Returning a vector from a function and update the objects of the vector

Question

I have 3 Player objects that I have passed as reference arguments in a function. The function does the following:

1. Creates a vector of the 3 objects and bubble sorts the them based on their score (data members).
2. Then it checks for first, second or third ranks and returns a resized vector.

In main function, I am able to print the winner and her reward when I iterate through the vector but it doesn't seem to update the actual objects. How can I update the objects?

This is what I have so far:

int enterBet(int balance, int maxBet);
vector <Player> chkWinner(Player &a, Player &b, Player &c, int pot);

bool sorting_method(Player &_1, Player &_2) {
    //Bigger numbers go first
    return _1.m_total > _2.m_total;
}

int main()
{
    Player *player1 = new Player;
    Player *player2 = new Player;
    Player *player3 = new Player;
    vector <Player> winnerArr;
    winnerArr.resize(3);
    int pot = 0;
    int betAmount = 0;
    int maxBet = 10;
    player2->m_name = "Kelly";
    player3->m_name = "Martha";
    int x, y, z;

    winnerArr[0] = *player1;
    winnerArr[1] = *player2;
    winnerArr[2] = *player3;

    sort(winnerArr.begin(), winnerArr.end(), sorting_method);
    cout << winnerArr[0].m_total << ", "
        << winnerArr[1].m_total << ", "
        << winnerArr[2].m_total << endl;

    x = winnerArr[0].m_total;
    y = winnerArr[1].m_total;
    z = winnerArr[2].m_total;

    if (x == y && x == z){
        cout << "Divide pot by 3" << endl;
        //totalArr.resize(3);
    }
    else if (x == y && x != z){
        cout << "Divide pot by 2" << endl;
        winnerArr.resize(2);

    }
    else{
        cout << "Pay full Pot" << endl;
        winnerArr.resize(1);
    }

    int payout;

    if (winnerArr.size() == 3){
        payout = ((pot * 5) / 3);
    }
    else if (winnerArr.size() == 2){
        payout = ((pot * 5) / 2);
    }
    else if (winnerArr.size() == 1){
        payout = (pot * 5);

        for (int i = 0; i < winnerArr.size(); i++){
            cout << winnerArr[i].m_name << " wins " << payout << endl;
            winnerArr[i].m_balance += payout;
            cout << winnerArr[i].m_balance << endl;

        }
    }
    cout << player1->m_name << "'s total: " << player1->m_balance << endl;
    cout << player2->m_name << "'s total: " << player2->m_balance << endl;
    cout << player3->m_name << "'s total: " << player3->m_balance << endl;
    break;
}

Answer 1

As everyone pointed out, you shouldn't be creating a new array and modify the one you already have. STL give you a hand to accomplish what you want with the sort function.

Firstly, you need:

#include <algorithm>

Then you need a sorting function:

bool sorting_method(const Player &_1, const Player &_2){
    //Bigger numbers go first
    return _1.m_total > _2.m_total;
}

Finally, you use sort instead of your chained loops:

void chkWinner(std::vector <Player> &totalArr){
    sort(totalArr.begin(), totalArr.end(), sorting_method);
    // Add code here, if you need to perform something else. 
    //totalArr is already in the order you need it to.
{

More information about std::sort()

EDIT: I modified the code to create an array with pointers to Players instead of copies of the players.

bool sorting_method(Player *_1, Player *_2) {
    //Bigger numbers go first
    return _1->m_total > _2->m_total;
}

int main()
{
    Player *player1 = new Player(2, 1);
    Player *player2 = new Player(5 ,2);
    Player *player3 = new Player(3, 3);
    vector <Player *> winnerArr(3);
    int pot = 0;
    int betAmount = 0;
    int maxBet = 10;
    int x, y, z;

    winnerArr[0] = player1;
    winnerArr[1] = player2;
    winnerArr[2] = player3;

    sort(winnerArr.begin(), winnerArr.end(), sorting_method);
    cout << winnerArr[0]->m_name << ", "
        << winnerArr[1]->m_name << ", "
        << winnerArr[2]->m_name << endl;

Please note that because of that change you'll have to modify all the code that tries to access the array, including the sorting_method. This code I wrote is already modified, so you just need to modify the rest of it. I removed the resize function and added the (3) parameter when creating the array. I believe its simpler and clear. Have fun :D