Let's make it so our user can add student information to our database. We'll need to do a few things here. First, we'll have to add a new case to our if statement.
# runner.py
if mode == '1':
school.list_students()
elif mode == '2':
student_id = input('Enter student id:')
student = school.find_student_by_id(student_id)
print(str(student))
elif mode == '3':
school.add_student(student_data)
elif mode == '5':
break Just like before we call a method that we have not defined yet. This method should take a dictionary containing all the data to make a new student object. From here, we need to do two things. First, we need to ask the user for the student's name, age, student_id number, and password. Next, we need to put those values into a dictionary and then pass that dictionary to our method. We can do this with multiple input() calls.
# runner.py
elif mode == '3':
student_data = {'role':'student'}
student_data['name'] = input('Enter student name:\n')
student_data['age'] = input('Enter student age: \n')
student_data['school_id'] = input('Enter student school id: \n')
student_data['password'] = input('Enter student password: \n')
school.add_student(student_data)
elif mode == '5':
breakWow, our if statement is getting pretty crowded. We'll refactor it in the next challenge. For now, let's finish up the functionality for this feature by going into our school class and writing our add_student() method. This method will need to create a new instance of a student object and add it to the self.students variable. When you're done, run the program. Enter some test data when prompted. Next, choose the option to list all the students. You should see the test student you entered listed at the end of your self.students list.
You may have noticed a huge problem with our program. Yes, we can add students, but once we exit, all that data is lost! We need to find a way to save that data to the CSV file so that our data persists (you'll hear this word a lot - it just means saves). Complete the add_student() method so that it that loops through all our student objects in self.students and saves them to the CSV file.
Note: You may be asking, why are we re-saving every single object instead of just the new one we created? There are a few reasons. One, yes we can append a line to a CSV file, but later, when we want to delete rows, removing a line from say, the middle of the file, is a little trickier. It involves getting deeper into the CSV module than is necessary for this tutorial. For the sake of simplicity, we are just going to write a method that overwrites the old data with the new data. It's not the most performative, but for a small app like this, it will do just fine.
Writing to CSVs:
Using the CSV docs, figure out how to write to a CSV. It is recommended that you keep a copy of the students.csv handy while testing just in case you erase all the data in your original CSV.
Two hints: the docs are likely unsatisfactory (i.e., you'll need to Google around to get a good answer) and you need headers in your CSV.
The last feature we need to implement is the ability to delete a student record. Follow the same procedure as before. First, add a condition to the if statement. What information will you need from the user in order to delete a record? How will you get it and pass it to your method? Then, in school.py define a method delete_student() and rewrite your CSV file. Are you noticing duplicated code? Maybe you can refactor!