Not able to have getche() working in chcount.cpp

[netbeansfan]

Hi C++ Guru,

I am having difficulty getting the chcount.cpp program
to count the number of characters & words entered using getche() library function.
This program is on page 100 of Object Oriented Programming in C++ by Robert Lafore (4th ED),
from https://ia801303.us.archive.org/25/items/ObjectOrientedProgrammingInC4thEdition/Object-Oriented%20Programming%20in%20C++%20(4th%20Edition).pdf

The issue after having debugged it was that ch has been assigned a random characters / numbers
(e.g. 1, 0..), before I get to enter any character, which resulted in stucked in WHILE loop.

Below is the code snippet:

// chcount.cpp
#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>				// for getche()

using namespace std;

int main()
{
	int chcount = 0;				// counts non-space characters
	int wdcount = 1;				// counts spaces between words
	char ch = 'a';					// ensure it isn't '\r'

	while( ch != '\r' ) 	//loop until Enter is typed
	{
//		ch = getchar(); 			// Read a character before I enter anything
		ch = getche(); 				// Not running getche() function.
		if ( ch == ' ' )			// if it's a space
			wdcount++;				// count it as a word
		else						// otherwise,
			chcount++;				// count a character
	}
	cout << "\nWords=" << wdcount << endl
	     << "Letters=" << chcount-1 << endl;
	return 0;
}

getche() did not process further while getchar() simply accept random characters / numbers (e.g. 1,0)
before I get to enter anything in.

I have tried other functions such as getc(stdin) & getch() & lookup similar resolutions
without success for a few hours.

I am running Eclipse C/C++ Neon.3 (4.6.3 - 20170314-1500)
with MinGW-w64 on Windows 10.

Your assistance would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

George