Formatting Output in Standard 'C'

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Hello Code Warriors,

I have 2 problems with a program I am writing for my first year CS course. It must be written in ANSI 'C':
Here is a sketch of my algorithm:

/*********************************************/         
  int main()
  {
       initialize();
       calculateData();
       switchPage();
       close();
  }
  void initialize()
  {
       get Input File Name;
       get Output File Name;
       open Files;
       print Cover Page();
  }
******************************************
  void calculateData()
  {
    print page column headings;
    read input data;
    process data;
    write data to output file;
  }
****************************************
  void close()
  {
    close files;
    print summary page;
  }
/*****************************************/

FIRST QUESTION: Is it possible to open files in one function, print data in another, and close them in a 3rd?

SECOND QUESTION: How do I break the pages up? With a '\f'? I know how to write to a file. But how do I move between printing cover page, headings, data, and summary. I need 3 pages: coverpage, formatted data, and summary page.

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.
jimbob18

Posted 28-Feb-11 13:26pm

brainflex

Updated 28-Feb-11 14:11pm

HimanshuJoshi

v2

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HimanshuJoshi 28-Feb-11 20:17pm

Added pre blocks.

1 solution

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 1 · 2011-02-28T14:11:00

Q1: Yes, of course. How are the execution flow and stack frames (something calling mechanism based on) related to the output stream? They are unrelated. The only problem can be supportability and coding style. If all three actions are performed in two three different function is may be too much spaghetti-like. Different story is this: you open and close if one function, and in between call another function which does the right; you pass you file handle or stream as a parameter of the second function. This is, in contras, very practical: you abstract our your second function out of concrete stream or file handle through a parameter, so you can re-use this function. After all, all code should be reused, never repeated!

Q2: In text format, there is no such thing as "page". If you need more structure, use HTML or XML (possibly with XSL transformation). This could be a topic of different question. Traditionally, there are two approaches to making sections in a plain text file. It also depends on the text resentation in the UI. Lines are separated with line end separators like '\n', '\r or '\r\n'; it depends on OS ('\r\n' is in DOS/Wind. In one approach, a paragraphs are delimited by double line end. Another (preferred) approach is when a single line is considered as a paragraph (in UI the line is rendered with word wrapping), so paragraphs are delimited by a single line separators. If you use Unicode text, there are special symbols "Paragraph separator" (0x2029) and "Line separator" (0x2028). There are no common rules here and no higher structure elements.

I do not recommend using plain text if you need a well-develop text structure. XML is probably the best popular option.

—SA