Question

typedef struct contact {    

char firstname [40];    
char lastname [40]; 
char address [100]; 
char phone[10];

}contact;

int main ()
{
FILE *pFile;   
contact entry = {"", "", "", ""};
int choice;
char cont = 5;  

pFile = fopen("C:\\contacts.txt", "w+");

if(!pFile){
    printf("File could not be open");
    return 1;
    }

printf("Choose a selection\n\n");
printf("1. Enter First Name\n");
printf("2. Enter Last Name\n");
printf("3. Enter Address\n");
printf("4. Enter Phone Number\n\n");
scanf( "%d", &choice);

while (choice = 1|2|3|4|cont){   
    if (choice = 1){
        printf ("First name: ");      
        fgets(entry.firstname, sizeof(entry.firstname),stdin); 
    }
    else if(choice = 2){
        printf ("Last name: ");   
        fgets(entry.lastname, sizeof(entry.lastname),stdin);      
    }
    else if(choice = 3){
        printf ("Address: ");     
        fgets(entry.address, sizeof(entry.address),stdin);  
    }
    else if (choice = 4){
        printf ("Phone number: ");    
        fgets(entry.phone, sizeof(entry.phone),stdin);
    }
    else
        printf("Exiting");
        break;

    fwrite (&entry, sizeof (struct contact), 1, pFile); 
    printf ("Would you like to enter a new contact? (y/n)");    
    scanf ("%d", &cont);

    if (cont = 'n'|'N')
        return 0;
}

fclose(pFile);

getchar();
return 0;
}

is my code at the moment. Each time I give any option 1,2,3,4, put in a entry and press enter the window closes. I’m unsure if the logic makes sense and any suggestions are welcome but it “seems” okay to me but obviously I need another set of eyes. I want it where I don’t have to enter all entries for every person I put in the file. Also, to note, I initially cont to 5 just because it was complaining.. bad practice I know. Any helpful information is appreciated

Answer 1

Your program ends because the break; isn’t in the scope you think it is:

else if (choice = 4){
    printf ("Phone number: ");    
    fgets(entry.phone, sizeof(entry.phone),stdin);
}
else
    printf("Exiting");
    break;

Even though you’ve indented the break, it doesn’t belong to the else clause. So no matter what happens in the if/else block, the break gets executed and your program breaks out of the loop and ends.

To fix it, add braces to enclose the break inside the scope of the else.:

else if (choice = 4){
    printf ("Phone number: ");    
    fgets(entry.phone, sizeof(entry.phone),stdin);
}
else
{
    printf("Exiting");
    break;
}

And once you fix that, this line will cause your program to terminate because it always evaluates to true and returns from main:

if (cont = 'n'|'N')
    return 0;

You want that line to say

if (cont == 'n' || cont == 'N')
    return 0;

These fixes will at least stop your program from terminating, but as others have pointed out there are numerous logical errors elsewhere that will prevent it from doing what you want.