Question

I’m almost finished with my program, but I have one problem that I can’t seem to solve. How do I get the minimum spending?

My lecturer gave me the task:

The company you work at receives a monthly report in a text format. The report contains the
following information.

• Department Name
• Head of Department Name
• Month
• Minimum spending of the month
• Maximum spending of the month

Your program is to obtain the name of the input file from the user. Implement a structure to represent the data:

Once the file has been read into your program, print out the following statistics for the user:

• List which department has the minimum spending per month by month
• List which department has the minimum spending by month by month

Write the information into a file called “MaxMin.txt”

Then do a processing so that the Department Name, Head of Department Name, Minimum
spending and Maximum spending are written to separate files based on the month, eg Jan, Feb,
March and so on.

Here is the text file I was given to work with:

Engineering Bill Jan 2000 15000
IT  Jack Jan 300 20000
HR  Jill Jan 1500 10000

Engineering  Bill Feb 5000 45000
IT  Jack Feb 4500 7000
HR  Jill Feb 5600 60000

Engineering  Bill Mar 5000 45000
IT  Jack Mar 4500 7000
HR  Jill Mar 5600 60000

Engineering  Bill Apr 5000 45000
IT  Jack Apr 4500 7000
HR  Jill Apr 5600 60000

Engineering Bill May 2000 15000
IT  Jack May 300 20000
HR  Jill May 1500 10000

Engineering Bill Jun 2000 15000
IT  Jack Jun 300 20000
HR  Jill Jun 1500    10000

and here’s the c++ code I’ve written

ue#include <iostream>
#include <fstring>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

struct Record 
{
 string depName;
 string head;
 string month;
 float max;
 float min;
 string name;
}
myRecord[19];

int main () 
{
string line;
ofstream minmax,jan,feb,mar,apr,may,jun;
char a[50];
char b[50];
int i = 0,j,k;
float temp;
//float maxjan=myRecord[0].max,maxfeb=myRecord[0].max,maxmar=myRecord[0].max,maxapr=myRecord[0].max,maxmay=myRecord[0].max,maxjune=myRecord[0].max;
 float minjan=myRecord[1].min,minfeb=myRecord[1].min,minmar=myRecord[1].min,minapr=myRecord[1].min,minmay=myRecord[1].min,minjune=myRecord[1].min;
float maxjan=0,maxfeb=0,maxmar=0,maxapr=0,maxmay=0,maxjune=0;
 //float minjan=0,minfeb=0,minmar=0,minapr=0,minmay=0,minjune=0;
string maxjanDep,maxfebDep,maxmarDep,maxaprDep,maxmayDep,maxjunDep;
string minjanDep,minfebDep,minmarDep,minaprDep,minmayDep,minjunDep;
 cout<<"Enter file name: ";
cin>>a;
ifstream myfile (a);
//minmax.open ("MaxMin.txt");

if (myfile.is_open()){
 while (! myfile.eof()){
  myfile>>myRecord[i].depName>>myRecord[i].head>>myRecord[i].month>>myRecord[i].min>>myRecord[i].max;
  cout << myRecord[i].depName<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].head<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].month<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].min<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].max<<endl;
i++;
}
myfile.close();
}
else{ 
 cout << "Unable to open file"<<endl;}

cout<<"Enter file name: ";
cin>>b;
ifstream myfile1 (b);
 minmax.open ("MaxMin.txt");
 jan.open ("Jan.txt");
 feb.open ("Feb.txt");
 mar.open ("March.txt");
 apr.open ("April.txt");
 may.open ("May.txt");
 jun.open ("Jun.txt");
if (myfile1.is_open()){
 while (! myfile1.eof()){
  myfile1>>myRecord[i].depName>>myRecord[i].head>>myRecord[i].month>>myRecord[i].min>>myRecord[i].max;
if (myRecord[i].month == "Jan"){
jan<< myRecord[i].depName<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].head<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].month<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].min<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].max<<endl;

if (maxjan< myRecord[i].max){
  maxjan=myRecord[i].max;
  maxjanDep=myRecord[i].depName;}

