best method to store objects of customers

[bradleyy1012]

I created a customer class for a database program and want to store the objects somewhere. what would be the best method to do this? every time the user pushes "n" it generates a new customer object like this
void menuFunction::newOption()
{
int IDnumberFile, IDnumber;
fstream IDfile;

IDfile.open("id.txt");
while( IDfile.good() )
{
IDfile >> IDnumberFile;
}
IDnumber = IDnumberFile;
IDnumberFile++;
IDfile.close();
IDfile.clear();
IDfile.open("id.txt", ios::in | ios::out | ios::trunc);
IDfile << IDnumberFile;
IDfile.close();
Customer Idnumber;
Idnumber.IDnumberNUM = IDnumber;
Idnumber.fileCustomer();
Idnumber.newPawn();
}


the customer class looks like this
class Customer
{
public:
int IDnumberNUM;
void capitalize();
void newPawn();
void newPawnFirearm();
void newPawnJewelry();
void newPawnOther();
int fileCustomer();
void display();
void color(char);
void raceF(char);
void genderF(char);
void search();
Customer();
friend class menuFunction;


private:
string firstName;
string lastName;
string address;
string city;
string state;
string zipCode;
string birthday;
string gender;
string race;
string phoneNumber;
string employment;
string empPhoneNum;
string idNumber1;
string idType1;
string idAgency1;
string idNumber2;
string idType2;
string idAgency2;
string height;
string weight;
string eye;
char colorChoice;
char sexChoice;
string hairColor;
string comment1;
string comment2;
};

the ultimate goal is to have a database for a pawn shop that adds a customer to a database and gives the user the ability to add items they pawn or sell. the list should also be in alphabetical order. any suggestions??

[therockon7throw]

should the tables, database tables(files), be normalized :-) ?
If so then you may need many files(tables), I would use many files, not just one, and normalize the data, using references( foreign keys). But it is a matter of personal choice and taste. I would not sort the data and then write them into the tables(files). It should be the job of reader/getter to sort the data in any order.