CS213 - Assignment 1 - Song Library Design & Implementation with GUI - Solved

Design and implement an application with a graphical user interface to manage a library of songs.

A song is uniquely identified by a combination of name and artist (case INsensitive, i.e. upper or lower case are the same).

This means either name or artist may be duplicated, but the combination of name and artist may not.

Your application should have a SINGLE WINDOW with three functions:

1.  Song list display, with the ability to select ONE song from the list.

The list will display the name and artist ONLY for each song, in alphabetical order of names (and within duplicate names, by alphabetical order of artists). Unless the list is empty, one song is always preselected, and its details shown - see the following item.

2.  Song detail, with name, artist, album, and year, of the song that is selected in the song list interface

3.  Song Add/Delete/Edit, for adding a new song, deleting a selected song, and editing a selected song:

  Add: When a new song is added, the song name and artist should be entered at the very least. Year and album are optional. If the name and artist are the same as an existing song, the add should not be allowed - a message should be shown in a pop-up dialog, or by some other means within the main application window.

The newly added song should automatically be placed in the correct position in the alphabetical order in the list. Also, it should be automatically selected, replacing the previously selected song, and its details should be shown.

  Edit: ANY of the fields can be changed. Again, if name and artist conflict with those of an existing song, the edit should NOT be allowed - a message should be shown in a pop-up dialog, or by some other means within the main application window.

  Delete: Only the selected song in the list can be deleted. After deletion, the next song in the list should be selected, and the details displayed. If there is no next song, the previous song should be selected, and if there is no previous song either, then the list is empty and the detail info is all blanks.

For any of the add/delete/edit actions, the user should be able to cancel (or back out of) the action if they change their mind after starting the action.

Note: If you use the song detail display area for add/delete/edit as well (instead of two separate areas), then make sure the interface is not confusing to the user, particularly if the add or edit is disallowed or aborted by the user.

When your program is started, it should show the current list of songs in the library, in the song list display, with the first song selected by default. (The first time the program is run, there should be nothing in the display, since there won't be any songs in the library.)

The song library data should persist across different sessions of your program. You can save the song list in a file in whatever TEXT (human readable) format you like, and then read it into your program when it starts up. (This means you may not serialize the data, even if you know how to do it, because serialized data is not human readable.)

Your application is NOT required to play a song when it is selected. In other words, there is no requirement to have audio playing functionality, and there will not be any extra credit if you choose to implement this functionality.

The application window need NOT be resizable. When the window is closed, the application should be terminated.

Most of the aspects of design (layouts and widgets) and implementation (event handling) you need for this assignment have been covered in class. If there is any aspect you want to add that has not been covered in class, you are expected to discover these for yourself.

NOTE:

 You MUST use Java FX for all UI-related code. (No Swing stuff.)

In your app, there should be only ONE window for all user interaction.

The layout for this single application window should be in fxml ONLY. In other words, none of the UI elements should be created using Java code.

  You may use pop-ups ONLY to show an error message, or to ask for confirm/cancel of an action, but NOT for anything else - all inputs and edits must be done in the single main window.

For the pop updialogs, you will NOT be using fxml since you can work with the standard dialog UIs in the JavaFX framework.

Note: Switching scenes within the main window is fine, since no new windows are popped up. Also, partitioning the main window into various sub-areas is also fine for the same reason.


 

Song list+selection
7
Details display
6
Add/Delete/Edit
20
Persistence
7
For the first three items, the grade will depend on correctness and completeness of functionality, as well as effective/appropriate use of JavaFX widgets. For the last part (persistence), grading is on correctness, and on ensuring this is transparent to the user, i.e. the user should not have to be concerned with where and how the song list is stored between sessions.

Effective/appropriate means the UI should be clear, the user should know exactly what to expect when events are triggered, the user should know exactly what to do to achieve their objective. If you need to explain to someone how to use the interface, then it's not a good enough interface.

IMPORTANT: Your UI should not use widgets that are an overkill for the task at hand because if a complex widget is used for a simple task, it will confuse the user. So, for instance, do NOT use a table view at all for ANY aspect of the UI, it will be a major overkill since the requirements do not ask you to dynamically rearrange the display on user request (the kind of thing the table view is used for). If you do so, you will lose credit - see the Point Deductions section at the end of this document.

Finally, your UI is not required to be aesthetically pleasing (no points for this because it's highly subjective), but you are most welcome to dazzle us with your creativity (just for the heck of it!) as long as it does not get in the way of clean functionality.

You may use any of the classes in the standard Java SDK, but no external third-party libraries EXCEPT if you want to use JSON to store and retrieve song data. If you elect to use JSON, you will need to use a JSON library (jar)- inform your grader so that they know to get the library when they test your app.

Alternatively, you may use the CSV format to store song data, but you do not need an external library to process

  5 points, if the application window does not show up at all, but we can fix the code to make it show. So make sure it actually shows when you run the application.

 5 points, if the application window cannot be closed, or it closes but does not terminate the application

10 points, if the displayed list of songs is not in alphabetical order as specified in the Song list display item.

10 points, if you did not use FXML for the UI design of the main window. (This does not apply to the pop-up dialogs to report input errors, or for confirming/canceling any of the add/edit/delete actions - for these you will use the standard dialog UIs provided by Java FX.)

  10 points, if any window other than the application frame pops up at any time (except for error dialogs for incorrect add and edit, if you choose to use dialogs for these, or dialogs for confirm/cancel of any action).

 10 points, if you use a table view anywhere.

Points will be deducted for each test case that cannot be tried because either your data file or your UI does not allow for testing it. The exact number of points will depend the point value of the test case(s).

  No credit, if you used any external libraries--you are only allowed to use the standard Java SDK, and optionally JSON .

FAQ
  Q. Can I use SceneBuilder to make my fxml?

A. Yes.

  Q. Can we switch scenes in the main window? Or would that still be considered a popup/multiple windows?

             A. You can switch scenes, you are not popping up an independent window by doing this.                              

  Q. What characters are permitted for song name, artist, and album?

             A. Any printable character except '|' (vertical bar)                              

  Q. If user enters leading/trailing spaces for name, artist, or album, should we get rid of them?

             A. Yes.                                                                                                                                     

  Q. Are we required to show lowercase versions of name and artist when displaying the song info?

A. When you show the info (list or details), it should be exactly as the user entered (so they are not surprised). But when you sort in your code, it should be case insensitive.

  Q. For the year, do we have to take into account the BC/AD stuff?

A. No, the only thing you need to check is that it is a positive integer.

  Q. Are we allowed to place the text file with the song list directly under the project folder? If not, is there a particular place that we should put it in?

A. It should be under the project folder, but not under the code folders.             So either directly under the project folder, or you can make a data folder under project, and then put the text file there. (Grading wise, we don't have any requirement as such, so what I am saying here is just best practice.)

  Q. Do JSON files count as human readable?

A. Yes. "JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight       data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write." (json.org)

  Q. If we use CSV file format for storing the data, are we allowed to use external libraries.

A. To use CSV you don't need external libraries, but if you do want to use externals, make sure to inform your grader so they know what library to use when they test your application. (WARNING! A song name, artist, or album could well have a comma in it, so using comma as a separator between fields is a bad idea.)