  for (k=1;k<=3;k++){
  for (j=0;j<2;j++){
   if (myRecord[j].min>myRecord[j+1].min){
temp=myRecord[j].min;
   myRecord[j].min=myRecord[j+1].min;
   myRecord[j+1].min=temp;
   minjanDep=myRecord[j].depName;
   }}}
}
if (myRecord[i].month == "Feb"){
 feb<< myRecord[i].depName<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].head<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].month<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].min<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].max<<endl;
 if (maxfeb< myRecord[i].max){
 maxfeb=myRecord[i].max;
 maxfebDep=myRecord[i].depName;}

for (k=1;k<=3;k++){
  for (j=0;j<2;j++){
   if (myRecord[j].min>myRecord[j+1].min){
temp=myRecord[j].min;
   myRecord[j].min=myRecord[j+1].min;
   myRecord[j+1].min=temp;
   minfebDep=myRecord[j+1].depName;
   }}}

}

if (myRecord[i].month == "Mar"){
 mar<< myRecord[i].depName<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].head<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].month<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].min<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].max<<endl;
 if (maxmar< myRecord[i].max){
maxmar=myRecord[i].max;
maxmarDep=myRecord[i].depName;}
 if (myRecord[i].min<minmar){
  minmar=myRecord[i].min;
minmarDep=myRecord[i].depName;
 }}

if (myRecord[i].month == "Apr"){
 apr<< myRecord[i].depName<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].head<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].month<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].min<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].max<<endl;
 if (maxapr< myRecord[i].max){
 maxapr=myRecord[i].max;
 maxaprDep=myRecord[i].depName;}

 if (minapr>myRecord[i].min){
  minapr=myRecord[i].min;
  minaprDep=myRecord[i].min;}
}

if (myRecord[i].month == "May"){
 may<<myRecord[i].depName<<myRecord[i].head<<myRecord[i].month<<myRecord[i].min<<myRecord[i].max<<endl;
 if (maxmay< myRecord[i].max){
 maxmay=myRecord[i].max;
 maxmayDep=myRecord[i].depName;}

 if (minmay>myRecord[i].min){
  minmay=myRecord[i].min;
  minmayDep=myRecord[i].depName;}    
}

if (myRecord[i].month == "Jun"){
 jun<< myRecord[i].depName<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].head<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].month<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].min<<"\t"<<myRecord[i].max<<endl;
 if (maxjune< myRecord[i].max){
 maxjune=myRecord[i].max;
 maxjunDep=myRecord[i].depName;}

 if (minjune>myRecord[i].min){
  minjune=myRecord[i].min;
  minjunDep=myRecord[i].depName;}
}

i++;

myfile.close();
}
minmax<<"department that has maximum spending at jan "<<maxjanDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has minimum spending at jan "<<minjanDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has maximum spending at Feb "<<maxfebDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has minimum spending at Feb "<<minfebDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has maximum spending at March "<<maxmarDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has minimum spending at March "<<minmarDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has maximum spending at April "<<maxaprDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has minimum spending at April "<<minaprDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has maximum spending at May "<<maxmayDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has minimum spending at May "<<minmayDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has maximum spending at June "<<maxjunDep<<endl;
minmax<<"department that has minimum spending at June "<<minjunDep<<endl;
}

else{
 cout << "Unable to open file"<<endl;}
}

Answer 1

My first suggestion is that the prof wants a list of Record – rather than hardcoding in 19, use a vector and fill it as you go.

vector<Record> records;

My second suggestion is to use a loop to process each month.

vector<string> months;
months.push_back("Jan");
months.push_back("Feb");

for (int i = 0; i < months.size(); ++i) {
  string month = months[i];
  ReadInMonthBudget(&records, month); // Then use a function to read in each month file. 
}

Then you can work on collecting your stats:

for (int i = 0; i < months.size(); ++i) {
  string month = months[i];
  cout << "Min spender in month " << month << ": " << FindMinSpenderInMonth(records, month);
}

Using functions will make your code much easier to understand (and write), because it breaks the problem down into much smaller chunks that are easier to solve.

Start by getting it working, then improve on it. If this is a college level class, your professor may want you to come up with a better than O(n^2) solution.