how to print specific lines from an array from another class - java

So Im trying to print only the novels added to the array and I cant figure out how..
Also I need to return the number of books of a specific kind.
Im new to programming so please take me easy :)
Here is the app, I have to add all the books from console
Each word added from console triggers a specific action so to print the books I need to write print, to add i need to write add , type of book, title of book, author, and so on.
import java.util.*;
public class App{
public static void main(String [] args){
Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
Library bib = Library.getInstance();
String line = "";
line = s.nextLine();
String[] v = line.split("\\s+");
while(true){
switch(v[0]){
case "add":
String title = v[2];
String autor = v[3];
Book c = null;
if("story".equals(v[1])){
c = new Story(title, autor);
} else if("novel".equals(v[1])){
int pages = Integer.parseInt(v[4]);
c = new Novel(title, autor, pages);
} else if("poetry".equals(v[1])){
String publish = v[4];
c = new Poetry(title, autor, publish);
}
bib.adauga(c);
break;
case "print" :
case "return" :
case "exit" : System.exit(0); break;
default : System.out.println("Command " + v[0] + " does not exist");
}
}
}
}
import java.util.*;
public class Library{
private static Library instance;
List<Book> books;
private Library(){
books = new ArrayList<>();
}
public static Library getInstance(){
if(instance == null){
instance = new Library();
}
return instance;
}
public void adauga(Book c){
books.add(c);
}
public void afisare(){
for(Book c : books){
System.out.println(c);
}
}
}
public abstract class Book{
String title;
String autor;
public Book(String title, String autor){
this.title=title;
this.autor=autor;
}
#Override
public String toString(){
return title + " " + autor;
}
}
public class Novel extends Book {
int pages;
public Novel(String title, String autor, int pages){
super(title, autor);
this.pages=pages;
}
#Override
public String toString(){
return super.toString() + " " + pages;
}
}

You can use instanceof to check what the type of an object is.
//Go through every book
for(Book book : bib.books){
if(book instanceof Novel){
System.out.println(book);
}
}

You have created a method that print all the books of theLibrary, you need to modify it to print the good type of book :
Use print novel for example :
// in App
case "print" : bib.afisare(v[1]);
break;
// in Library
public void afisare(String type){
for(Book c : books){
if("novel".equals(type) && c instance of Novel)
System.out.println(c);
else if("story".equals(type) && c instance of Story)
System.out.println(c);
else if("poetry".equals(type) && c instance of Poetry)
System.out.println(c);
}
}
Also, because of your while(true) you are going to run in infinite loop, you need to ask again after the switch or don't ask before and use do{}while();
do{
line = s.nextLine();
String[] v = line.split("\\s+");
switch(v[0]){
...
}
}while(true);

You can access variables from other objects by using '.' as long the variable is in visibility (e.g. public or in same package) or you use getter methods.
So in your case you can do something like this.
final List<Book> books = Library.getInstance().getBooks();
for(Book book : books) {
if(book instanceof Novel) {
System.out.println(((Novel)book).toString());
}
}
need to add to Library
public List<Book> getBooks() {
return this.books;
}
This is just a simple example how you can use your books and pages with your example, feel free to edit and use it as you need to.

Related

Can I check the local vairable by using method in other class?

