Overloading << operator for std::ostream

Question

ostream& operator <<(ostream& osObject, const storageRentals& rentals)
{
    osObject << rentals.summaryReport();
    return osObject;
}
         


        

Answer 1

Your storage report implicitely is always streamed to cout. Imagine someone calling your function this way and having the rentals on cout instead of the file.

fstream fs("out.txt");
storageRentals rentals;
fs << rentals;

Why don't you stream your class like this:

ostream& operator <<(ostream& osObject, const storageRentals& rentals)
{

  for (int count = 0; count < 8; count++) {
      osObject << "Unit: " << count + 1 << "    " << rentals.stoUnits[count] << endl;
  }
  return osObject;
}

If the stoUnits member is private you need to make the stream function a friend of your storage class.

friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& osObject, const storageRentals& rentals);