assignment 3

Hi all,

question, in the classes for COmpetitionEntry, the tut says "Each entry should be represented by an object". What object are they referring to here?

I think they are referring to the CompetitionEntry object itself in that each Entry for a Competition must be represented by a CompetitionEntry object which conists of the properies they mention (plus EntryID).
Or (my initial thinking)
Add a new class to the design called "Entry" which holds the EntryID and MemberID and then once the entry has been validated (the rules they define) successfuly a CompetitionEntry can be created from that specific Entry.

Now that I am writing it above I think my initial thinking sounds like a more logical route to take but it would possibly mean additional readers, writers, etc for the Entry object as well as a saving process to file, per region, for the exhibitor organiszer to validate them converting them to CompetitionEntries... hmmm.. I think this is why I went for the first option as it was less of a mission and the same result can be achieved.

I've just glanced at the "spec". I'm not too sure that you need to over complicate matters by first creating an entry object and then if successful a CompetitionEntry object - but that's just my opinion.
Taken from task 2:

Appropriate CompetitionEntry objects are created and added to a CompetitionEntryList, which is a Singleton. 
An object must contain the member ID, and an entry ID (e.g. c12), as well as a description of the item. 
The list is stored as a text file.

Assuming that not all the entries will be added in a single session or instance of the program, it might be worthwhile writing a reader class to first check if the files exists, and if so, read the file and create the CompetitionEntryList, before the user is allowed to add a new CompetitionEntry.

over complicate matters?? me, never!! hehe... I agree with you and didnt create the Entry object in the end.. It was just one of my initial thoughts when thinking the whole application through..

Nothing wrong with sharing thoughts and ideas for this project. You could possibly come up with a dozen solutions that work - some less complicated than others.
The more we share, the more we learn.
I'll start looking at this project in earnest over the weekend.

I've re-read the assignment and was hoping that someone could explain this to me:

Quote

You need to define your own signals and slots ... at least once in your application.

Does this mean that we can use signals and slots from Qt for the GUI work and define them once somewhere else?

I would think that it means that at least one of your classes should make use of the Signal / Slot mechanism - other than GUI stuff.

Right ok. And that mechanism we have to reimplement. Wow, it's going to be a busy two weeks!

What are you guys doing for that signals and slots part?

I have given up on this assignment due to work overload unfortunately.. guttered..
but.. to answer your question

Read the specific requirements and determine any specific process request (e.g. "Generate outstanding subscriptions" - the National Administrator, task 3) that needs to be triggered by an event (e.g. button click). These can be implemented using signals and slots.

I would have used signals and slots for all, or most, of the requirements that required user interaction. The interface class (e.g. NationalAdministratorInterface) would define and trigger the signals and slots that would generally (not always) execute code in the classes that control the process' specific logic (e.g. OperationsOnMembers).

Thanks for the reply conman.

I am doing all of the user interaction stuff with signals and slots, I was just confused by the part where we must define our own signals and slots instead of the ones in the qt framework.

I'm thinking they mean create our own methods for the slots and signals. We know how to do our own slots for any simple clicked signal, but also they probably mean at least one signal of our own making as well would probably win us some extra points. Chapter 9, sliderlcd has an example of creating a signal, instead of clicked() or triggered().

Now, I have a question, when creating readers and writers, does it have to be both? What I mean is, if we create a reader, is it necessary to have a writer, and vice versa. On page 5 of the tut 103, it says, "Dedicated readers and writers to read and write lists." But, how do we know if a particular list must also have a writer.

Ronica

Aah, now that I understand about the signals and slots thing. Thanks

In terms of the readers and writers, I think all of the lists need both because they all need to be both read and written. I can't think of any cases where the user manipulates the data and it is not supposed to be stored afterwards.

Yeah, that's what I figured, but well I'm using a previous years assignment 3 answer as a guide and some do not have writers, but have readers, that is what confused me. Anyway, I figured the safest way would be to use them both.

Another question that totally stumps me. On page 4, for the Regional Administrator, it says "Setting up the application is only done once per session." Any idea what that means. Anyone?

Ronica

@Ronica I think they mean the "memberXX.dat" file needs only to be read once, and the Member , MemberList objects needs to be created only once.

@Ronica - in this case, every bit of info that needs to be read (i.e. requires reader class) will also require a writer. The Regional Administrator will use most of the writers as they create the regional lists that are to be read by the National Administrator.

Thanks guys, will do just that.

@Ronica - I only saw the second part of your question now.
Page 3 has a similar statement for the National Administrator.
At a quick glance I would think the following:
You log on once, and depending on whether your the National Administrator or a Regional Administrator, you invoke the Singleton List of members (Complete list for National, or the Regional specific list of members). This happens once only - on startup.
Any changes are made to the singleton list, which is then persisted to file on exiting the application.

Anyone using ui files?
I don't see anything stating that we may not use ui files???

I would stay away from them André. Just create a setupUi() function in your widget class and do it manually.

I assumed we can't use .ui files..., so I created the manually. In the same way as Rob suggested

At undergraduate level, don't assume that you're allowed to take short-cuts. If it doesn't say you're allowed to use the QDesigner, don't. Some of the markers are robots. If there's something in your assignment that doesn't look like it could match the answer memo the lecturer created, the marker will just give you zero for it. Don't assume they'll ask the lecturer about every little thing they don't understand.