Using a FileRead as a database

[SamJava_the_Hut]

I remember, from a long time ago in class from my technical college days, that my teacher showed us that it's possible to collect multiple parameters from each line in a .txt file (with commas used as delimiters to separate each parameter on each line). My EmployeeData.txt file looks like this:

EDR2014,Bob,Marley,02/12/2011,1000.00
ARR1234,John,Fuzzy,03/23/2013,12.00
XXX0666,Matt,Pagel,08/10/2011,23.00
DIE4273,John,McLane,07/22/1995,45.00
FUK0330,Kevin,Young,12/02/2003,7.00
NFN7734,Sam,Peterson,08/01/1999,8.00

the parameters of each line are:

employeeNum, firstName, lastName, hireDate, payRate

To match the specifications in the following EmployeeInfo.java class:

package employeepunch;
//import org.joda.time.DateTime;
import java.io.*;

/**
 *
 * @author Sam Peterson
 */
public class EmployeeInfo {
    
    public String firstName;
    public String lastName;
    public String employeeNum;
    public DateTime currentTime;
    public DateTime hireDate;
    public Double payRate;
    
    public String Seniority;
    public Double dailyTotal;
    
    public EmployeeInfo(String fName, String lName, String empNum,
            DateTime present, DateTime hired, Double pay, String senior,
            Double dayTotal)
    {
        firstName = fName;
        lastName = lName;
        employeeNum = empNum;
        currentTime = present;
        hireDate = hired;
        payRate = pay;
        
        //calculated parameters that will be outputted in EmployeePunch.java:
        Seniority = senior;
        dailyTotal = dayTotal;
    }
    //Read the info from EmployeeData.txt, and utilize it in this class, so that
    //it calculates the employee's seniority in years, months, days, hours,
    //and minutes. ALSO, we need this program to remember the exact date and
    //time that an employee punched in and out, so we can calculate exactly how
    //much money the employee earned that day.
    File myFile = new File("EmployeeData.txt");
    Scanner inputFile = new Scanner(myFile);
    
    //NOW WHAT?
    
    //When the employee's seniority and daily total are calculated, we pass
    //those 2 calculated parameters to EmployeePunch.java to be outputted out to
    //the employee as he punches out.    
    
}//end of EmployeeInfo.java class

And if you've read the comments, here is the "EmployeePunch.java" sub class:

/*
 * This class prompts the employee to punch in or out. If the employee
 * punches in, it simply says that he is punched in, and good bye. if 
 * he punches out, it tells that employee how much he made that day, how
 * long he's been with the company, and good bye.
 */
package employeepunch;
import java.util.Scanner;
/**
 *
 * @author Sam Peterson
 */
public class EmployeePunch {

    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //1.)"Please Enter Employee Number."
        String employeeNum;  // To hold a customer number
      
      // Create a Scanner object for keyboard input.
      Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
      
      System.out.println("Enter a customer number in "
                         + "the form LLLNNNN");
      System.out.print("(LLL = letters and NNNN "
                       + "= numbers): ");

      // Get a customer number from the user.
      customer = keyboard.nextLine();
      
      // DPPetermine whether it is valid.
      if (isValid(customer))
      {
         System.out.println("That's a valid customer "
                            + "number.");
      }
      else
      {
         System.out.println("That is not the proper "
                            + "format.");
         System.out.println("Here is an example: "
                            + "ABC1234");
      }
        
        //2.)"To Punch in, Press 1. To Punch out, press 2."
      /*
       * if 1 is pressed, simply say "Hello" + firstName + lastName ". You are"
       * + "punched in. Have a great day."
       * 
       * MAKE SURE A TIMER IS STARTED, SO THAT HIS WORK HOURS CAN BE USED TO
       * CALCULATE HIS PAY WHEN HE'S PUNCHING OUT!
       * 
       * if 2 is pressed, say "Thank you " + firstName + lastName ". You are"
       * + "punched out. You made " + dayTotal + "today. You've been with us "
       * + "for " + seniority_params_here + "Have a fantastic evening." 
       */
    }
}//end of EmployeePunch.java class

The validation of making sure the employee uses the correct format while entering his employee number is just the first part. I also need to add validation code to make sure his employee number matches one of the ones in the EmployeeData.txt file (shown earlier above).

Can someone give me a boost on that? Thanks in advance.

[JosAH]

Have you read the API documentation for the String.split( ... ) method? It can do what you want: i.e. read entire lines and split( ... ) them.

kind regards,

Jos

[SamJava_the_Hut]

Keep in mind that I need more than just split strings. I need the separated pieces to become my parameters. The program must also be smart enough to get all those parameters for each employee on a per-line basis:

package employeepunch;
//import org.joda.time.DateTime;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.StringTokenizer;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
 
import org.joda.time.DateTime;
import org.joda.time.Days;
import org.joda.time.Hours;
import org.joda.time.Minutes;
import org.joda.time.Seconds;

