[InterKnight]

I hope that I can explain this without making a mess of my words.

I have a program that has a Date class and an Employee class. There are two embedded Date data members in the Employee class for Hire Date (hDate) and Birth Date (bDate). Here is my employee class definition:

class Employee
{
     friend istream& operator>>(istream&,Employee&);
     friend ostream& operator<<(ostream&,Employee&);
public:
     Employee(char* = "John",char* = "Doe",int = 123456789,
	int = 1,int = 1,int = 2000,int = 1,int = 1,int = 1980);
private:
     char fName[25];
     char lName[25];
     int ssn;
     Date hDate;
     Date bDate;
};

Now, let's say I create a copy constructor for the purposes of creating an object by using the new keyword (which is the requirement for this assignment). Here si what I came up with so far...

Employee::Employee(const Employee &e)
{
     strcpy(fName,e.fName);
     strcpy(lName,e.lName);
     ssn = e.ssn;
}

I also have the same type of constructor in the Date class definition. I also already overloaded the assignment operator (=) in the Date class. What do I need to do to implement the copy on the Date data memebers that are embedded in the Employee class? My compiler keeps saying "'Date', no default constructor available'". Is there a way to solve this problem?

Thanks for any help provided.

Please take care.

[yto_daniel]

Perhaps if you posted the date class itself it would give us a better idea why your getting that message.

Daniel - YourTechOnline.com technician
danielr@no_spam_yourtechonline.com (remove no_spam_)

[InterKnight]

I'm sorry about that. I should have just posted the entire program's code...I'll do that next time. Here is what I have, but unfortunately the copy constructor does not work...

Thanks for your help.

#include <iostream.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <iomanip.h>
#include <conio.h>

class Employee;
class Date
{
     friend Employee;
     friend istream& operator>>(istream&,Date&);
     friend ostream& operator<<(ostream&,Date);
public:
     Date(int m,int d,int y) {setDate(m,d,y);}
     Date(const Date&);
     void setDate(int,int,int);
     Date& operator=(Date&);
     ~Date() {}
private:
     int month;
     int day;
     int year;
};

Date::Date(const Date &d)
{
     month = d.month;
     day = d.day;
     year = d.year;
}

void Date::setDate(int m,int d,int y)
{
     while(m < 1 || m > 12)
     {
	cout << endl << m << " is an invalid \"month\" entry.\n"
		<< endl << "Please re-enter month: ";
	cin >> m;
	cout << endl;
     }

     while(d < 1 || d > 30)
     {
	cout << endl << d << " is an invalid \"day\" entry.\n"
		<< endl << "Please re-enter day: ";
	cin >> d;
	cout << endl;
     }

     while(y < 1900 || y > 2010)
     {
	cout << endl << y << " is an invalid \"year\" entry.\n"
		<< endl << "Please re-enter year: ";
	cin >> y;
	cout << endl;
     }

     month = m;
     day = d;
     year = y;
}

Date& Date::operator=(Date &d)
{
     month = d.month;
     day = d.day;
     year = d.year;

     return *this;
}

istream& operator>>(istream& in,Date& d)
{
     in >> d.month;
     in.ignore();
     in >> d.day;
     in.ignore();
     in >> d.year;
     d.setDate(d.month,d.day,d.year);

     return in;
}

ostream& operator<<(ostream& out,Date d)
{
     out << d.month << "/" << d.day << "/" << d.year;

     return out;
}

class Employee
{
     friend istream& operator>>(istream&,Employee&);
     friend ostream& operator<<(ostream&,Employee&);
pulic:
     Employee(char* = "John",char* = "Doe",int = 123456789,
	int = 1,int = 1,int = 2000,int = 1,int = 1,int = 1980);
     Employee (const Employee&);
private:
     char fName[25];
     char lName[25];
     int ssn;
     Date hDate;
     Date bDate;
};

Employee::Employee(char* fn,char* ln,int ss,int hm,int hd,int hy,int bm, int   bd,int by)
: hDate(hm,hd,hy), bDate(bm,bd,by)
{
     strcpy(fName,fn);;
     strcpy(lName,ln);
     ssn = ss;
}

/*************************************************************
* This is where the compiler errors are generated from, reading:
* "'Date': no appropriate default constructor available" for each embedded Date object.
Employee::Employee(const Employee &e)
{
     strcpy(fName,e.fName);
     strcpy(lName,e.lName);
     ssn = e.ssn;
     Date::Date(e.hDate);
     Date::Date(e.bDate);
}
*************************************************************/

istream& operator>>(istream &in,Employee &e)
{
     cout << "First name: ";
     in >> e.fName;
     cout << "Last name: ";
     in >> e.lName;
     cout << "Social Security Number (SSN): ";
     in >> e.ssn;
     cout << "Hire date: ";
     cin >> e.hDate;
     cout << "Birth date: ";
     cin >> e.bDate;
	
     return in;
}

ostream& operator<<(ostream &out,Employee &e)
{
     out << "First name:\t" << e.fName << endl
	<< "Last name:\t" << e.lName << endl
	<< "SSN:\t\t" << e.ssn << endl;
     cout << "Hire date:\t" << e.hDate << endl
	<< "Birth date:\t" << e.bDate;;

     return out;
}

int main()
{
     Employee tst;

     cout << "Please enter the following personal information:\n\n";
     cin >> tst;

     cout << "Record information:\n\n" << tst << endl << endl;

     return 0;
}

[Shadow2531]

^^

Now that we have the full code, maybe we can figure something out.

