Dating service program in c++ using text file, and linked lists

[weebies]

Hello, I'm VERY new to programming, and I'm working on my second c++ program right now. Its a dating service where you read data from an input .txt file and store into a linked list, so then you can search, and modify the data. The text file is in this format:

M Dr.Gregory House,237-8732 7 Vicodin,Guitar, Piano,Motorcycl es,Television,F ood,Whiteboards .endl; (all on a single line).

First, is the sex (M or F), then the person's name, phone number, number of interests, then a list of their interests (with commas between each one, and a period at the end.) and then if they have a match you put their name there and put endl; after.

The main problem I'm having is setting up the link list, I have no idea how to get it to read those as variables in the text, I know you have to use delimiters, but I can't quite figure out how to use them. You also have to keep two lists, one for males, and one for females in the output file. How do I do this? Is that a double linked list?

Any help would really be appreciated. Thank you!

Here is the code so far (I know it isn't much..)

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <limits>
#include <cstring>

using namespace std;

//Functions
void echoPrint();
void newClient();
void unMatch();
void printMatch();
void printFree();
void quitAsking();
void processing();

//Initialize Variables
string command = ""; // User command answer
std::string clientSex;
std::string clientName;
std::string clientPhone;
std::string clientNumInt;
std::string clientInterests;
std::string match;


ifstream inputfile;
char Clients[] = "Clients.mf.txt"; // Input file
ofstream outputfile;
char Dates[] = "Dates.out.txt"; // Output file


int main(){

inputfile.open(Clients, ios::in);
//If input file can't open, read out this
if (!inputfile) {
   cerr << "Can't open input file " << Clients << endl; 
   exit(1);
}

outputfile.open(Dates, ios::out);
 // If output file can't open, read out this
if (!outputfile){
	cerr << "Can't open output file " << Dates << endl;
	exit(1);
}

	//Questions & command list
	cout << "Hello, how may I help you today?" << endl;
	cout << endl;
	cout << "Here are a list of commands I can do:" << endl;
	cout << endl;
	cout << "NEWCLIENT- Add a new client to my database" << endl;
	cout << "UNMATCH- Remove client's current match" << endl;
	cout << "PRINTMATCH- Print a list of all matched clients" << endl;
	cout << "PRINTFREE- Prints the names and numbers of all clients without matches" << endl;
	cout << "QUIT- This will exit the program." << endl;
	cout << endl;
	cout << "Please choose a command from above." << endl;

	//Sends program to processing function
	processing(); 

do{
	cout << "What would you like to do now? Please enter another command." << endl;
	// Sends program to processing function
	processing();
}while(command == "QUIT" || command == "quit");

}// Closes main


void processing(){
do{
	   cin >> command;

	    if (command == "NEWCLIENT" || command == "newclient"){
				newClient();
	   }else if
	   (command == "UNMATCH" || command == "unmatch"){
				unMatch();
	   }else if
	   (command == "PRINTMATCH" || command == "printmatch"){
				printMatch();
	    }else if
	    (command == "PRINTFREE" || command == "printfree"){
				printFree();
		}else if
		(command == "QUIT" || command == "quit"){
				quitAsking();
		}else 
		{
			cout <<"****ERROR**** Please choose a command from above." << endl;
			// Only allows error message to print once
			cin.ignore( numeric_limits<int>::max() , '\n' );
		}
}while(!(command == "NEWCLIENT" || command == "newclient" || command == "UNMATCH" || command == "unmatch" ||
		 command == "PRINTMATCH" || command == "printmatch" || command == "PRINTFREE" || command == "printfree" ||
		 command == "QUIT" || command == "quit"));

// ECHO PRINTING HERE
	
}// Closes processing

			
void newClient(){

	//Client's Sex
	cout << "Please enter client's sex, F for female, M for male." << endl; // Ask for client's sex
	cin >> clientSex;
	
	//Client's Name
	cout << "Please enter client's name, no more than 20 characters." << endl; // Ask for client's name
	cin >> clientName;

	//Client's Phone
	cout << "Please enter client's phone number in XXX-XXXX format." << endl; // Ask for client's phone number
	cin >> clientPhone;

	//Client's Number of Interests
	cout << "Please enter number of client's interests (Can have up to 10)." << endl;// Ask for number of interests
	cin >> clientNumInt;

	//Client Interests
	cout << "Please enter client's interests. Place ',' between each (10 characters each) and a '.' after the last one." << endl;
	cin >> clientInterests;

}// Closes NEWCLIENT


void unMatch(){
char unClientName;


	cout << "Please enter the client's name you would like to unmatch." << endl;
	cin >> unClientName;

 

}

void printMatch(){}

void printFree(){}

void quitAsking(){}

[weebies]

Please, any help at all?

[weaknessforcats]

Since you are using the C++ Standard Library, there is a linked list set up for you already. That means you don't need to design your own linked list.

Read up on #include <list>.

Next, the linked list does not read data. It just stores data in the order received.

So, write a function to read a record from your text file and have the function return it as a std::string.

Then, check the beginning of the string for M or F. Hint: std::string is implemented as an array, so [0] is the first element. If that element is M add the string to the male linked list. Otherwise, add it the female linked list.

Do the above two steps in a loop until the file is processed.

To add to a linked list:

//create your linked lists:
list<string> Mlist;    //male list
list<string> Flist;    /female list;
string str;
//code here to put a value in str;

//then add the string to a linked list:

if str[0] == "M"
     Mlist.push_back(str];     //adds string str to the end of the list

OK. Enough hints...