Book Catalog

I created the repository in GitHub and cloned it in VS Code so that I could use GitHub for version control.

I downloaded the appropriate JDBC driver to allow my Java application to communicate with the database. Next, I created a CreateDatabase utility class that establishes the initial SQLite database file (bookcatalog.db). Running this class ensures the database exists before the application starts. For ongoing database operations, I implemented a DatabaseHelper class responsible for connecting to the database and performing database-related functionalities using methods with prepared SQL statements.

Initially, I was developing everything inside of one big do...while loop, but I soon realized that this was not sustainable or dynamic. Instead, I opted to make every functionality of the program into its own method. The Main Menu is a method, which, based on the user's input, calls other methods. Each method (which I named Create(), Read(), Update(), and Delete() after CRUD operations) contains two do...while loops.

The first do...while contains an if...else statement to perform tasks based on user input. The second do...while loop handles user continuation. After completing an action (like adding or searching for a book), it asks whether the user wants to perform the task again. If yes, the method is called again. If no, a Return() method is called, to ask the user whether they want to return to the Main Menu. If yes, MainMenu() is called. If no, the terminal prints "Goodbye!" and the program ends.

I chose to use do...while loops for most of the operations because of how much user input the program requires. Using a do...while loop allows the program to prompt the user for input, take the input to perform functions, and then cease functions when the while condition is met, or re-prompt the user if an invalid input is entered.