Classes and Linked Lists

[chmstry]

I'm writing a program that creates a linear linked list from information in a txt file. I won't write my actual code nor the actual homework assignment, but I'll create a similar scenario.

We have a file called "movies.txt" and it contains this information:
Ironman:2008
Thor:2011
Avengers:2012
Guardians of the Galaxy:2014

I create two classes: a class (Movie) that will manage the information of ONE movie, and a class (MovieList) that will manage the linear linked list of movies.

I also have a struct called "node" containing Movie data member and a pointer to the next node.

class Movie
{
    private:
        char * title;  //dynamically allocated
        int year;
    public:
        Movie();
        ~Movie();
        int createMovie(char * aTitle, int aYear)
        int readMovie(char * title, int & year);
        int copyMovie(Movie&);
}

struct node
{
    Movie aMovie;
    node * next;
}

class MovieList
{
    private:
        node * head;
    public:
        MovieList();
        ~MovieList();
        int insertMove(Movie & addMovie);
}

int Movie::readMovie(char * title, int & year)
{
    ifstream f;
    
    f.open("movies.txt");
    if(f){
        f.get(title, 50, ':');
        f.ignore(50, ':');  //ignore delimeter
        while(!f.eof()){
            f >> year;
            f.ignore(50, '\n');

        //read again in case more data
        f.get(title, 50, ':');
        f.ignore(50, ':');
        }
    }
    return 1;


int main()
{
    //temporary variables
    char title[100];
    int year;
  
    return 0;
}
}

I've done more coding, but this seems to be the wall. I can successfully read information from a file, but HOW do I then put what I've read into the Movie class's data members? I want to build a linked list of Movie.

OR how do I read directly into a node?

Any suggestions? I've been stuck on this for a few days.

[LB]

MovieList should provide you with a mechanism to either copy an existing Movie into a new element in the list, and/or it should provide a mechanism to allow you to access a Movie which is already in the list so you may modify it. Code which uses MovieList should have no idea that your node class even exists.

[chmstry]

Okay. I've been trying to figure that out. Well, in Movie I have the function int copyMovie(Movie&); where I attempt to copy an existing Movie and then call it in MovieList when I want to build. However, my homework code gives me a segmentation fault when I try to run it.

Example:

int Movie::copyMovie(Movie & source)
{
    //to avoid memory leak
    if(title)
        delete title;

    title = NULL;

    title = new char[strlen(source.title)+1];
    strcpy(title, source.title);

    year = source.year;
}


int MovieList::insertMovie(Movie & addMovie)
{
    if(!head)
    {
        head = new node;
        head->next = NULL;
        head->aMovie.copyMovie(addMovie);
    }
    return 1;
}

The purpose of the copyMovie function (what I want it to do) is copy the data that was read and then insert it within a node/list. Obviously, it's not working but I don't know how to proceed from there. I don't think I'm copying anything...

[LB]

You should implement a copy assignment operator instead of that copyMovie function. (Google for a few minutes to get an idea).