Stuck on how to start project
I am a little stuck on how to start this project that I just got. My main goal is to create a class that allows me to manipulate a .csv file in such a way to where I can add contacts to the file, delete contacts from the file, call the entire file, call certain objects(such as first name, last name, or city of residence), or delete all contacts. I am not sure how to go about starting as I have not manipulated a .csv file before, much less made a class for one. Where should I begin or start researching?
CSV files are simply text files that have a comma between the 'columns'. They are used as a universal simple way to get data in and out of spreadsheet programs like excel.
So you should parse the file as if text and crank the data into some sort of data structure. Either you want a class for each row, and a vector of those, or you want a 2d vector of strings, or something like that can represent the spreadsheet data. From there you can drop entire rows, clear specific columns, and do various search and retrieve / replace/etc stuffs to it.
You have a second option: you can use widgits from visual studio that allow you to use excel like tools directly in the program, if using windows, and very likely there are similar things for open office etc that you could do on other OS. This may or may not be worth the trouble, depending on what the scope of the project.
And a third option, just do the work in excel if you don't have a NEED for a C++ solution.
So you should parse the file as if text and crank the data into some sort of data structure. Either you want a class for each row, and a vector of those, or you want a 2d vector of strings, or something like that can represent the spreadsheet data. From there you can drop entire rows, clear specific columns, and do various search and retrieve / replace/etc stuffs to it.
You have a second option: you can use widgits from visual studio that allow you to use excel like tools directly in the program, if using windows, and very likely there are similar things for open office etc that you could do on other OS. This may or may not be worth the trouble, depending on what the scope of the project.
And a third option, just do the work in excel if you don't have a NEED for a C++ solution.
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