char function return

[aastephen]

//person class
class Person
{
//private:
public:

    char name[30];
    char type[20];
    char date[10];
    char id[10];
    Person(char pname[],char ptype[],char pdate[],char pid[]);
    void addPerson();
    void personDelete();
    char personFind(char pid[]); 
};

//this function find with id and return the name of the person

char Person::personFind(char pid[])
{
    fstream readFile;
    readFile.open("employee.txt",ios::in);

    if(readFile.fail())
    {
        cout<<"Cannot open file"<<endl;
        exit(1);
    }

    readFile>>id>>name>>type>>date;

    while(!readFile.eof())
    {
        if(id==pid)
        {
            return name;
            //break;
        }
    readFile>>id>>name>>type>>date;
    }
    readFile.close();
}

//main 
int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    Person *p=new Person("j","j","j","j");

    p->addPerson();
    cout<<endl;
    p->personFind("22");

    char ch;
    cin>>ch;

    return 0;
}

i got this error

Error   5   error C2440: 'return' : cannot convert from 'char [30]' to 'char'   c:\users\stephen\desktop\abc company\abc company\supermarket.cpp    91  

what is the sollution of this error please help
thank you

[Nick Evan]

In line 91 you say: return name; . Name is declared as char name[30] , so it's an array of 30 chars. But you've defined your function like this: char Person::personFind(char pid[]) so it can only return 1 char.

To solve the problem, I strongly suggest that you use std::string instead of char[].

example:

std::string something()
{
    return "this was returned by something";
}
int main()
{
    std::cout << something();
    return 0;
}

[aastephen]

In line 91 you say: return name; . Name is declared as char name[30] , so it's an array of 30 chars. But you've defined your function like this: char Person::personFind(char pid[]) so it can only return 1 char.

To solve the problem, I strongly suggest that you use std::string instead of char[].

example:

std::string something()
{
    return "this was returned by something";
}
int main()
{
    std::cout << something();
    return 0;
}

can we use string data type in c++ if i use that there is lot of errors

string name;

i think we cant use string data type in c++ pls gv an idea

tnx byee

[Nick Evan]

Did you #include <string> ?

[aastephen]

yes

[aastephen]

#include "SuperMarket.h"
#include <iostream>
#include<conio.h>
#include<fstream>
#include<string.h>
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<ctype.h>
#include<iomanip>

[aastephen]

any gv idea i wanna finish my project in two days pls

[aastephen]

hello help meeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[n1337]

ummm you could try changing the function to have return type pointer to char...

i.e.

//in the Person class...
[B]char*[/B] personFind(char pid[]);

//...

[B]char*[/B] Person::personFind(char pid[])
{
     //code goes here...
}

I am also worried that if you end up returning the name, you do not close the file...that is, your code never reaches the readFile.close() line (unless I'm missing something)...