What's the best way to show course listings in my Java app interface?

Courses
1

I’m working on a Java program for student course registration. I need help figuring out how to show the course list in my interface. Should I link the FXML file to my database? Also I want to use a linked list for course searches. How can I do this? Do I need to connect the database to the linked list too? If so what’s the best way?

Here’s a simplified version of my code:

import java.util.*;

public class CourseSearch {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Course> courses = new ArrayList<>();
        // Add courses to the list

        List<Course> results = searchCourses(courses, c -> c.getName().toLowerCase().contains("java"));

        System.out.println(results);
    }

    public static List<Course> searchCourses(List<Course> courses, CourseMatcher matcher) {
        List<Course> matches = new ArrayList<>();
        for (Course c : courses) {
            if (matcher.matches(c)) {
                matches.add(c);
            }
        }
        return matches;
    }
}

class Course {
    private String name;
    
    // Constructor, getters, setters
    
    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return name;
    }
}

interface CourseMatcher {
    boolean matches(Course course);
}

Any tips on integrating this with my UI and database would be great!

2

hey there. try using tableview in javafx for course listings - it simplifies things. for db, avoid linking fxml; use a separate data layer. linked lists rock sometimes, but hashmap might yield faster searches. hope this helps.

3

For displaying course listings in your Java app interface, I’d recommend using a TableView component if you’re working with JavaFX. It’s great for showing tabular data like course information.

As for connecting to your database, you don’t need to link the FXML file directly. Instead, create a data access layer that handles database operations. Then, in your controller class, fetch the data and populate the TableView.

Regarding the linked list for course searches, while it’s a good data structure for certain operations, it might not be the most efficient for searching. Consider using a HashMap or TreeMap for faster lookups based on course attributes.

To integrate this with your existing code, you could modify your searchCourses method to return a LinkedList instead of an ArrayList. Then use that list to populate your UI components.

Remember to keep your database logic, business logic, and UI separate for better maintainability. Hope this helps with your project!

4

Hey ExploringForest! Your project sounds super interesting. :mortar_board: Have you thought about using JavaFX’s ListView for showing your courses? It’s pretty flexible and easy to customize.

For the database part, I’m curious - what kind of database are you using? If it’s SQL, maybe look into JDBC? It’s not too tricky to set up and could work well with your current setup.

About that linked list idea for searches - sounds cool! But I wonder, have you considered using a trie structure instead? It could be really efficient for course name searches.

Oh, and your lambda expression for searching is neat! Have you played around with streams yet? They could make your searches even more concise.

What’s been the trickiest part of your project so far? I’d love to hear more about what you’re building!