C++ Player Creation Menu

Question

I am trying to make a text based C++ game.

I have a player class set up and I am now working on a method inside that class called displayMenu(), which will ask the user a variety of questions based on their player and send the data to the main/client code and then that data will create an object of player class via a constructor of player class.

My main question is...

1. I am trying to compare the input (string) from the user to the (string) they need to inputting, but I am getting an error which says "lower()" can not be resolved. I believe you have to compare each character, but I think there may be a more effective way to code this to provide simplicity and readability. What exactly am I doing wrong? What is the best way to code this?

Here is my code...

void Player::displayMenu(std::string& PlaName, std::string& cName, int& lvl, int& HP)
{
    std::cout << "Player Creation Menu" << std::endl;
    std::cout << "====================" << std::endl;
    std::cout << std::endl;
    std::cout << std::endl;
    std::cout << "What is your name? " << std::endl;
    std::cin >> PlaName;
    std::cout << "What is your specitality? " << std::endl;
    std::cin >> cName;
    while(cName.lower() != "brawler" || cName.lower() != "thief" || cName.lower() != "persuader" || cName.lower()
            != "gunman")
    {
        std::cout << "That is not your true specitality..." << std::endl;
        std::cout << "You must pick from { 'Brawler', 'Thief' , 'Persuader', 'Gunman' }" << std::endl;
        std::cin >> cName;

    }
}

Answer 1

I have several remarks on your original code:

1. Reading and comparing the strings seems like a bit complicated for this use-case. It is common to see usage of first character as identifier, to make it simpler.
2. The specialty is a classic example for enum (or enum class, which is enum that you must use always with it's name)
3. The displayMenu method should not be part of the Player class, since it isn't a behavior (an action) of the player. It should be part of the "Game"/"UI" class.

If you really want to use the complete string in order to identify the specialty, you can use the code examples in the first answer in the link Ayxan put in the comments.

Here is my proposed code:

#include <iostream>

constexpr char INVALID_CHARACTER_INPUT = '@';

enum class CharacterSpecialty 
{
    BRAWLER,
    THIEF,
    PERSUADER,
    GUNMAN,
    NUM_OF_SPECIALITY_TYPES
};
`
class Player
{
    public:
        Player(const std::string& player_name, CharacterSpecialty char_specialty) :
            name(player_name),
            specialty(char_specialty)
        {
        }
    private:
    std::string name;
    CharacterSpecialty specialty;
};

Player displayMenuAndCreatePlayer()
{
    std::cout << "\nPlayer Creation Menu\n"  << "====================\n\n" << std::endl;

    std::cout << "Enter your name: " << std::endl;
    std::string player_name{};
    std::cin >> player_name;

    CharacterSpecialty char_specialty = CharacterSpecialty::NUM_OF_SPECIALITY_TYPES;

    while(char_specialty == CharacterSpecialty::NUM_OF_SPECIALITY_TYPES)
    {
        std::cout << "What is your specialty?\n" << "[B]rawler, [T]hief, [P]ersuader or [G]unman"<< std::endl;
        std::string char_type_input;
        std::cin >> char_type_input;

        char input = char_type_input.size() == 1 ? char_type_input[0] : INVALID_CHARACTER_INPUT;

        switch(char_type_input)
        {
            case 'b':
            case 'B':
                char_specialty = CharacterSpecialty::BRAWLER;
                break;
            case 't':
            case 'T':
                char_specialty = CharacterSpecialty::THIEF;
                break;
            case 'p':
            case 'P':
                char_specialty = CharacterSpecialty::PERSUADER;
                break;
            case 'g':
            case 'G':
                char_specialty = CharacterSpecialty::GUNMAN;
                break;
            default:
                std::cout << "Invalid Specialty Entered!\n" << std::endl;
                break;
        }
    }

    return Player(player_name, char_specialty);
}

int main()
{
    Player player = displayMenuAndCreatePlayer();
}