Design for my

Design for my_gets()

Design needs

the scanf() only gets "one word" and does NOT protect against getting a word that it too long.
the gets() gets an entire line but again, does NOT protect against getting a line that is too long.
need a function which will input a string that is guaranteed to be no bigger than the maximum allowed size.

Design Outline

given a character array and the maximum number of characters permitted including the null terminator. Note: if max is 6 then up to 5 characters can be input and the null terminator is then added for the 6th character.
All input should be put into the array until either a carriage return is found or the array is full.
If the user inputs more than the maximum number of characters, the functions should output a message indicating the input is being truncated since it is too long. The input stream should be cleaned of the "extra" input.
Put the null terminator at the end of the input characters that were accepted.
The function could be improved by allowing the user to input another string if they did not like the truncation if they have overfilled the array.

Code/Pseudocode Design

The following design does NOT give the user the option of inputting another string if the one they input is too long and gets truncated. Your version should do this.


      void my_gets(char array, int max_chars)
      {
         int iochar, i = 0;

         do
         {
            iochar = getchar();
            if (iochar != '\n')
            {
               array[i] = iochar;
               i++;
            }
         }
         while ((iochar != '\n') && (i < max_chars - 1));
         array[i] = '\0';
         if (iochar != '\n')
             get another character
             if it is not a carriage return then give an error message and
                 clean the input stream.
      }