help with files

[azwraith69]

hello,, my first post here..
im a 1st year CS student..

i need a help on having the idea of how to make this assignment..
i need to make a program,,a question bank,, with this functions:

1. Add a question
2. Delete question(s)
3. Modify a question
4. Display question(s)
a. All questions
b. Questions by subject
c. Questions by subject-level (category)
5. Search for a question by keyword (displays questions that have the keyword found in the question or answer)
(THERE ARE 7 SUBJECTS ad 5 LEVELS,, so 35 CATEGORIES all in all)

The questions database must be persistent across usage sessions. That is to say, changes made to the Bank will have to be retained once the program is closed and then re-opened. To make this possible, the filesystem is used to store the questions for the quiz game. Load it once at startup, then save before quitting. Also, the Bank must be able to store an unlimited number of questions.

is it wise to use vectors here, then store them to files? if so,, how?
i think its easier to manipulate many textfiles,, instead of one,, maybe 1 textfile per subject..

i'm not that good in file processing and manipulations(like my english!).. so i really need help how to do this one... even without codes,, just specific ideas and algorithms.... thX..

[Freaky_Chris]

Read all of the questions into a vector, which is simple enough just takes one loop. Then you can append to the vector and you can remove items from the vector. Then before quitting besure to clear the text file and re-write everything stored in your vector!

Chris

[azwraith69]

Read all of the questions into a vector, which is simple enough just takes one loop. Then you can append to the vector and you can remove items from the vector. Then before quitting besure to clear the text file and re-write everything stored in your vector!

Chris

thx.. i haven't think of that...
read,,clear then rewrite...

hmm,,
i'll try that one..

any other ideas will still help,,
i'll try to post my codes later...
thX!!

[Ancient Dragon]

>>any other ideas will still help
Freaky's solution looks like a sure winner to me :) The only problem I see is if you unplug your computer before properly shutting down the program so the data can be saved.

[Freaky_Chris]

Write it to a new file. then delete original when completed and rename new file :D

[azwraith69]

haha.. thx again

but my problem now is the storing of individual questions to each element of vectors..

because most questions have '\n' inside them,,an example is a multiple choice-type question,, which make using delimiters quite hard..

my attempt would be to put a character (that i won't use in the question bank) at the start/end of every question to serve as a delimiter.. but is there any easier way? what specific functions can i use to read those questions and put into vectors easily?

thx..