Multiple student database

[tones1986]

Hi all,

I recently finished working on a project that was to create a database type system for a student registration system. I created my own list class and stack to store the data... i create multiple classes, person (store student data: name, ssn, etc), student (student ID number), courseInfo (class name, grade, semester, year).

I now have to be able to read in from file (just like before) but this time i need to read in multiple students. As follows:

John Smith 333222333 01/01/89 M z11119
CSCI340 2008 Fall A
CSCI231 2008 Fall B
Linda Ray 333222333 01/01/88 M z11203
CSCI340 2008 Fall B
CSCI201 2008 Fall B
Rene Hanson 333222333 01/01/81 M z22003
CSCI340 2007 Fall A
CSCI210 2008 Spring B

First off, i am going to use a marker in the file above, such as a '$' to denote end of a student data... therefore when i do the read in, and i hit '$' i know that is the end of the that students data.

My problem arises in trying to figure out how i can read in multiple students. As of now i do the following:

void Student::loadInfoFromFile(fstream& inFile)
{
	string firstName, lastName, SSN, DOB, gender, 
		   ZID, courseID, year, semester, grade;

	inFile >> firstName;
	setFirstName(firstName);
	inFile >> lastName;
	setLastName(lastName);
	inFile >> SSN;
	setSSN(SSN);
	inFile >> DOB;
	setDOB(DOB);
	inFile >> gender;
	setGender(gender);
	inFile >> ZID;
	setZID(ZID);

	//start class read
	inFile >> courseID;
	
	while (inFile)
	{
	inFile >> year;
	inFile >> semester;
	inFile >> grade;
		 
	CourseInfo courses;
	courses.setCourseID(courseID);
	courses.setYearTaken(year);
	courses.setSemesterTaken(semester);
	courses.setGrade(grade);
	
	addCourse(getZID(), courses);
	inFile >> courseID;
//check for courseID == '$' ????
  }

That is how i read in from file and it works flawlessly for one student. How then, can i edit this to work with multiple students. I ask this because how would i set up my data type? Do i create a list that contains each student per node? So i read in student one....fill in that persons student info, and class list, then store that in the first node of a linked list. Then read in the second student, ...then store as second node in my linked list?

If this is a way it could be done, could someone give me some psuedo code, because right now i am at a complete loss.

Thank you

[iamthwee]

I think the trick here is the lines.

Using your example, a new student - occurs every three lines...

So, read in the file one line at a time. Use the % operator or a simple counter to know when you hit the third line.

Each line you read can be split by a space. Stringstreams would do the job nicely.

...and you could have a vector of student objects.

[tones1986]

Thats a good idea, but the file i use may be different to the one being sued to grade the project. It will not be true that each student has 3 classes etc. Therefore, i need to use a system that could take 10 classes for one student, 3 for another, etc.

Also, you mention using a vector, would you mean that i create a vector and whenever i create a new student, that student object is stored in the vector, therefore, later on, i should be able to search through each student object within the object searching for a certain class etc.

Any more ideas would be great. thanks.

[iamthwee]

Ok, so one way would be to find out where the classes end and a student name begins. All lines with classes have exactly three spaces? That's a clue.

And I would consider the student definition to have an array of classes.

So one student object would have an array of classes:

CSCI340 2007 Fall A
CSCI210 2008 Spring B

associated with it. That would be simple enough to reference.

[tones1986]

Also, i am trying to work with the function i supplied above... If the courseID == "$" then you reach the end of the current students data...how then, can i set it up so that a new Student object is created...because working within the that readinfromfile() function, i the only stuff i edit is the current student object, what would i have to change to make this work with multiple students? Do i NOT call it using s1.readinfromfile(inFile) (s1 is the student object created in driver.cpp). But i cant do that because then the print function would not know what to work with.

Could i just move the readinfromfile() function out of the Student class, and just put it in the driver.cpp?

Then i would be able to loop and create new student info data stuff etc more easily.

