Two C++ Qs

[Asuna]

OK, two c++ questions!

Question 1:

I know that you can clear a screen in Q-Basic with:

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CLS

but... after looking through the tut for C++ that shamir gave me, I can't seem to find anyway of clearing the screen. Is there a command to clear the screen at all?

See, what I'm trying to do is to have a Main Menu (which is only syntax, no pictures (yet...) and when you enter the number to start a new game, it clears the screen and brings up the character creation screen (again, will only be syntax now...).

Question 2:

How do you get music to play as background music. I have a file that I want to play when you're on the Main Menu (title.mid), but how do I do that?

Here is what I tried:

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#include <iostream>

#define tmusic 'title.mid'

int main ()
{
cout << tmusic
return 0;
}

But that doesn't work (I got the idea from my short experience with DM (that Build Your Own Net Dream (BYOND) code)). I don't think the tut had anything on sounds (the only sound I can make is the alert beep ("\a"). And is there a way to have it loop until you goto the character creation screen?

maybe:

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int tmusic ()
{
while (curmenu == 1) {
//then the code to play the music (whatever it is)
}
}

[shamir]

is it sops to be a hm?

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# include <iostream.d> 

[Asuna]

is it sops to be a hm?

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# include <iostream.d> 

I don't really understand what you posted (srry )

sops = ?
hm = ?

[shamir]

never mind sorry dude

[Asuna]

Don't worry about it.

Do you know of a way to have music play in the program and how to clear the screen?

[Stavros]

Alright, well I can answer Question 1 and it's really simple:

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system("cls");

You are welcome. I'm not sure how to make music play. I'll ask one of my friends. I think one of them should know.

[Swan]

Just as some general points:

Think very carefully about your variables. You wanna be able to pinpoint exactly (or thereabouts) where your errors are coming from, so think about using static local variables as opposed to global variables.

Although there is nothing wrong with global variables per se, the fact that they are used throughout the whole of your program can make it akward to identify where they are causing the problem.

Static variables are easy and their syntax is as follows:

static (data type) variable name;

so

static int grades;

If your learning C++ for the first can i make a suggestion? Try Visual Studio 2005 its fantastic. Literal strings are colured red, code words in blue, and you dont need to concern yourself with messing around with the function headers, you can omit the .h

One final thing that springs to mind that may cause problems, is remember that because C++ is a logical program, and thus reads functions from top to bottom, you must actually declare functions after the main function.

So, every C++ program MUST have a int main (void) function, else it wont work. However, if you try and declare a function before the main function you will get nasty errors. This is true of all C++ compilers.

So, to beat this, use "prototyping". This simple means you declare the function or functions along with the header files.

simply declare the function with the header files, and include a semicolon at the end.

This just intended to save you work in the long run, if you can get to grips of those bits of C++ you will find your work a helluva of a lot easier.

[/code]

[Asuna]

i'm not too sure that i declare other functions after the main function if it reads top to bottom. if you want to call a function in your main function, unless it was declared above the main function, it would not know what function you are calling. heres an example.

wrong way

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int main ()
{
     \\main function shit
      int z
      z = funct2 (5,3);
      return 0;
}

int funct2 (int a, int b)
{
       int r;
       r=a+b;
       return (r);
}

right way

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int funct2 (int a, int b)
{
       int r;
       r=a+b;
       return (r);
}

int main ()
{
     \\main function shit
      int z
      z = funct2 (5,3);
      return 0;
}

[Stavros]

You have that backwards, Asuna.

I was taught that the main() function is always the top function. All other functions (no matter what order) go below.

Static variables (variables that the whole function can read) go above main() and header files go above the world variables.

A visual example:

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#include <iostream> //Header

using namespace std;

char char1 = " "; //"World Variable" (I forget what my teacher called it)

int main()
{
//Insert main function of program here
}

int funct1()
{
//Insert [optional] fuction here
}

...

[Asuna]

really? the tutorial i'm reading has this:

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// function example
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int addition (int a, int b)
{
  int r;
  r=a+b;
  return (r);
}

int main ()
{
  int z;
  z = addition (5,3);
  cout << "The result is " << z;
  return 0;
}

the url: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/functions.html

[Nerdz]

the other way is to do

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int funct1(int a, int b);

int main()
{
   std::cout << funct1(3,4);
}

int funct1(int a, int b)
{
   return a + b;
}