Java: CSV file read & write

Question

I'm reading 2 csv files: store_inventory & new_acquisitions.
I want to be able to compare the store_inventory csv file with new_acquisitions. 1) If the item names match just update the quantity in store_inventory. 2) If new_acquisitions has a new item that does not exist in store_inventory, then add it to the store_inventory.

Here is what i have done so far but its not very good. I added comments where i need to add taks 1 & 2.
Any advice or code to do the above tasks would be great! thanks.

    File new_acq = new File("/src/test/new_acquisitions.csv");
    Scanner acq_scan = null;
    try {
        acq_scan = new Scanner(new_acq);
    } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(mainpage.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }
    String itemName;
    int quantity;
    Double cost;
    Double price;

    File store_inv = new File("/src/test/store_inventory.csv");
    Scanner invscan = null;
    try {
        invscan = new Scanner(store_inv);
    } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(mainpage.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }
    String itemNameInv;
    int quantityInv;
    Double costInv;
    Double priceInv;


    while (acq_scan.hasNext()) {
        String line = acq_scan.nextLine();
        if (line.charAt(0) == '#') {
            continue;
        }
        String[] split = line.split(",");

        itemName = split[0];
        quantity = Integer.parseInt(split[1]);
        cost = Double.parseDouble(split[2]);
        price = Double.parseDouble(split[3]);


        while(invscan.hasNext()) {
            String line2 = invscan.nextLine();
            if (line2.charAt(0) == '#') {
                continue;
            }
            String[] split2 = line2.split(",");

            itemNameInv = split2[0];
            quantityInv = Integer.parseInt(split2[1]);
            costInv = Double.parseDouble(split2[2]);
            priceInv = Double.parseDouble(split2[3]);


            if(itemName == itemNameInv) {
                //update quantity

            }
        }
        //add new entry into csv file

     }

Thanks again for any help. =]

Answer 1

Suggest you use one of the existing CSV parser such as Commons CSV or Super CSV instead of reinventing the wheel. Should make your life a lot easier.

Answer 2

Your implementation makes the common mistake of breaking the line on commas by using line.split(","). This does not work because the values themselves might have commas in them. If that happens, the value must be quoted, and you need to ignore commas within the quotes. The split method can not do this -- I see this mistake a lot.

Here is the source of an implementation that does it correctly: http://agiletribe.purplehillsbooks.com/2012/11/23/the-only-class-you-need-for-csv-files/

Answer 3

With help of the open source library uniVocity-parsers, you could develop with pretty clean code as following:

private void processInventory() throws IOException {
    /**
     * ---------------------------------------------
     *  Read CSV rows into list of beans you defined
     * ---------------------------------------------
     */
    // 1st, config the CSV reader with row processor attaching the bean definition
    CsvParserSettings settings = new CsvParserSettings();
    settings.getFormat().setLineSeparator("\n");
    BeanListProcessor<Inventory> rowProcessor = new BeanListProcessor<Inventory>(Inventory.class);
    settings.setRowProcessor(rowProcessor);
    settings.setHeaderExtractionEnabled(true);

    // 2nd, parse all rows from the CSV file into the list of beans you defined
    CsvParser parser = new CsvParser(settings);
    parser.parse(new FileReader("/src/test/store_inventory.csv"));
    List<Inventory> storeInvList = rowProcessor.getBeans();
    Iterator<Inventory> storeInvIterator = storeInvList.iterator();

    parser.parse(new FileReader("/src/test/new_acquisitions.csv"));
    List<Inventory> newAcqList = rowProcessor.getBeans();
    Iterator<Inventory> newAcqIterator = newAcqList.iterator();

    // 3rd, process the beans with business logic
    while (newAcqIterator.hasNext()) {

        Inventory newAcq = newAcqIterator.next();
        boolean isItemIncluded = false;
        while (storeInvIterator.hasNext()) {
            Inventory storeInv = storeInvIterator.next();

            // 1) If the item names match just update the quantity in store_inventory
            if (storeInv.getItemName().equalsIgnoreCase(newAcq.getItemName())) {
                storeInv.setQuantity(newAcq.getQuantity());
                isItemIncluded = true;
            }
        }

        // 2) If new_acquisitions has a new item that does not exist in store_inventory,
        // then add it to the store_inventory.
        if (!isItemIncluded) {
            storeInvList.add(newAcq);
        }
    }
}

Just follow this code sample I worked out according to your requirements. Note that the library provided simplified API and significent performance for parsing CSV files.