If you need a speedier, super-detailed, nit-picky answer, ask at
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x in the Programmer's Symposium.

[Shadow2531]

This compiles for me. You mispelled public in your employee class and in the date class, I changed 'friend Employee' to 'friend class Employee'.

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <cstring>
#include <cctype>
#include <iomanip>

using namespace std;

class Date {
    friend class Employee;
    friend istream& operator>>(istream&,Date&);
    friend ostream& operator<<(ostream&,Date);
public:
    Date(int m,int d,int y) {setDate(m,d,y);}
    Date(const Date&);
    void setDate(int,int,int);
    Date& operator=(Date&);
    ~Date() {}
private:
    int month;
    int day;
    int year;
};

Date::Date(const Date &d) {
    month = d.month;
    day = d.day;
    year = d.year;
}

void Date::setDate(int m,int d,int y) {
     while(m < 1 || m > 12) {
        cout << endl << m << " is an invalid \"month\" entry.\n"
             << endl << "Please re-enter month: ";
        cin >> m;
        cout << endl;
    }
    while(d < 1 || d > 30) {
        cout << endl << d << " is an invalid \"day\" entry.\n"
             << endl << "Please re-enter day: ";
        cin >> d;
        cout << endl;
    }
    while(y < 1900 || y > 2010) {
        cout << endl << y << " is an invalid \"year\" entry.\n"
             << endl << "Please re-enter year: ";
        cin >> y;
        cout << endl;
    }
    month = m;
    day = d;
    year = y;
}

Date& Date::operator=(Date &d) {
    month = d.month;
    day = d.day;
    year = d.year;
    return *this;
}

istream& operator>>(istream& in,Date& d) {
    in >> d.month;
    in.ignore();
    in >> d.day;
    in.ignore();
    in >> d.year;
    d.setDate(d.month,d.day,d.year);
    return in;
}

ostream& operator<<(ostream& out,Date d) {
    out << d.month << "/" << d.day << "/" << d.year;
    return out;
}

class Employee {
    friend istream& operator>>(istream&,Employee&);
    friend ostream& operator<<(ostream&,Employee&);
public:
    Employee(char* = "John",char* = "Doe",int = 123456789,
    int = 1,int = 1,int = 2000,int = 1,int = 1,int = 1980);
    Employee (const Employee&);
private:
    char fName[25];
    char lName[25];
    int ssn;
    Date hDate;
    Date bDate;
};

Employee::Employee(char* fn,char* ln,int ss,int hm,int hd,int hy,int bm, int   bd,int by)
: hDate(hm,hd,hy), bDate(bm,bd,by) {
    strcpy(fName,fn);;
    strcpy(lName,ln);
    ssn = ss;
}

istream& operator>>(istream &in,Employee &e) {
    cout << "First name: ";
    in >> e.fName;
    cout << "Last name: ";
    in >> e.lName;
    cout << "Social Security Number (SSN): ";
    in >> e.ssn;
    cout << "Hire date: ";
    cin >> e.hDate;
    cout << "Birth date: ";
    cin >> e.bDate;
    return in;
}

ostream& operator<<(ostream &out,Employee &e) {
    out << "First name:\t" << e.fName << endl
        << "Last name:\t" << e.lName << endl
        << "SSN:\t\t" << e.ssn << endl;
   cout << "Hire date:\t" << e.hDate << endl
        << "Birth date:\t" << e.bDate;;
     return out;
}

int main() {
    Employee tst;
    cout << "Please enter the following personal information:\n\n";
    cin >> tst;
    cout << "Record information:\n\n" << tst << endl << endl;
}

Not sure if the program now does what you want, but for me it now compiles with no warnings or errors.

[InterKnight]

I tried recompiling after the edits, but I am still getting the same error. Basically, I need to get the Date objects to copy when the Employee copy constructor is called to allocate memory, and for some reason it is not working. I'm not sure exactly what the problem could be. Could it be the compiler itself?

Thanks very much for the help.

[InterKnight]

I took out the constructor "Employee(const Employee&)" and tried this code in main()

Employee *tst = new Employee;

And everything seemed to work flawlessly. The professor made a point in his class, and in his book, that to do such an allocation, you have to have the constructor with the const class object. When I tried adding it, I received the errors posted earlier for both of my Date objects.

It looks like the problem is solved, so I can finally now do the second part of it.

Thanks again for the help. I am definitely glad that my uncle recommended this site to me because everyone here is a great help to me.

Thanks again.