Introduction: This program implements a basic car rental system where customers, employees, and managers can perform various tasks related to renting cars, managing customer and employee data, and managing the fleet of available cars. Users interact with the system through a console-based interface.
Key Features:
User Authentication: Customers and employees can log in using their usernames and passwords. New users can register. The system verifies user credentials before granting access to the functionalities.
Customer Functions: Customers can view available cars, rent cars, return rented cars, clear fines. Customers can rent multiple cars for a specified duration.
Employee Functions: Employees have similar functionalities as customers but with additional privileges like discount of 15% on fine and rented cost. Employees can rent cars, return rented cars, clear fines, and update their information.
Manager Functions: Managers have administrative privileges to manage customers, employees, and the fleet of cars. Managers can register new customers and employees, update customer and employee information, delete customers and employees, view car database details, add new cars, update car properties, and delete cars.
Data Persistence: User, car, customer, and employee data are stored in external text files (car.txt, customer.txt, employee.txt) to maintain persistence between program executions.
Error Handling: The program provides error messages and handles invalid inputs gracefully. Users are prompted with clear instructions throughout the interaction. Usage:
Compilation: Compile the program using a C++ compiler, such as g++: g++ car_rental_system.cpp -o car_rental_system Execution: Run the compiled executable: ./car_rental_system Follow the prompts on the console to navigate through different functionalities. Enter any integer other than 1,2 and 3 to exit the program.
File Structure:
car_rental_system.cpp: Contains the main code implementing the car rental system. car.txt: Stores information about cars. information in a row contains these things in the sequential manner car modelid,car reg. number ,condition of the car in stars ,rented cost ,availability status ,present renter , booked number of days customer.txt: Stores information about registered customers. employee.txt: Stores information about registered employees. In both customer and employee databases, information are stored in the following sequential manner in a row username(unique for each user) ,password,an id(which may be same for multiple users),user rating, fine due
Assumptions and Limitations:
This car rental system is a basic implementation and may lack certain advanced features found in commercial systems. It assumes a single-user environment and does not handle concurrent access or data integrity issues. The program relies on text files for data storage, which may not scale well for large datasets.
Further Assumptions - The unique attribute of each user is their user name, not their id. The unique attribute of each car is its modelid/ (it is written by name "carname" in the program), not their reg. number. There is only one manager as there is no difference in the system with 1 manager or with multiple managers - as essentially the working in both the cases are same so there is no database for managers. the customer/employee pays the amount of rent(not including fine) of a particular car whenever he/she returns the corresponding car. So, clear dues function is for fine only. The customer and employee will honestly tell the number of days for which they have rented the car and the condition in which they are returning while returning a car. Based on the change in condition of car, the customer/employee rating will be updated. The customer will never pay the extra fine as that will make the fine attribute negative - a negative fine attribute woul essentially mean that he has paid more fine so in future, he needs to pay less.
Car Rental System User Manual :
Welcome to the Car Rental System! This user manual will guide you through the functionalities and usage of the system to ensure a smooth experience.
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Getting Started To begin using the Car Rental System, follow these steps:
Compile and run the program using your preferred compiler or IDE. Upon starting the program, you will be prompted with a menu where you can select your user type: customer, employee, or manager. Depending on your selection, you will be prompted to log in, register, or perform various actions within the system.
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User Types Customer:
If you are a customer, you can:
Log in if you already have an account.
Register if you are a new user.
View available cars for rent.
Rent cars for a specified duration.
Return rented cars.
View and clear fine dues.
Employee:
If you are an employee, you can:
Log in if you already have an account.
Register if you are a new user.
Perform similar actions to customers, with additional functionalities:
View available cars for rent.
Rent cars for customers.
Return rented cars on behalf of customers.
View and clear fine dues.
Manager:
If you are a manager, you can:
Access administrative functionalities, including managing customers, employees, and cars:
Register new customers and employees.
Update customer and employee information.
Delete customers and employees.
View details of customers, employees, and cars.
Add new cars to the system.
Update and delete existing cars.
- Navigation Use the numerical input options provided by the system to navigate through different functionalities and actions. Follow the prompts and instructions provided by the system to proceed with your desired actions.
Happy renting!
This program was developed by Abhishek Khandelwal as part of CS253 course programming assignment.