Equipment Checkout System (ECS)

A Windows Forms desktop application for managing equipment rentals within an organization. Employees can check out equipment, return items, and administrators can manage both the inventory and employee records.

Features

• Employee Login — Authenticated login with PBKDF2-hashed passwords and masked input
• Equipment Checkout — Cart-based system for renting multiple items at once
• Equipment Returns — Return rented equipment by ID
• Admin Panel — Add/remove employees and equipment (admin-only access)
• Overdue Tracking — View all currently rented equipment (admin-only)
• Dashboard — Central navigation hub with role-based access control

Tech Stack

• Framework: .NET 8.0 Windows Forms
• Language: C#
• Database: SQLite via Entity Framework Core
• ORM: Entity Framework Core 9.0
• Security: PBKDF2 password hashing (SHA-256, 100k iterations)

Project Structure

├── Models/
│   ├── DatabaseContext.cs        # EF Core DbContext configuration
│   ├── Employee.cs               # Employee entity
│   └── Equipment.cs              # Equipment entity
├── Services/
│   ├── EmployeeService.cs        # Employee business logic (login, CRUD)
│   ├── EquipmentService.cs       # Equipment business logic (rent, return, CRUD)
│   └── PasswordHasher.cs         # PBKDF2 password hashing utility
├── LoginForm.cs                  # Login form with password masking
├── Dashboard.cs                  # Main navigation dashboard
├── Admin.cs                      # Admin management panel
├── Checkout.cs                   # Equipment checkout with cart
├── Return Equipment.cs           # Equipment return form
├── Overdue Equipment.cs          # Rented equipment tracking
├── Cart.cs                       # Shopping cart for batch checkout
└── NavigationHelper.cs           # Centralized form navigation

Architecture

The application follows a layered architecture:

• Models — Entity classes mapped to SQLite tables via EF Core
• Services — Business logic layer handling data operations, validation, and password security
• Forms — Windows Forms UI layer with event-driven interactions
• Utilities — Shared helpers (navigation, password hashing)

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 8.0 SDK
• Windows OS (WinForms requirement)

Running the Application

dotnet restore
dotnet run

Default Login

The application requires a pre-seeded SQLite database with employee records. New employees can be added through the Admin panel — passwords are automatically hashed on creation.

Database Schema

Employees

Column	Type	Description
EmployeeId	varchar(255)	Primary key
Password	varchar(255)	PBKDF2-hashed password
Name	varchar(255)	Full name
Email	varchar(255)	Email address
Phone	varchar(255)	Phone number
Role	varchar(255)	Job role
IsAdmin	BOOL	Admin access flag
LastLogin	DATETIME	Last login timestamp

Equipment

Column	Type	Description
EquipmentId	varchar(255)	Primary key
EquipmentName	varchar(255)	Equipment name
RentingEmployee	varchar(255)	ID of employee renting (null if available)

Known Limitations

• Email notifications for overdue equipment are planned but not yet implemented
• No password reset flow — admin must create a new employee record
• Session state is passed between forms rather than using a centralized store