Question

In my C++ project I have provided an option to take a backup of the files that are created to store the records, which takes the backup of files in a user given path by creating a folder in that Directory. The code for the same is as follows:

void backup()
{
 char a[40],c[40],b[40];
 product p1;
 clrscr();
 ifstream fp1("products.dat", ios::binary);
 ifstream fp2("purchase.dat",ios::binary);
 ifstream fp3("sales.dat",ios::binary);
 if(fp1==NULL || fp2==NULL || fp3==NULL)
 {
  cout<<"\n\tError-No or Incomplete Database...";
 }
 else
 {
  cout<<d_line;
  cout<<"\t\t\t       Database backup";
  cout<<"\n\t\t\t       -------- ------";
  cout<<line;
  cout<<"\n\tEnter the Directory in which you want to create backup:";
  gets(a);
  strcpy(b,a);
  strcpy(c,a);
  strcat(a,"/backup_b");
  strcat(b,"/backup_b");
  strcat(c,"/backup_b");
  mkdir(a);
  strcat(a,"/products.dat");
  strcat(b,"/purchase.dat");
  strcat(c,"/sales.dat");
  ofstream fp1_t(a, ios::binary | ios::trunc);
  ofstream fp2_t(b, ios::binary | ios::trunc);
  ofstream fp3_t(c, ios::binary | ios::trunc);

  if(fp1_t==NULL || fp2_t==NULL ||fp3_t==NULL)
  {
   cout<<"\n\n\tError During creating backup...\n";
  }
  else
  {
   while(!fp1.eof())
   {
    fp1.read((char *) &p1,sizeof(struct product));
    if(fp1.fail())
    {
     break;
    }
    else
    {
     fp1_t.write((char *) &p1,sizeof(struct product));
    }
   }
   while(!fp2.eof())
   {
    fp2.read((char *) &p1,sizeof(struct product));
    if(fp2.fail())
    {
     break;
    }
    else
    {
     fp2_t.write((char *) &p1,sizeof(struct product));
    }
   }
   while(!fp3.eof())
   {
    fp3.read((char *) &p1,sizeof(struct product));
    if(fp3.fail())
    {
     break;
    }
    else
    {
     fp3_t.write((char *) &p1,sizeof(struct product));
    }
   }
   fp1_t.close();
   fp2_t.close();
   fp3_t.close();
  }
  fp1.close();
  fp2.close();
  fp3.close();
  cout<<line;
  cout<<"\n\tBackup Created Successfully...";
 }
 cout<<line<<conti;
 getch();
}

I want to know, is there a more efficient way to create a folder in C++ than what I am doing?

Answer 1

Well there are certainly more platform-independent ways of doing this, and more type-safe ways. Try boost filesystem.