Assignment 1 (Fall 2013) Q & A

Q1: How do I submit "two individual reports that consist of peer evaluation, programming experience and team work experience"?

• Answer: Submit them individually at Blackboard. For peer evaluation, use a scale from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

Q2: When trying to display the value of the col number received in the display function, we saw the ascii char value instead of the integer decimal value that we expected. Can anyone suggest how to display the integer decimal value?

• Answer: It seems that you've assigned a character (e.g. '7') to an int variable (e.g. x). The value of x is the ASCII value of '7'. If you display the value of x, that's what you will get. The solution is to do the proper conversion (from char to int, and vice versa) correctly. I hope this helps. -- Peter

Q3: Are we supposed to make two brand new files named consolelineedit.cpp and consoleplus.h and compile them with the original console.cpp and console.h or are we supposed to modify the original console.cpp and console.h files and name them consolelineedit.cpp and consoleplus.h?

• Answer: Keep console.h and consoleplus.h as separate files, same with console.cpp and consolelineedit.cpp.
• Answer 2: Yes, make two brand new files and don't edit the original files given. (Team 4)
• Answer 3: Do not forget to use the namespace "cio" when you declare the display and edit funcitons! -- Peter

Q4: To get the offset of the string when moving right or left would we have to allocate memory since we are unable to return the offset to the display function? -- Kabeer

• Answer: During LEFT or RIGHT we do not need to allocate memory, we just subtract (--) for LEFT or add (++) for RIGHT to change the offset. And we don't need to call the display function during RIGHT/LEFT keys since you just need to set the cursor position at that point. -- Huda (Team 1)

Q5: The curPosition parameter points to the "index of the character in the field at which the cursor is initially placed". Is this where the cursor position is placed before displaying the string or after? And if it is for before the string is displayed: is there a standard location the cursor should be sent after displaying the string? -- Justin

Q6: Is there supposed to be a second edit() function that accepts no parameters?

• Answer: No. there is only supposed to be one function that accepts parameters, there is no need for a non-value edit function. This section was misleading:

The edit() function always displays blanks in any part of the field that is not occupied by the string.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DOES THE FUNCTION CHANGE ANY POSITION ON THE SCREEN OUTSIDE THE FIELD.
For example, the function does not display status information (such as "INS" or "OVR") elsewhere
on the screen, since such displays limit the programmer's ability to design their own screen layouts.

Q7: Can we use the <ctring> library memmove() function to insert a character to the string?(team 3-Norbert)

• Answer: yes you can use it. The following example is from the http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstring/memmove/ If you want to know more about the memmove() please visit the website.

Syntax

void * memmove ( void * destination, const void * source, size_t num );

/* memmove example */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
  char str[] = "memmove can be very useful......";
  memmove (str+20,str+15,11);
  puts (str);
  return 0;
}

Output:

memmove can be very very useful.

Q8: What is the purpose and functionality of the "strOffset" parameter? This explanation is confusing: "strOffset points to an int variable that holds the initial offset of the string within the field; that is, the index of the character in the string that initially occupies the first character position in the field." Please answer it in simpler terms, maybe with an example as well. -- Fries'n'burg

• The 'strOffset' allows the string to be moved if the fieldlength is shorter than a string itself and the cursor is beyond the string. To do that it points to a int value which is the index of the string. i.e if the string is "abcdefghi" and the field length is 5, the string will be shown as "abcde"; when you move the cursor beyond 'e' it should display "bcdef" and so on. Hopefully this helps. -(Team 2)
• Take a look at the diagram that we posted below - it helped us understand how this works (Team 4)

Q: What is the difference between consolelineedit.h and consoleplus.h ?
Submitted by: Rafid Daoud and Arnold Goncharenko, Team 8

• There is no file named consolelineedit.h. There is only consoleplus.h in which all your prototype functions are declared.(Team 2)

Q10: Whenever we try to compile our program, we get a large amount of errors from console.cpp, all of which are undefined references such as: console.cpp:(.text+0x7): undefined reference to `initscr'What is causing these and how do we fix it? None of the files other than consolelineedit.cpp and consoleplus.h have been edited.

• On Matrix try compiling with -lncurses. Do g++ a1test.cpp console.cpp consolelinedit.cpp -lncurses. This should work. (Team2)

Q11: Can anyone clarify the submission requirements for this Assignment? I included the sections that I don't understand.(Team 4)

Prepare a matrix typescript named a1.txt that includes

• a listing of your consoleplus.h file
• a listing of your consolelineedit.cpp file
• a compilation and linking of console.cpp and consolelineedit.h with a1test.cpp - *compile it....
• a listing of your application file - **??? what does this mean?
• a compilation and linking of console.cpp and consolelineedit.h with your application file - **??? what does this mean?
  • Answer: g++ myapplication.cpp ... (Peter Liu)

Upload two individual reports and a zip file to Blackboard:

• a1.txt
• a screen shot of the result of a run of a1test.cpp on each of the platforms listed above - ?? how is different from the one below it ????
  • Answer: It's the screenshot of running a1test.cpp. (Peter Liu)
• a screen shot of the result of a run of your application on one of the platforms listed above
  • Answer: It's the screenshot of your own application program. (Peter Liu)

Q12: HINT - When following the instructions and you get to the Line that says Press C, End, Backspace 4 times, 1, 2, Home, Enter it MEANS to change the lower case c to an UPPER case C (Team 4)

Features/Assignment Information

• When compiling code on Matrix; SSH handles keys differently than putty. However you are able to change how keys are handle on putty by doing the following steps:

     - On putty configuration go to Connections > Data
     - On the Terminal-type string change the "xterm' to "linux"
     - On the Session press the 'load' button and connect to matrix.

This will allow the buttons such as 'Home','END', etc to work properly when testing/compiling.

USEFUL DIAGRAM - we found this posted from a previous class... we found it helpful to help understand the curPosition and the strOffset (Team 4)