snv88
August 7th, 2009, 12:15 AM
I am NOT asking and am not expecting anyone to do this project for me! I do not want to take credit for anyone else's work, I just need advice.
Warning! Lots of background information (please read all before posting):
I work at a bike service shop at my University and we are looking to record some of our files electronically. Basically, the electronic system must include the following information about our patrons: name, id#, email, telephone, address, bicycle make/model, bicycle type, reported problem, work performed, and recommendations.
I could simply punch all of that into a spreadsheet but I don't think I would like how it looks. Ideally, I would like a spreadsheet that only has the patrons' names and ID numbers. Then any worker should be able to search and click onto either the name or ID# and access a page with more detailed information about the patron. I myself could hyperlink the names and ID#s from the spreadsheet to some other type of document but I doubt my fellow coworkers would take the time to learn how to do that themselves.
So instead, I was thinking about creating a program that is easy to use and would act as a basic information log. This program would need GUI because I would not be the only worker using it and it has to be noncomputer-savy-friendly.
I have only an elementary knowledge of java and c#, so I really hope this project is not beyond the scope of my ability, but I have a really bad feeling that it is. Ideally, I would like to use Java instead of C# because I do not know whether this program will have to run on a Mac or Windows OS. I also want to do this because I haven't programmed in a while and fall semester starts in about a week.
I just want some advice, so please tell me what you guys think of my plan. Basically, here's how I would like the program to go:
Main Menu
-Some Title (JLabel)
-Add Patron to Patron List option (JButton)
-Edit/Look up a patron option (JButton)
-Patron List option (JButton)
I would like the Title to be at the very top of the frame and the buttons to be in a vertical column in the middle of the frame with some empty space between them. I would also like the buttons to be the same size. At the bottom of the frame, I would like another JLabel that says that this program was made by me. The text and look for any of this does not need to be fancy at all.
Clicking on the Patron List Button
This should open a spreadsheet that has names in one column and ID#s in another. If the spreadsheet does not exist, it should be created. There should initially be only one spreadsheet. I think this would be the hard part. I know very little about I/O and I do not know what OS this program will be running on. Because of my lack of skills, I may have to just settle for a notepad file with the names and ID#s.
I would like to be able to click on an ID or name and go to a page that has detailed information about the patron. Workers should be able to edit, update, and delete patrons from this page. I guess a few ArrayLists or similiar classes could be used to store this information.
Maybe instead of an actual spreadsheet, I could have a page with a bunch of JButtons, but that kind of sounds like a bad idea.
Clicking on the Add Patron Button
This should make a page pop up with textfields for the user to type information into. The information would then be stored. The page would have textfields for the patron's name, ID#, email, telephone, address, bicycle make/model, bicycle type, reported problem, work performed, and recommendations.
Clicking Look up/Edit a Patron
Perhaps having this option would be a little redundant, so I'm not sure whether to include this or not. Basically it would be a frame with JLabels asking the user to input either an ID# or a name and textfields for input. It would then search the Patron log for the patron. If the patron is there, this would then open up their detailed information file. If the patron is not there, it would either have a dialog box pop up or just go straight to the add patron page.
It's getting kind of late and I'm pretty tired so I'll attach some of the incomplete code that I have see what you guys think.
Overall, this project would probably need 4 to 5 GUI pages/JFrames, so it is a little ambitious for someone who hasn't coded in a while, but hopefully I can get it done. Once again, any advice on what course of action I should take would be helpful.
I'm finding myself reading Java's API on Layout managers a lot and dialog boxes, so tips on those would also be nice.
Let's see, I hope my attachments worked. Oh and I'll make the code layout better such as using anonymous classes instead of inner ones and all that junk later.
Warning! Lots of background information (please read all before posting):
I work at a bike service shop at my University and we are looking to record some of our files electronically. Basically, the electronic system must include the following information about our patrons: name, id#, email, telephone, address, bicycle make/model, bicycle type, reported problem, work performed, and recommendations.
I could simply punch all of that into a spreadsheet but I don't think I would like how it looks. Ideally, I would like a spreadsheet that only has the patrons' names and ID numbers. Then any worker should be able to search and click onto either the name or ID# and access a page with more detailed information about the patron. I myself could hyperlink the names and ID#s from the spreadsheet to some other type of document but I doubt my fellow coworkers would take the time to learn how to do that themselves.
So instead, I was thinking about creating a program that is easy to use and would act as a basic information log. This program would need GUI because I would not be the only worker using it and it has to be noncomputer-savy-friendly.
I have only an elementary knowledge of java and c#, so I really hope this project is not beyond the scope of my ability, but I have a really bad feeling that it is. Ideally, I would like to use Java instead of C# because I do not know whether this program will have to run on a Mac or Windows OS. I also want to do this because I haven't programmed in a while and fall semester starts in about a week.
I just want some advice, so please tell me what you guys think of my plan. Basically, here's how I would like the program to go:
Main Menu
-Some Title (JLabel)
-Add Patron to Patron List option (JButton)
-Edit/Look up a patron option (JButton)
-Patron List option (JButton)
I would like the Title to be at the very top of the frame and the buttons to be in a vertical column in the middle of the frame with some empty space between them. I would also like the buttons to be the same size. At the bottom of the frame, I would like another JLabel that says that this program was made by me. The text and look for any of this does not need to be fancy at all.
Clicking on the Patron List Button
This should open a spreadsheet that has names in one column and ID#s in another. If the spreadsheet does not exist, it should be created. There should initially be only one spreadsheet. I think this would be the hard part. I know very little about I/O and I do not know what OS this program will be running on. Because of my lack of skills, I may have to just settle for a notepad file with the names and ID#s.
I would like to be able to click on an ID or name and go to a page that has detailed information about the patron. Workers should be able to edit, update, and delete patrons from this page. I guess a few ArrayLists or similiar classes could be used to store this information.
Maybe instead of an actual spreadsheet, I could have a page with a bunch of JButtons, but that kind of sounds like a bad idea.
Clicking on the Add Patron Button
This should make a page pop up with textfields for the user to type information into. The information would then be stored. The page would have textfields for the patron's name, ID#, email, telephone, address, bicycle make/model, bicycle type, reported problem, work performed, and recommendations.
Clicking Look up/Edit a Patron
Perhaps having this option would be a little redundant, so I'm not sure whether to include this or not. Basically it would be a frame with JLabels asking the user to input either an ID# or a name and textfields for input. It would then search the Patron log for the patron. If the patron is there, this would then open up their detailed information file. If the patron is not there, it would either have a dialog box pop up or just go straight to the add patron page.
It's getting kind of late and I'm pretty tired so I'll attach some of the incomplete code that I have see what you guys think.
Overall, this project would probably need 4 to 5 GUI pages/JFrames, so it is a little ambitious for someone who hasn't coded in a while, but hopefully I can get it done. Once again, any advice on what course of action I should take would be helpful.
I'm finding myself reading Java's API on Layout managers a lot and dialog boxes, so tips on those would also be nice.
Let's see, I hope my attachments worked. Oh and I'll make the code layout better such as using anonymous classes instead of inner ones and all that junk later.