Hostel System

A console-based hostel/dormitory management system written in Java, backed by MySQL. It's a learning project built to practice core Java, JDBC, and layered application design (menu -> service -> DAO), with an eye towards eventually growing into a full web application.

What it does

There are two kinds of users: students and admins.

Students can:

• Create an account (name, registration number, username, email, phone, gender, password)
• Log in
• Apply for a hostel/room allocation (if they don't have a bed yet)
• Request a room transfer (if they already have a bed and want a different one)

Admins can:

• Register hostels (name + gender type, since hostels are gender-segregated)
• Register rooms within a hostel
• Add beds to a room
• Review pending student requests and approve or reject them
• Handle allocations: for an approved request, pick a hostel matching the student's gender, then an available bed, and assign it — freeing the student's previous bed first if it's a transfer

Tech stack

• Java 25 (Maven, pom.xml)
• MySQL (via mysql-connector-j)
• jBCrypt for password hashing
• Plain JDBC (no ORM) with a simple DAO -> Service -> Menu layering

Project structure

src/main/java/com/ejaisoft/
  HostelSystem.java      entry point
  Utils/                 SystemSettings (DB connection), PasswordUtil, Validator
  model/                 Student, Admin, Hostel, Room, Bed, Request, and enums
  dao/                   JDBC data access, one class per table
  service/               business rules and validation, sits between menus and DAOs
  menu/                  console UI (MainMenu, LoginMenu, AdminMenu, StudentMenu)

src/main/resources/
  db.properties.example  copy to db.properties (gitignored) and fill in your credentials
  sql/                   schema notes/fixes for tables not covered by an ORM migration tool

src/test/java/
  SeedAdmin.java         one-off utility to create the first admin account
  DbMapTest.java         ad hoc manual test scratchpad

Running it

1. Have MySQL running with a hostel_system database containing student, hostel, room, bed, admin, and requests tables (see src/main/resources/sql/ for the admin table and a couple of schema fixes that were needed).
2. Copy src/main/resources/db.properties.example to db.properties in the same folder and fill in your MySQL URL/username/password.
3. Seed an admin account (one-time):

   mvn test-compile exec:java -Dexec.mainClass=SeedAdmin
   

   Creates username admin / password ChangeMe123! — log in with that once, then change it (see Future Improvements).
4. Run the app:

   mvn compile exec:java
   

   or run HostelSystem.java directly from your IDE.

Future improvements

Roughly in order of what would matter most next:

• Web version — swap the console menu layer for a web framework (Spring Boot is the natural fit given the existing service/DAO layering barely changes) with proper sessions instead of passing objects between menu calls.
• Change/reset password — there's currently no way to change a password after account creation, for students or admins.
• View my allocation — students can apply/transfer but can't currently see their own current hostel/room/bed from the menu; it's only visible via the DB.
• Hostel change requests — RequestType.HOSTEL_CHANGE exists in the model/schema but isn't wired to any menu option yet.
• Admin-side room/bed editing — updating or removing a room/bed once created isn't supported yet, only adding.
• Pagination/filtering for listings (hostels, rooms, requests) once the data set grows past what fits on one screen.
• Automated tests — there's no test suite yet beyond manual/scripted runs; the service layer is the natural place to start (it's already decoupled from the console I/O).
• Migration tool (e.g. Flyway) instead of the plain .sql files in src/main/resources/sql/, once the schema starts changing more often.