Question

I wrote this function :

 void printDFS(pXml_Element root)
    {
    int i ;



    printf("< %s > \n", root->data->name);

    for ( i = 0 ; i < root->childrenList->num_of_items ; i++)
    {
        void*           voidElem;
        pXml_Element    currElem;


        voidElem  = getStructDataAtIndex(root->childrenList, i);
        if (!voidElem)
        {
            printf("error: couldn't get data.. \n");
            return;
        }

        currElem = (pXml_Element)voidElem;

        printDFS(currElem);

      }


    }

It runs like DFS search but I want to add spaces.

My DS is a tree where each node has children (I know the amount of them)
I run using deep search and printing my context but I don’t have spaces .
I want it to look like the XML format :

<node>
   <n1> 
   <n2>
      <o1>
      <o2>
  <n3>

like that.

I wrote this function as well :

  void printSpace(int numOfspaces)
       {
         while(numOfspaces > 0)
          {
             printf("  ");
             numOfspaces--;
         }
      }

but I still fail id doing that 🙁
can anyone help my with that> would love to get an explanation how to do it right…
thank you!

Answer 1

Basically, make a global or static variable to count the recursion depth, and increase it when you enter the function:

void printDFS(pXml_Element root)
{
   static int Depth=-1;
   ...

   Depth++;

Then, indent each line with the appropiate number of spaces:

printSpace(3*Depth);
printf("< %s > \n", root->data->name);

At the end of the function, decrease it again:

        printDFS(currElem);
    }
    Depth--;
}

EDIT: a threadsafe alternative would be an additional “Depth” parameter; you would simply pass “Depth+1” in your recursive call, and pass “0” for the intial call.

void printDFS(pXml_Element root, unsigned int Depth)
{
   ....
   printDFS(currElem,Depth+1);
   ...
}