A few user input questions

[Humbaba]

int number;
char letter;

cout << "\nEnter a number\n";
cin >> number;

cout << "\nEnter a letter\n";
cin >> letter;
cout << "\nThanks!";

Let's say I had 5 of these questions lined up, it seems the user could just type something like "1 a 2 3 4" on the first question and fill them all out at once. Likewise, how do I stop the user from simply entering 'b' for the first question and skipping the number all-together?

[Ancient Dragon]

use a loop and validate user input

while(true)
{
   cout << "Enter a number\n";
   cin >> number;
   if( !cin.good() )
   {
        cin.clear();
        cin.ignore(1000,'\n');
        cout << "Error\n";
   }
   else
       break;
}

[Humbaba]

Well it works, but I don't really understand it.
How would I change it to only accept letters, or strings or whatever?

[Ancient Dragon]

Its called data validation. After input the program needs to check the variable's contents for correct characters. If incorrect characters are detected then display error.

[Dave Sinkula]

http://www.daniweb.com/tutorials/tutorial71858.html

[Humbaba]

http://www.daniweb.com/tutorials/tutorial71858.html

I ran through the tutorial and it simply shows getting numerical input for strings. My problem is my program crashed any time a letter is input for a cin >> int variable.

Ancient Dragon's code works, but I don't understand the code well enough to manipulate it into my program.

[Dave Sinkula]

My generic answer is to always read user input as a string. Where you are expecting a number, attempt to convert it. If the conversion is successful, great; otherwise, handle it however you choose.

The string conversion stuff may not be obvious right off the bat. My I'd recommend getting familiar with it rather than avoiding it.