Question

I have an object with a std::string field notes that allows a maximum of 100 chars. I need to write a C++ console interface (using IOStream) to let the user input these notes. All characters are allowed, including of course spaces.

What’s the best way of doing such thing?

Is there a way to let the user know how many characters are left?

EDIT: Also empty string should be allowed

Answer 1

Use std::string and std::getline.

You can display one hundred asterisks this way:

cout << "  " << string( 100, '*' ) << endl;
cout << "> ";  getline( cin, line );

then, with a sufficiently wide console window, the user can see how much space remains.