Phonebook

A simple Contact Management Application built in C++ with a terminal-based user interface. This application allows you to manage contacts (phone numbers) using add, view, search, and delete operations.

Features

• View All Contacts - Display all saved contacts in a formatted list
• Search Contacts - Find contacts by name
• Add New Contact - Create new contact entries with validation
• Delete Contact - Remove contacts from the contact storage.

Requirements

• Some C++ Compiler: The app is developed and tested on GCC 6.3.0.

• Operating System: Windows

  The app currently relies on conio.h which is Windows-specific. For cross-platform support, see Cross-Platform Guide section below.

Setup

Using G++

g++ -o app.exe app.cpp

Usage

Run the Application

./app.exe

Main Menu

When you launch the application, you'll see the main menu:

					MAIN MENU

 [V] => View List of all contacts
 [S] => Search for a contact 
 [N] => Add a new contact 
 [D] => Delete a contact 
 [A] => About the application 
 [X] => Close the application 

 Press any key >>

Operations

1️⃣ View All Contacts (Press V)

This displays all your saved contacts in a formatted table with phone number and name:

# ALL CONTACTS #

1234567890	JOHN DOE
9876543210	JANE SMITH
5555555555	BOB JOHNSON

Press any key to return to main menu

---

2️⃣ Add New Contact (Press N)

Create a new contact with validation:

Input Prompts:

• Name Requirements:

  • Must start with a letter
  • Can contain alphabets and spaces only
  • Length: 2-20 characters
  • Uppercase conversion applied automatically

• Phone Number Requirements:

  • Exactly 10 digits
  • Numbers only
  • Must be unique (no duplicates allowed)

Example Flow:

# CREATE CONTACT #

*Name should contain alphabets only and should be 2 to 20 characters long*
Enter Contact Name >>alice johnson

*Number should be numeric and 10 digits long*
Enter Contact Number >>9876543210

~ The contact is added successfully ~

Proceed with pressing:
Key [N] to add another contact
Any other key to open MAIN MENU

---

3️⃣ Search for a Contact (Press S)

Find contacts by name with partial matching:

# SEARCH CONTACTS #

Enter name of the contact >>john

Search Results:
1234567890	JOHN DOE

Features:

• Case-insensitive search (automatic uppercase conversion)
• Partial name matching supported
• Shows all matching results
• Returns "~ Contact not present ~" if no match found

---

4️⃣ Delete a Contact (Press D)

Remove a contact from your database:

# DELETE A CONTACT #

Enter name of the contact >>jane smith

~ The contact is deleted successfully ~

Proceed with pressing:
Key [D] to delete another contact
Any other key to open MAIN MENU

Notes:

• Contact name must match exactly (case-insensitive)
• Action is permanent and cannot be undone
• Returns "~ Contact not present ~" if contact not found

---

5️⃣ About (Press A)

Displays information about the application

---

❌ Exit (Press X)

Closes the application and saves all data

Contact Storage

Contacts are stored in contacts.txt in the same directory as the executable. Each contact is stored on a single line in the format:

[10-digit-phone-number][CONTACT-NAME]

Example contacts.txt:

1234567890JOHN DOE
9876543210JANE SMITH
5555555555BOB JOHNSON

Validation Rules

Field	Rules
Name	• First character must be a letter • Only letters and spaces allowed • Length: 2-20 characters • Must be unique • Automatically converted to uppercase
Phone	• Exactly 10 digits required • Numbers only • Must be unique • No duplicates allowed

Cross-Platform Support

⚠️ Warning: The cross-platform support options below are not tested. Use them at your own risk. They are provided as guidance only.

The application currently requires Windows due to its dependency on conio.h. If you want to adapt this for Linux/macOS, you can replace conio.h with platform-specific alternatives:

Option 1: Using Preprocessor Directives

Replace the #include <conio.h> line with:

#ifdef _WIN32
    #include <conio.h>
#else
    #include <termios.h>
    #include <unistd.h>
    
    // Linux/macOS implementation of getch()
    int getch() {
        struct termios oldattr, newattr;
        int ch;
        tcgetattr(STDIN_FILENO, &oldattr);
        newattr = oldattr;
        newattr.c_lflag &= ~(ICANON | ECHO);
        tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &newattr);
        ch = getchar();
        tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &oldattr);
        return ch;
    }
#endif

Also replace system("CLS") with platform-specific equivalents:

#ifdef _WIN32
    system("cls");
#else
    system("clear");
#endif

Option 2: Using ncurses Library (Recommended for Production)

A more robust cross-platform alternative. Install ncurses:

• Linux: sudo apt-get install libncurses-dev
• macOS: brew install ncurses
• Windows: pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-ncurses (MinGW)

Then modify the code to use ncurses functions instead of conio.h.