README.md

Binary-Database

A console-based Vehicle Database Management System written in C++. It supports adding, displaying, sorting, and deleting vehicle records, with persistent storage using a binary file format.

Features

• Polymorphic vehicle types — Cars, Bikes, and Miscellaneous vehicles (e.g. e-scooters) managed through a common Vehicle base class
• Binary file storage — efficient serialization and deserialization of records to/from a records.dat file
• Sorting — sort vehicles by year or power in ascending/descending order
• CRUD operations — add, display, and delete vehicle entries through an interactive menu
• Input validation — guards against invalid user input

Class Hierarchy

Vehicle (abstract base)
├── Car
├── Bike
└── Misc

Database manages a collection of Vehicle* pointers and handles file I/O.

Prerequisites

• C++14 compatible compiler
• CMake 3.19 or newer

Building

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .

This produces an executable named Database.

Usage

Run the executable and follow the interactive menu:

1. LOAD FILE       – load records from the binary file
2. SAVE FILE       – save current records to the binary file
3. DISPLAY         – show all stored vehicles
4. SORT            – sort by year or power
5. ADD VEHICLE     – add a new car, bike, or misc vehicle
6. DELETE VEHICLE  – remove a vehicle by index
7. EXIT            – quit the program

Project Structure

File	Description
main.cpp	Entry point; runs the menu loop
Vehicle.h/cpp	Abstract base class with common attributes (manufacturer, name, year, power)
Car.h/cpp	Car subclass (body type, color, seats, motors)
Bike.h/cpp	Bike subclass (wheel size, frame type)
Misc.h/cpp	Miscellaneous vehicle subclass (range, battery capacity)
Database.h/cpp	Database manager handling the vehicle collection and binary file I/O
pch.h	Precompiled header with common includes
CMakeLists.txt	CMake build configuration
records.dat	Binary data file for stored vehicle records