Sorting data received from a CSV files

Good day, I have been given an assignment that gets data off a CSV file. The CSV file contains the following entries: LName,FName,Dept,Grade,Gross Pay, Tax Paid, Net Pay.

I am able to retrieve the data and display it in the console window which is shown in my code below. However, I need help with displaying the results according to dept and getting the total net pay in each dept. There are three depts M, R, And S.

class DisplayEmpData
{
    public void DisplayEmp()
    {
        Console.Clear();
        Console.WriteLine("****************************************************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("****************************************************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("**                                                                        **");
        Console.WriteLine("**                        Payroll System                           **");
        Console.WriteLine("**                        Employee Data Display                           **");
        Console.WriteLine("****************************************************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("****************************************************************************");
        List<string> columns;
        List<Dictionary<string, string>> myData = GetData(out columns);
        foreach (string column in columns)
        {
            Console.Write("{0,-9}", column);
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
        foreach (Dictionary<string, string> row in myData)
        {
            foreach (string column in columns)
            {
                Console.Write("{0,-9}", row[column]);
            }
            Console.WriteLine();
        }
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    private static List<Dictionary<string, string>> GetData(out List<string> columns)
    {
        string line;
        string[] stringArray;
        char[] charArray = new char[] { ',' };
        List<Dictionary<string, string>> data = new List<Dictionary<string, string>>();
        columns = new List<string>();

        try
        {
            FileStream aFile = new FileStream(@"..\..\EmployeeDetails.txt", FileMode.Open);
            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(aFile);
            // Obtain the columns from the first line.
            // Split row of data into string array
            line = sr.ReadLine();
            stringArray = line.Split(charArray);
            for (int x = 0; x <= stringArray.GetUpperBound(0); x++)
            {
                columns.Add(stringArray[x]);
            }
            line = sr.ReadLine();
            while (line != null)
            {
                // Split row of data into string array
                stringArray = line.Split(charArray);
                Dictiona开发者_JS百科ry<string, string> dataRow = new Dictionary<string, string>();
                for (int x = 0; x <= stringArray.GetUpperBound(0); x++)
                {
                    dataRow.Add(columns[x], stringArray[x]);
                }
                data.Add(dataRow);
                line = sr.ReadLine();
            }
            sr.Close();
            return data;
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("An IO exception has been thrown!");
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
            Console.ReadLine();
            return data;
        }
    }

}

Can someone please help me?

Try loading the data into a DataTable like this:

    private static DataTable GetEmployeeData()
    {
        string line;
        string[] columnValues;
        char[] columnSeperator = new char[] { ',' };

        DataTable dt = new DataTable();

        try
        {
            FileStream employeeFile = new FileStream(@"..\..\EmployeeDetails.txt", FileMode.Open);
            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(employeeFile);

            // Obtain the columns from the first line.
            line = sr.ReadLine();
            columnValues = line.Split(columnSeperator);
            for (int x = 0; x <= columnValues.GetUpperBound(0); x++)
            {
                // Add the column to the table
                dt.Columns.Add(columnValues[x]);
            }

            line = sr.ReadLine();
            while (line != null)
            {
                // Split row of data into string array
                columnValues = line.Split(columnSeperator);

                // add a new row with all of the values
                dt.Rows.Add(columnValues);
            }

            sr.Close();
            return dt;
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("An IO exception has been thrown!");
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
            Console.ReadLine();
            return dt;
        }
    }

This makes it easier to play around with the data. You should be able to group the rows by department with something like this:

        DataTable employeeData = GetEmployeeData();

        // Create a view based on the data so that we can sort it by Dept
        DataView view = employeeData.DefaultView;
        view.Sort = "Dept";

        if (!employeeData.Columns.Contains("Dept"))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Employee Data file does not contain department column.");
            return;
        }

        // Print the column headers
        foreach (DataColumn column in employeeData.Columns)
        {
            Console.Write("{0,-9}", column.ColumnName);
        }
        Console.WriteLine();

        // Print each row in order
        foreach (DataRow row in view)
        {
            foreach (DataColumn column in employeeData.Columns)
            {
                Console.Write("{0,-9}", row[column]);
                Console.WriteLine();
            }
        }
        Console.ReadKey();