Probably a noobish question concerning functions()

Hello! Im very new to C++ but find it exciting and fun (so far, heh). I've run into a couple of problems that I've solved with either tutorials or forum threads. But to this latest problem I can't find a straight answer anywhere - perhaps because its simplicity? :P

Anyway, I need to know how to store two (or more) values in a function, and how I should manage to extract them from there, one by one. One value, no problems, but observe the very simple code example below;



#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;


int function1(int value1, int value2);
int main(int nNumberofArgs, char* pszArgs[])
{

int sword = 15;
int armor = 10;

sword = sword *function1( ,sword); //Im guessing that I should put
armor = armor *function1(armor, ); //something in front of ,sword and something
//behind armor, here


cout <<"The sword value is: "<<sword<<endl;
cout <<"The armor value is: "<<armor<<endl;

system ("PAUSE");
return 0;
}

int function1(int value1, int value2)

{
value1 = 15; //this value is to be multiplied with "armor"
value2 = 25; //this value is to be multiplied with "sword"

return value1;
return value2;

}


What I want to do is to get value1 (=15) from function1() and multiply it with the "armor value", and the value2 (=25) from the same function multiplied with the "sword value". But I also need to be able to only extract one of the values from function1() in other parts of the code.

To keep it short, the function() is to act as a database for a few variables.


I'm probably doing it all wrong? Anyways, some help with the above suggestions or re-organisation of the code would be very helpful. Maybe functions isnt the way to go?

Thanks!

Well, the problem is a function can only return one value. It is possible though to return multiple values by passing parameters as references or through pointers.

Now, as you said, function1 works as a database or rather repository of data. You want to extract different values from it with different calls. The point is that you need to specify the function what kind of values you need for it.

You have 2 values/coefficients: one for armor and one for swords. You need to tell the function which of the two you need. So, you can do something like this:

Code:

---

enum Item
{
  Armor,
  Sword
};

int GetCoefficient(Item item)
{
  int value = 0;
  switch(item)
  {
    case Armor: value = 25; break;
    case Sword: value = 15; break;
  }

  return value;
}

---

Then you can use it like this:

Code:

---

int sword = 15;
int armor = 10;

sword = sword *GetCoefficient(Sword);
armor = armor *GetCoefficient(Armor);

---

Of course, you can simplify all that by using a std::map. This is a class that associates a value to a key. The key (used to identify the value) is the item type, and the value is the coefficient.

Code:

---

#include <map>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

enum Item
{
  Armor,
  Sword
};

int main(int nNumberofArgs, char* pszArgs[])
{
  int sword = 15;
  int armor = 10;

  std::map<Item, int> coefficients;
  coefficients[Armor] = 25;
  coefficients[Sword] = 15;

  sword = sword * coefficients[Armor];
  armor = armor * coefficients[Sword];
 
  //behind armor, here

  cout <<"The sword value is: "<<sword<<endl;
  cout <<"The armor value is: "<<armor<<endl;

  system ("PAUSE");
  return 0;
}

---

Of course, you can make the coefficients variable global, or local to a function or member of a class (though that is probably too advance for you now).

Thanks for the reply!

So the error was that I thought a function could return multiple values because it can hold multiple arguments I.e. = function1(int value1, int value2). But I see now that this was not the case...

I've been experimenting with std:maps a lot now and find it much easier to use. A nice "breakthrough", heh.

Novice coder is thankful /bow

/Daniel

A function can certainly output multiple values----either by returning a class or struct type, or by using reference parameters.

However, from your description, I think you should be designing a class, not a function. Functions in general should not be thought of as having persistent state.