/**
 *
 * @author Sam Peterson
 */
public class EmployeeInfo {
    
    public String firstName;
    public String lastName;
    public String employeeNum;
    public DateTime currentTime;
    public String hireDate;
    public Double payRate;
    
    public String Seniority;
    public Double dailyTotal;
    
    public EmployeeInfo(String fName, String lName, String empNum,
            DateTime present, String hired, Double pay, String senior,
            Double dayTotal)
    {
        firstName = fName;
        lastName = lName;
        employeeNum = empNum;
        currentTime = present;
        hireDate = hired;
        payRate = pay;
        
        //calculated parameters that will be printed out when employee punches
        //out in EmployeePunch.java:
        Seniority = senior;
        dailyTotal = dayTotal;
    }
    //Read the info from EmployeeData.txt, and use the tokens from each line 
    //(which are separated by commas as delimiters) as the values for each of
    //the variables/parameters specified above.
    public void fillParameters(){
        
        BufferedReader br = null;
 
	try {
 
		String line;
 
		br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("J:\\EmployeePunch\\EmployeePunch\\src\\employeepunch\\EmployeeData.txt"));
 
		while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
		   System.out.println(line);
 
		   StringTokenizer stringTokenizer = new StringTokenizer(line, ",");
 
		   while (stringTokenizer.hasMoreElements()) {
 
		    //Integer id = Integer.parseInt(stringTokenizer.nextElement().toString());		    
                    //String employeeNum = stringTokenizer.nextElement().toString();
                    //String firstName = stringTokenizer.nextElement().toString();
                    //String lastName = stringTokenizer.nextElement().toString();
                    //String hireDate = stringTokenizer.nextElement().toString();
                    //Double payRate = Double.parseDouble(stringTokenizer.nextElement().toString());
 
			StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
			sb.append("\nId : " + employeeNum);
                        sb.append("\nFirstName : " + firstName);
                        sb.append("\nLastName : " + lastName);
                        sb.append("\nSince : " + hireDate);
                        sb.append("\nWages : " + payRate);			
			sb.append("\n*******************\n");
 
			System.out.println(sb.toString());
		   }
		}//end of first try statement
		System.out.println("Done");
 
	} catch (IOException e) {
		e.printStackTrace();
	} finally {
		try {
			if (br != null)
				br.close();
 
		} catch (IOException ex) {
			ex.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
        
    }//end of fillParameters() method
    
    public void calculateSeniority(){
        //String dateStart = hireDate;
        String dateStart = "01/14/2012 09:29:58";
	String dateStop = "01/15/2012 10:31:48";
 
	SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
 
	Date d1 = null;
	Date d2 = null;
 
	try {
		d1 = format.parse(dateStart);
		d2 = format.parse(dateStop);
 
		DateTime dt1 = new DateTime(d1);
		DateTime dt2 = new DateTime(d2);
 
                //ERROR: no suitable method found for daysBetween(DateTime,DateTime)
		System.out.print(Days.daysBetween(dt1, dt2).getDays() + " days, ");
		System.out.print(Hours.hoursBetween(dt1, dt2).getHours() % 24 + " hours, ");
		System.out.print(Minutes.minutesBetween(dt1, dt2).getMinutes() % 60 + " minutes, ");
		System.out.print(Seconds.secondsBetween(dt1, dt2).getSeconds() % 60 + " seconds.");
 
	 } catch (Exception e) {
		e.printStackTrace();
	 }
    }
    
    public void calculatePay(){
        dailyTotal = //(clockInTime - clockOutTime) * payRate;
        
    }
    
    
    //Set up string tokenizer to separately grab the parameters (as tokens) from
    //each line in EmployeeData.txt:
    
    //Make sure each one is viewed as a parameter, not just a mindless token 
    //string. For example the following line from EmployeeData.txt:
    
    //ARR1234,John,Fuzzy,03/23/2013,12.00
    
    //ARR1234 = employeeNum
    //John = firstName
    //Fuzzy = lastName
    //03/23/2013 = hireDate
    //12.00 = payRate
        
}//end of EmployeeInfo.java class

Also, in addition to being in the correct format, the entered employee number must also match with one of the employee numbers from the EmployeeData.txt file:

/**
    * The isValid method accepts the employee number the
    * user entered as a String as its argument, and makes
    * sure the number is in the correct format.
    */

   private static boolean isValid(String empNumber)
   {
      boolean goodSoFar = true;  // Flag
      int index = 0;             // Loop control variable

      // Is the string the correct length?
      if (empNumber.length() != 7)
         goodSoFar = false;

      // Test the first three characters for letters.
      while (goodSoFar && index < 3)
      {
         if (!Character.isLetter(empNumber.charAt(index)))
            goodSoFar = false;
         index++;
      }

      // Test the last four characters for digits.
      while (goodSoFar && index < 7)
      {
         if (!Character.isDigit(empNumber.charAt(index)))
            goodSoFar = false;
         index++;
      }
      
      /*
       * After confirming that the string entered by the user is in the correct
       * format, we now need to make sure it matches one of the employee numbers
       * in the EmployeeData.txt
       */
      
      while (goodSoFar != one of the empNumber in EmployeeData.txt)
      {
         if (!Character.match(empNumber.charAt(index)))
            goodSoFar = false;
         index++;
      }

      // Return the results
      return goodSoFar;
   }

I think my format validation code looks okay, but I don't know how to fix the employee number matching validation.