Introduction

What does the FileManager do?

The file manager is a wrapper class for C++17's filestreams. It takes control of a specified file and provides idiomatic methods to manipulate the given file. As a standalone library, it handles all verbose code parts of file streams under the hood and offers a balance between efficiency, ease of use, reliability and features.

What are the features?

• File content is loaded into RAM for performance.
• Creates recovery files in case of a failed save.
• Keeps memory low by cleaning garbage regularly.
• Saves efficiently by evaluating whether a full rewrite is necessary.
• Standalone, independent library which can just be dropped into the project folder.

Installation

1. Download the latest release under 'Releases'.
2. Extract the 'file_manager.h' file from the zip into your project folder.
3. Make sure to use C++17 or later.
4. Include the file manager. e.g. #include "file_manager.h".

Code samples

Creating a .txt file and adding 'Hello world!'

#include "file_manager.h"

int main() {
    // Creates a test.txt file at the root of the C drive, depending on the provided path.
    // If the given path/file doesn't exist, the manager creates the according directories/file.
    FileManager fm(R"C:/test.txt");

    // Appends "Hello world!" at the end of the .txt file.
    fm.append("Hello world", "!");

    // Saves automatically on deconstruction!
}

Basic task schedeuler

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

#include "file_manager.h"

int main() {
    FileManager fm(R"(C:\Users\Roman Hein\Desktop\todo.txt)");

	int input;
	std::string task;

	while (true) {
		if (!fm.empty()) {
			std::cout << "Next task: " << fm.first() << "\n";
		}
		else {
			std::cout << "No tasks present.\n";
		}

		std::cout << "1) Add new task\n"
			  	  << "2) Mark current task as completed\n"
			  	  << "3) Exit\n"
			      << ": ";

		std::cin >> input;
		std::cin.ignore();

		switch (input) {
		case 1:
			std::cout << "Type a task: ";
			std::getline(std::cin, task);

			fm.append(task);
			break;

		case 2:
			if (fm.empty()) {
				std::cout << "No tasks present.\n";
				break;
			}

			fm.erase(0);
			break;

		case 3:
			return 0;

		default:
			std::cout << "Invalid input.\n";
		}
	}
}

Class Methods

Method	Explanation
FileManager(filePath)	Creates a new FileManager instance that manages the specified file.
read(row)	Returns the text at the specified row.
split(row, delimiter)	Returns the text parts of split text at the specified row by the specified delimiter.
first()	Returns a copy of the text at the first row.
last()	Returns a copy of the text at the last row.
all()	Returns a copy of the text at every row.
append(args)	Adds the given arguments to a new row at the end of the file.
overwrite(row, args)	Overwrites the specified row with the specified arguments
erase(row)	Deletes the specified row, shifting all later elements down.
clear()	Deletes all rows.
save()	Saves all changes back to the file.
empty()	Returns true if there are no present rows.
size()	Returns the number of present rows.