Filter binary file to ASCii text using fstream

[mit6488]

This is a homework assignment, and I'm not looking for anyone to do my homework, but I have looked everywhere on the internet, but I guess I just don't know where to look.

I have a file 'quizzes.dat' which, when opened in notepad looks like this:

"Bart Simpson K A F Ralph Wiggum # < , Lisa Simpson d b [ Martin Prince c b c Milhouse Van Houten P W O "

all on one line.

My task is to take this binary file and output a readable text file using fstream and the read/ write functions.

The code I have so far is fairly straight forward:

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

bool openInFile (ifstream &, char []);
bool openOutFile (ofstream &, char []);

struct student
{
	char name[25];
	int exam1;
	int exam2;
	int exam3;
};

student bclass[5];

int main()
{

	ifstream input;
	openInFile (input, "quizzes.dat");
	
	ofstream output;
	openOutFile (output, "quizzes.txt");
	
	output << "=================================================\n";


	while (!input.eof())
	{
		for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
		{
		input.read((char*)&bclass[i], sizeof(bclass[i]));
		
		output << bclass[i].name << ", " << bclass[i].exam1 << ", "
			   << bclass[i].exam2 << ", " << bclass[i].exam3 << endl;

		}
	}
	
	output << "=================================================\n";

	
	
	input.close();
	output.close();

	return 0;
}

// Opens and checks input file
bool openInFile (ifstream &in, char filename[])
{
	in.open(filename, ios::in | ios::binary);
	
	if (in.fail())
	{
		cout << "ERROR: Cannot open quizzes.dat\n";
		exit(0);
	}
	return in.fail();
}

// Opens and checks output file
bool openOutFile (ofstream &out, char filename[])
{
	out.open(filename, ios::out);
	
	if (out.fail())
	{
		cout << "ERROR: Cannot open quizzes.txt\n";
		exit(0);
	}
	return out.fail();
}

Firstly, is this the best way to read the binary file? Or is it not a good idea to make an array of the struct. On our assignment we are told the binary file follows the pattern of the struct, one name of 25 characters, and 3 int quiz grades, with a total of 5 students.

Lastly the output I get in my text file is:
=================================================
Bart Simpson, 16640, 17920, 1818317312
ph Wiggum, 2883584, 1766588416, 1394631027
impson, 1291845632, 1769239137, 1917853806
ince, 1751935309, 1702065519, 1851872800
Houten, 0, 0, 0
=================================================


when it should look something like:
=================================================
Bart Simpson, 75, 65, 70
Ralpph Wiggum, 35, 60, 44
Lisa Simpson, 100, 98, 91
Martin Prince, 99, 98, 99
Milhouse Van Houten, 80, 87, 79
=================================================

When analyzing the dat file in notepad, I see that each name has 25 spaces allocated to it, and that the unreadable parts each have 4 spaces which I assume correlate to 4 bytes of an integer type.

My question is how do I convert that data to a readable text format, and why are the names getting cut off if the data does seem to follow the exact pattern as my struct? Please help!

[fg109]

I think you probably have the struct wrong. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it should be.

[mit6488]

Thankfully, I have one more class period on Monday before this assignment is due, I will have to talk to the instructor about it. I tried a variety of different structures of structs, without using the array and for loop, and just using a while loop to get one set of struct info at a time. That yielded similar results.