Make sense? Any help as always would be awesome.

[iamthwee]

I would forget this nonsense about using a $ as a marker.
Re-read post #4 this should be a piece of cake.

[tones1986]

I am still working on this, and have come up with this function that will read in from file multiple students. I know you have said that i should not deal with a marker, but my teacher pretty much said to do it (for whatever reason....). therefore, i am using my $ as my marker, but currently have a problem with the reading in from file in that after the first student, the data gets garbled. My text file looks like this:

John Smith 333222333 01/01/89 M z11119
CSCI340 2008 Fall A
CSCI231 2008 Fall B
CSCI444 2009 Spring A
CSCI333 2006 Fall B
$
Linda Ray 333222333 01/01/88 M z11203
CSCI340 2008 Fall B
CSCI201 2008 Fall B
CSCI333 2008 Spring A
$
Rene Hanson 333222333 01/01/81 M z22003
CSCI340 2007 Fall A
CSCI210 2008 Spring B

And my function is this: (sorry for all the couts, but this was used to see what the output was).

void Registration::loadInfoFromFile()
{
	Student s1;
	fstream inFile;
	string file;

	cout << endl << "Enter file name for student data: ";
	cin >> file;

	inFile.open(file.c_str());

	if(!inFile)
    {
		cout << "Can't open " << file << ", program terminated." << endl;
	}

	string firstName, lastName, SSN, DOB, gender, 
		   ZID, courseID, year, semester, grade;

	while (inFile)
	{
	inFile >> firstName;
	s1.setFirstName(firstName);
	cout << firstName << " ";
	inFile >> lastName;
	s1.setLastName(lastName);
	cout << lastName << " ";
	inFile >> SSN;
	s1.setSSN(SSN);
	cout << SSN << " ";
	inFile >> DOB;
	s1.setDOB(DOB);
	cout << DOB << " ";
	inFile >> gender;
	s1.setGender(gender);
	cout << gender << " ";
	inFile >> ZID;
	s1.setZID(ZID);
	cout << ZID << " ";
	//start class read
	inFile >> courseID;
	
	while (inFile && inFile != "$")
	{
		inFile >> year;
		inFile >> semester;
		inFile >> grade;
		 
		CourseInfo courses;
		courses.setCourseID(courseID);
		cout << "\n" << courseID << " "; 
		courses.setYearTaken(year);
		cout << year << " ";
		courses.setSemesterTaken(semester);
		cout << semester << " ";
		courses.setGrade(grade);
		cout << grade << endl;
	
		s1.addCourse(s1.getZID(), courses);
		inFile >> courseID;
		if (courseID == "$")
		{
			cout << "push into list" << endl;
			students.push_front(s1);
			inFile >> courseID;
		}
	}
}
	inFile.close();
}

My output gets garbled in that it looks something like this:

John Smith 333222333 01/01/89 M z111119
csci340 2008 fall a
csci231 2008 fall b
csci444 2009 spring a
csci333 2006 fall b
push into list

linda ray 333222333 01/01/88
M z112303 csci340 20008
fall B csci201 20008
fall B csci333 2008
spring A $ Rene

hanson 333222333 01/01/81 M
z22003 csci340 2007 fall
...
...

Therefore, where do you think my issue is here. I have tried moving some of the inFile's around but i cant get it working quite right. The other thing i was thinking is that my while conditions might be off base aswell.

Any help would be appreciated!

[tones1986]

Nevermind. Got it working. Had to change my 2nd while statement to have courseID == "$" and then removed the if statement at the end of the while. Will have other issues, so will leave post as unsolved for now.

Thanks all

[tones1986]

Have uploaded my code for review. I am having a problem within my Registration.h file. This is because for whatever reason i cannot use a function call, getGrade() because i do not have access to it (not a part of my student class ... its a part of my courseInfo class).

How can i get access to these functions so that i can use them for a search/comparison within the Registration.h file.

Thanks