Github Report

2023 Distributed system Assignment @ The University of Melbourne

This project consists of a simple dictionary server and client system written in Java. The server maintains a dictionary of words and their meanings, and the client can connect to the server to perform operations like adding, deleting, searching, and updating words and their meanings.

GUI diaplay (Server & Client)

GUI

Language & Tools

Java Badge VSCode Badge VSCode Badge VSCode Badge VSCode Badge

Prerequisites

  • Java Development Kit (JDK) 8 or later
  • A JSON file containing the initial words and meanings for the dictionary

Features

  • Add a new word along with its meaning.
  • Delete a word from the dictionary.
  • Search for a word and display its meanings.
  • Update the meaning of an existing word.

Dictionary File Format

The dictionary file should be a JSON file containing a list of words and their meanings. Each word should have a unique name, and each meaning should be a string. Here is an example of a dictionary file:

[
    {
    "orange": [
        "A round citrus fruit with a tough, bright reddish-yellow rind.",
        "A color between yellow and red in the spectrum."
    ],
    "apple": [
        "The usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree.",
        "The tree, cultivated in most temperate regions."
    ]
    }
]

View more details in GitHub.

How to Compile and Run

  1. Compile the server and client files:
javac DictionaryServer.java
javac DictionaryClient.java
  1. Run the server with the following command, replacing <port> with the desired port number and <path_to_dictionary_file> with the path to your JSON file containing the initial dictionary:
java DictionaryServer <port> <path_to_dictionary_file>
  1. Run the client with the following command, replacing <server_address> with the server’s address and <port> with the port number used by the server:
java DictionaryClient <server_address> <port>

Or

  1. We also provide Jar file, you can run the server and client with the following command:

  2. Run the server with the following command, replacing <port> with the desired port number and <path_to_dictionary_file> with the path to your JSON file containing the initial dictionary:

java -jar DictionaryServer.jar <port> <path_to_dictionary_file>
  1. Run the client with the following command, replacing <server_address> with the server’s address and <port> with the port number used by the server:
java -jar DictionaryClient.jar <server-address> <server-port>

Usage

The client can send commands to the server to perform various operations on the dictionary. Here are the available commands:

  • add <word> <meaning>: Adds a new word with the specified meaning to the dictionary. If the word already exists, the new meaning will be added to the list of existing meanings.
  • delete <word>: Deletes the specified word and its meanings from the dictionary.
  • search <word>: Searches for the specified word in the dictionary and returns its meanings.
  • update <word> <new_meaning>: Updates the specified word with a new meaning, replacing the existing meanings.

To exit the client, type exit.

Interaction Diagram

Diagram

Report

You can check the report in the Report

Example

example