Alphabetical Order C++ Recursive Function

[Unimaginative Name]

Background: I am writing a program that takes a list of data and parses it into a binary search tree. The key for this data is of type "string". I'm working on writing a boolean function that returns "true" if the key of the data to be added precedes the key of the data in the reference node, "false" if the new key succeeds the old, and recursively runs back through the function, incrementing by one position, should the characters in question be equal is ASCII value.

 

Currently, it appears that my comparisons are correct and appears to be recursing correctly, but is returning false for all cases.

bool abcOrder(movie m, mNode *ref, int i) {
        int data = NULL;
        //Gets key data and converts to lowercase as needed
        int newNode = m.getTitle().at(i);
        if (newNode < 97)
            newNode = newNode + 32;
        int refNode = ref->M.getTitle().at(i);
        if (refNode < 97)
            refNode = refNode + 32;
        //Compares key data at position 'i'
        if (newNode < refNode) {
            return true;
        } else if (newNode > refNode) {
            return false;
        } else {
            //If newNode.key == refNode.key, increment position and run again
            i++;
            abcOrder(m, ref, i);
        }
    }

Given keys of:

1. laak

2. laab

3. laaj

4. laal

 

We should see an output of:

true (2 is left of 1)

true then false (3 is left of 1 and right of 2)

false (k is right of 1)

 

What it's actually returning is all false with 4 being the right child of 3, 3 being right of 2, and 2 being right of 1.

Note: Insertion method worked properly before I implemented this function, albeit with unique first characters.

[Unimaginative Name]

Note.

The good fellers over at Stack Overflow have come to my rescue.

bool abcOrder(movie m, mNode *ref, int i) {
        int data = NULL;
        //Gets key data and converts to lowercase as needed
        int newNode = m.getTitle().at(i);
        if (newNode < 97)
            newNode = newNode + 32;
        int refNode = ref->M.getTitle().at(i);
        if (refNode < 97)
            refNode = refNode + 32;
        //Compares key data at position 'i'
        if (newNode < refNode) {
            return true;
        } else if (newNode > refNode) {
            return false;
        } else {
            //If newNode.key == refNode.key, increment position and run again
            i++;
            return abcOrder(m, ref, i);
        }
    }

On the third to last line, the recursive call needed a return preceding it.