Can you put a dynamic pointer to a regular array in C - c

Question

I am trying to code a scheduler in C for practice. Currently my issue is that I am trying to put the "student" object that i created into an array of students called "employees". So i create the student, get its schedule and then dereference the *student and put it in employees[i] array. But when I print the names in the employees array it prints the last entered name repeatedly. I also tried making employee array a pointer (Student *employee) but got the same problem. Any help is appreciated. Thank You
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#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<string.h>
#define NUM_SLOTS 24
#define NUM_EMPLOYEES 5
#define BUFF 25
#pragma warning(disable : 4996)
typedef struct Student Student;
typedef struct StudentDay StudentDay;
typedef struct Slot Slot;
//array of strings of all the timeslots
char *timeSlots[NUM_SLOTS] = { "08:00-08:30", "08:30-09:00", "09:00-09:30" , "09:30-10:00" , "10:00-10:30" , "10:30-11:00" , "11:00-11:30" , "11:30-12:00",
"12:00-12:30", "12:30-13:00", "13:00-13:30", "13:30-14:00", "14:00-14:30", "14:30-15:00", "15:00-15:30", "15:30-16:00", "16:00-16:30",
"16:30-17:00", "17:00-17:30", "17:30-18:00", "18:00-18:30", "18:30-19:00", "19:00-19:30", "19:30-20:00"
};
char *daysOfWeek = "MTWRFS";
//data structure represents a day for a student
typedef struct StudentDay {
char name;
//binary slots representing 1 for available -1 for unavailable
int slots[NUM_SLOTS];
};
//data structure represents a student
typedef struct Student {
char *name;
//array of 24 half hour times starting 8am - 8pm
StudentDay week[6];
};
//data structure represents a time slot in a day
typedef struct Slot{
char *time;
char *personAssigned;
int done; // 1 if done assinging
};
//data structure represents a day for coach will
typedef struct WorkDay {
char *name;
Slot slots[NUM_SLOTS];
};
int main() {
printf("Collin College Fitness Center Scheduling System\n");
int numEmployees;
printf("Please enter number of employees\n");
scanf("%d", &numEmployees);
//create an array of student employees
Student employees[BUFF];
//enter which day are you scheduling for
printf("What day are you wanting to schedule, Enter M-Mon, T-Tue, W-Wed, R-Thu, F-Fri, S-Sat?\n");
char day = getchar();
//will possibly need another loop for all siz days right now just one day ex. monday M
for (int i = 0; i < numEmployees; i++) {
Student *student = malloc(sizeof(Student));
//setting name for student
char name[BUFF];
printf("Please enter name for emplyee number %d\n", i + 1);
fgets(name, sizeof(name), stdin);
student->name = name;
printf("Enter the student's class times in military format Example 13:00-14:30 and press enter, input Done when done\n");
//time stores the input class time by coach
char time[BUFF] = "";
while (strcmp(time, "done") != 1 || strcmp(time, "Done") != 1) {
fgets(time, sizeof(time), stdin);
char *temp = time;
//get the index of the class' time slot
int indexOfSlot = getIndexOfString(timeSlots, temp);
//get index of the day we are scheduling for
int dayIndex = getIndexOfChar(daysOfWeek, day);
//for this students particular days' this time slot is made unavailable
student->week[dayIndex].slots[indexOfSlot] = -1;
}
//put this students info in the employees array
employees[i] = *student;
}
for (int k = 0; k < 2; k++) {
printf("employee stored is %s", employees[k].name);
}
system("pause");
return 0;
}
//helper method to get the index of a string in an array
int getIndexOfString(char*names[NUM_SLOTS], char *name) {
for (int i = 0; i < NUM_SLOTS; i++) {
if (strcmp(names[i], name) == 0) {
return i;
}
}
return 0;
}
//helper method to get te index of char in a string
int getIndexOfChar(char *name, char c) {
char *temp = name;
int i = 0;
while (*temp != '\0') {
if (*temp == c) {
return i;
}
temp++;
i++;
}
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Array name is created locally and overwritten on every iteration. You need to allocate a separate string in the heap for every student.
Replace this:
char name[BUFF];
...
fgets(name, sizeof(name), stdin);
With this:
char* name = malloc(sizeof(char)*BUFF);
...
fgets(name, BUFF, stdin);