NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/lang/c++-part2/14358

Text File | 1996-08-05 | 1.8 KB | 56 lines

Path: osf1.gmu.edu!rraffer1
From: [e-mail] (Ryan M Rafferty)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Bletcherous kludge!
Date: 29 Mar 1996 23:17:31 GMT
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
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I am trying to get the contents of a custom String class to be converted
into numeric data, ie float.  The String class consists of :

Buffer:  a null-terminated array of char

and several methods for common string stuff, including overloaded << and >>
operators.  The code listed below is the only method I've been able to come up
with that works, but it is really an awful hack that outputs the contents of
the String instance to a file and then reads it back in to do the conversion.

I tried creating an instance of iostream, inputting to it from the String
instance, and then outputting from it into a float variable, but it just
didn't work.  Any suggestions on how to do this the right way would be
greatly appreciated!

Ryan Rafferty

#include "String.h"

float String::Number() {

  float i = 0;

  // this conversion method is, in its current state, a HORRIBLE and
  // AWFUL kludge to convert the contents of a String instance to a
  // numeric type.  It doesn't do any error checking, but what's worse,
  // it USES A TEMPORARY FILE !!!! I'm so mad at myself!  But I can't
  // seem to be able to bend the will of the iostreams class to do what
  // I want!

  ofstream fout("./__temp");
  fout << Buffer;
  fout.close();
  ifstream fin("./__temp");
  fin >> i;
  fin.close();

  //      YECH!  A feeble attempt to hide my shame...
  //      execl("/bin/rm", "rm", "./__temp", (char *) 0);

  return i;
};