.fname;
		cin>>account.lname;
		cout<<" Please type in your address.";
		getline(cin,account.address);
		cout<<"Please type in your Phone Number.";
		getline(cin,account.phone);
		cout<<"please type in your email.";
		getline(cin,account.email);
		cout<<" Please type in your gender.";
		cin>>account.sex;
		cout<<" Please type in your age.";
		cin>>account.age;
		cout<<" Please type in your Department";
		cin>>account.department;
	}


int main () {

	string mystr;
	int UpAcc;
	// Introduction screen
	Repeat:
	cout<<"Please choose one of the following choices by typing\n in the number infront of the choices:\n\n";
	cout<<"1.Create a new account.\n";
	cout<<"2.Update Account.\n";
	cout<<"3.Delete exist account\n";
	cout<<"4.Display Current information\n";
	cout<<"5.Leave Account\n";
	cin>>UpAcc;
	
	// These if statements allow the user to select an option
	if(UpAcc==1){
		int compl;
		cout<<" You have decided to create a new account";
		AccountInfo();
		cout<<"Would you like to see the completed form?\n";
		cout<<"1. Yes";
		cout<<"2. No";
		cin>>compl;
		if(compl==1){
			printAccount();
		}
		else {
			cout<<"Thank you for completing the form";
			cin.ignore();
			cin.get();
			exit(0);
		}
	}
	else if (UpAcc==2) {
	}
	else if (UpAcc==3){
	}
	else if (UpAcc==4){
	}
	else if (UpAcc==5){
		string leave;
		cout<<"Are you sure you wish to Leave?\n If you do wish to leave please type\"yes\" or if not please type \"no\"";
		cin>>leave;
		if(leave=="yes") {
			exit (0);
		}
		else {
			goto Repeat;
		}
	}
	else {

		cout<<" I am sorry but you have type an incorrect number. You must choose between 1-5 please try again.\n\n";
		goto Repeat;
	}

	cin.ignore();
	cin.get();
	return 0;
}

There is only 1 problem with this code and that is something really simple to fix just that I don't have to time for it. After you are asked for your first and last name. the program skips address for some silly reason.

I hope you have fun getting it to work.

[SidneyT123]

@whitenite1
Those cin.ignore() commands were necessary indeed, the program kept moving the "_" to the next input location without them!

I added a section to the program for it to display all entered information in a list like so:

first name: *firstname*
last name: *lastname*
etc.

While doing this I discovered that when displaying the department information, two words would not show regardless of what I did. Using the getline command nothing is output for department. Using a cin command only the characters before the space are displayed.

If it matters here is the code I have for displaying the data:

        cout <<"First Name:"<<first_name<<"\n\n";
	cout <<"Last Name:" <<last_name<<"\n\n";
	cout <<"Address:"<<address<<"\n\n";
	cout <<"Email:"<<email<<"\n\n";
	cout <<"Phone:"<<phone<<"\n\n";
	cout <<"Sex:"<<sex<<"\n\n";
	cout <<"Age:"<<age<<"\n\n";
	cout <<"Class:"<<class1<<"\n\n";

@Stormhawk
Thank you for that alternate approach to doing it, I'll be sure to have a look at it.

[whitenite1]

@SidneyT123

Add cin.sync(); after the cin >> age; and you should then be able to input the class1 string, and have it printed to screen, afterwards. I tried it, and it worked for me. Hopefully, it'll do the same for you..