Hi,
I am using an example to read in a database from a file. In the example it is a huge database of zipcodes, latitudes and longitudes. I have a small database containing lecturer's names,department and x,y coordinates on the map. Once I have read in the database I have clear instructions on how to refine my program but I have no idea how to read in the databse using processing. I have tried to use the given example but there is too much unnecessary parsing ect. Could anyone please give me tips on how I could read in the simple database and output the x,y coordinates when the lecturers name is typed in. Here is the code i have been trying to use:



static final int DEPARTMENT = 0;
static final int X = 1;
static final int Y = 2;
static final int NAME = 3;

int totalCount;  // total number of lecturers
Lecturer[] lecturers;
int lecturerCount;


// min/max boundary of all points
float minX, maxX;
float minY, maxY;


public void setup() {
 readData();
}

void readData() {
 String[] lines = loadStrings("lecturer.csv");
 parseInfo(lines[0]); // read the header line
 
 lecturers = new Lecturer[totalCount];
 for ( int i = 1; i < lines.length; i++){
   lecturers[lecturerCount] = parseLecturer(lines[i]);
   lecturerCount ++;
 }
}
void parseInfo(String line) {
 String infoString = line.substring(2);  // remove the #
 String[] infoPieces = split(infoString, ',');
 totalCount = int(infoPieces[0]);  
 minX = float(infoPieces[1]);
 maxX = float(infoPieces[2]);
 minY = float(infoPieces[3]);
 maxY = float(infoPieces[4]);
}

Lecturer parseLecturer(String line) {
 String pieces[] = split(line, TAB);
 String department = pieces[DEPARTMENT];
 String name = pieces[NAME];
 float x = float(pieces[X]);
 float y = float(pieces[Y]);
 
 return new Lecturer(department, name, x, y);
}

class Lecturer {
 String department;
 String name;
 float x;
 float y;
 
 
 public Lecturer(String department, String name, float x, float y) {
   this.department = department;
   this.name = name;
   this.x = x;
   this.y = y;
 }
}


and here is the latest error:
Exception in thread "Animation Thread" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3



Sorry for the huge posts
Thanks in advance for you time

Thanks for your reply, Im still trying to figure out what im doing but im very new to processing.
Im still getting the error
Exception in thread "Animation Thread" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 4
     at sketch_feb21a.parseInfo(sketch_feb21a.java:53)
     at sketch_feb21a.readData(sketch_feb21a.java:38)
     at sketch_feb21a.setup(sketch_feb21a.java:33)
     at processing.core.PApplet.handleDraw(PApplet.java:1402)
     at processing.core.PApplet.run(PApplet.java:1327)
     at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)


its highlighting the line:
maxY = float(infoPieces[4]);


im trying to read in an excel file saved as lecturer.csv
which contains:

name      x      y      department
CD      6      4      it
NM      5      4      maths

is it a problem with the file?  

Quote:

Yes, or more exactly with the code trying to read that file. It must be adapted to its content.
Code:

void readData() {
 String[] lines = loadStrings("lecturer.csv");
 // Skip the header line
 totalCount = lines.length - 1;
 lecturers = new Lecturer[totalCount];
 for ( int i = 1; i < lines.length; i++){
   lecturers[lecturerCount] = parseLecturer(lines[i]);
   lecturerCount++;
 }
} 

You can then drop the parseInfo function.

I meant to say that the error is highlighting the line:
String name = pieces[NAME];

Once again sorry for all the posts

I realised that mistake after posting and changed it to 0,1,2,3 , but its still giving me the same error for the same line