Virtual Chef v0.3

README OUT OF DATE

··· What's New

• Improved code logic: fixed redundant logic and enhanced reference passing in manuallyAddIngredients and selectRecipe.
• Refactored Ingredients: now implemented as a struct for simplicity.
• Code reorganization:
  • Added header files for better modularity.
  • Moved method implementations to corresponding .cpp files.
  • Introduced a build manager with CMakeLists.txt for easier compilation.
• Enhanced input validation and error handling in user prompts.
• Updated documentation and code comments for clarity.
• Improved menu navigation.
• General code cleanup and formatting.

··· Bugs Fixed

• Infinite loop when entering spaces in ingredient names.
• Crashes when entering non-numeric values for quantities.
• Insufficient validation in the main menu and recipe selection.
• 'Yes/No' confirmation does not break the loop correctly when entering "n".
• Compiler error tolower() returns an int but it is assigned to a char.

Virtual Chef is a terminal application that lets you manage recipes and check which dishes you can prepare based on the ingredients you have available.

Table of Contents

• What's New
• Bugs Fixed
• Installation
• Usage
• Features
• Code Structure
• License
• Future Improvements
• Acknowledgements

··· Installation

To get started with Virtual Chef, follow these steps:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/iKebb/VirtualChef-keb2025.git

# Enter the project directory
cd VirtualChef-keb2025

# Make sure you have C++ compiler to build and run the application.

··· Usage

Compile and run the program. The main menu allows you to:

• View all recipes.
• Check available recipes based on your ingredients.
• Select and view recipe details.
• List all loaded ingredients.
• Add ingredients manually during execution.

Recipe data is loaded from JSON files and ingredients from CSV files located in the data/ directory.

··· Features

• Browse Recipes: View all stored recipes.
• Filter Available Recipes: Show only recipes you can prepare with your ingredients.
• Recipe Details: Access instructions and ingredients for each recipe.
• Ingredient Management: View and add ingredients manually.
• Data Loading: Ingredients from .txt, recipes from .json using the nlohmann/json library.

··· Code Structure

• main.cpp: Entry point, initializes and displays the menu.
• recipe.hpp/cpp: Recipe class with metadata, ingredients, and instructions.
• recipeManager.hpp/cpp: Logic for loading, filtering, and displaying recipes and ingredients.
• trim.hpp/cpp: Utility for string trimming.
• readme.md: Project documentation.

Dependencies:

• nlohmann/json for JSON handling.
• Standard C++ libraries (<fstream>, <sstream>, <algorithm>, etc.).

··· License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. You can modify and distribute it under its terms.

··· Future Improvements

• Improve input validation.
• Case-insensitive ingredient comparison.
• Standardize data and unit parsing.
• Expand the recipe database.
• Refactor code for clarity and better object orientation.
• Add search by name or ingredient.
• Save manually added ingredients.

··· Acknowledgements

Thanks to the developers of nlohmann/json for their solution for handling JSON in modern C++.