How to use char* with SD library with Arduino? - arduino

Question

I am writing a data logger and would like to keep the files limited to a specific number of entries. I am trying to write this bit of code in the setup, so that when the Arduino powers on, it will write to a new file just to keep things simple. However, when I try to open the file I can't, although I am not sure why. Can anyone offer any explanation?
char *fileName; //global name
File logFile; //global file
//everything else is in setup()
char * topPart = "/Data/Data"; //first part of every file
char * lowerPart = ".txt"; // jus the extention
char * itter; //used to hold the char of i later
fileName = "/Data/Data.txt"; //start with the first file possible.
for(int i=0; i<=100;i++) {
if(!SD.exists(fileName)) {
Serial.print("opening file: ");
Serial.print(fileName);
logFile = SD.open(fileName, FILE_WRITE);
if(logFile) {
logFile.println("I made it");
Serial.println("in the file");
}
if(!logFile) {
Serial.println("somthing bad");
}
break;
} else {
itter = (char *)(i+48);
strcpy(fileName,topPart);
strcpy(fileName,itter);
strcpy(fileName,lowerPart);
Serial.println(i);
}
}

Answer 1

Lots of problems.
the construction of itter is wrong.
strcpy doesn't append just cpy.
Here is a code example to build your filename. This a basic C program. Remove the #include and main for Arduino, this allows to test on your computer whether the program is ok.
#include <string.h>
#define TOPPART "/Data/Data"
#define LOWERPART ".txt"
int main(void) {
char buf[64];
snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s%s", TOPPART, LOWERPART);
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
/* here your stuff to check if the filename froml buf exists*/
snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s%d%s", TOPPART, i, LOWERPART);
}
return 0;
}