public class BookstoreRun {
public static void main(String[] args) {
BookstoreMenu bm = new BookstoreMenu();
bm.mainMenu();
}
}
Here's the menu class:
public class BookstoreMenu {
private Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
private BookstoreController bc = new BookstoreController();
public void mainMenu() {
System.out.println("1. SignUp");
System.out.println("2. Check members list");
System.out.println("Select menu : ");
int menu = sc.nextInt();
switch (menu) {
case 1: {
bc.createAccount();
break;
} case 2:
default:
System.out.println("...");
}
}
}
This is controller class where I made methods:
public class BookstoreController {
private Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
public void createAccount() {
System.out.println("Let's get started");
System.out.print("Your name : ");
String[] strArray = new String[0];
String name = sc.nextLine();
strArray = saveId(strArray, name);
System.out.print(name + ", Nice to meet you!");
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(strArray));
}
public String[] saveId(String[] originArr, String name) {
String[] newArr = new String[originArr.length + 1];
System.arraycopy(originArr, 0, newArr, 0, originArr.length);
newArr[originArr.length] = name;
return newArr;
}
}
I'm trying to make a menu with just two options. The first option is Sign Up through createAccount(); and once I finish signing up, I want to go back to the menu class and choose option 2.
I was thinking I could approach the information of strArray in BookstoreController class by typing bc.~ under case 2 of the switch in the BookstoreMenu class, but I failed.
My question is: Is it possible to approach the value which was made in the local area of another class?
No you cannot. Welcome to the world of Object Oriented Programming OOP & design. One of the more important ideas of OOP is that you encapsulate data and then access it through method calls (or, for other languages, properties).
In this case you should return an Account class from createAccount(). Then you can have a method there to the strArray. That variable should be a field in the Account class and be renamed to something that reflects its purpose, rather than the types it is made up of (string and arrays).
Now, in modern Java, we store objects like accounts in lists, not arrays. Lists can be grown at your leisure. I've put the list into a field of the controller, so it can be maintained in the right controlled location.
Here is some example:
public class BookstoreRun {
public static void main(String[] args) {
BookstoreMenu bm = new BookstoreMenu();
bm.mainMenu(new Scanner(System.in), System.out);
}
}
public class BookstoreMenu {
private BookstoreController bc = new BookstoreController();
public void mainMenu(Scanner sc, PrintStream out) {
while (true) {
// this is a "try with resources", using a localized scanner
int menu;
out.println("1. SignUp");
out.println("2. Check members list");
out.println("9. Quit");
out.println("Select menu : ");
menu = sc.nextInt();
// either menu has been assigned, or an exception has been thrown, so we can now use it
switch (menu) {
case 1:
bc.createAccount(sc, out);
break;
case 2:
bc.displayAccounts(out);
break;
// always leave yourself an exit option
case 9:
out.println("Bye");
System.exit(0);
// the default should display an error or warning
default:
out.println("Unknown option, try again");
}
}
}
}
public class BookstoreController {
// the list of accounts that is initially empty, but may grow
private List<Account> accounts = new ArrayList<Account>();
public void createAccount(Scanner sc, PrintStream out) {
out.println("Let's get started");
out.println("Your name : ");
String name = sc.nextLine();
out.println(name + ", nice to meet you!");
Account account = new Account(name);
accounts.add(account);
}
public void displayAccounts(PrintStream out) {
for (Account account : accounts) {
out.println(account);
}
}
}
// this is the additional "data class"
public class Account {
private String name;
// constructor that assigns the name to the field
public Account(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
// a method to retrieve the property name
public String name() {
return name;
}
// this is what is called when it is printed using println (converted to string)
#Override
public String toString() {
return String.format("Account %s", name);
}
}

I'm trying to read this text file

I made a two classes, one text file, and a code that should print everything out, but it still becomes null no matter what I do? I'm trying to read the code from the text file by using the toString method from the Book class and the printInventory from the Inventory class in the InventoryTester.
My first code derives on what should be printed. I made a constructor and I used setters and getters to make this. Then ended it with a toString() method. I made a Book class that should print everything to the printInventory in the InventoryTester.
Book class:
import java.math.RoundingMode;
import java.text.DecimalFormat;
import java.lang.*;
public class Book {
// Initiate variables
// Note: I used the DecimalFormat so every price is always going to have 2 decimal spaces
private static DecimalFormat df2 = new DecimalFormat("#.##");
private String ISBN;
private String author;
private String title;
private int edition;
private String pubCode;
private int quantity;
private double price;
//constructor
public Book(String isbn, String auth, String ti, int ed, String pc, int qty, double pr)
{
ISBN = isbn;
author = auth;
title = ti;
edition = ed;
pubCode = pc;
quantity = qty;
price = pr;
}
//getters
public String getTitle(){return title;}
public String getAuthor(){return author;}
public double getPrice(){return price;}
public int getEdition(){return edition;}
public String getISBN(){return ISBN;}
public String getpubCode(){return pubCode;}
public int getQuantity(){return quantity;}
//setters
public void changePrice(double newPrice){price = newPrice;}
public boolean changeQuantity(int changeAmt){
changeAmt = quantity + changeAmt;
if (changeAmt < 0) {
return false;
}
else {
return true;
}
}
//This prints out all of the information once the object 'Book' is used
public String toString()
{
String subAuthor = "";
String subTitle = "";
subAuthor = author.substring(0,16);
subTitle = title.substring(0,32);
return "ISBN: " +ISBN + "\nAuthor: " + subAuthor + "\nTitle: " + subTitle + "\nEdition: " + edition + "\nPublisher Code: " + pubCode +"\nQuantity: " +quantity+ "\nPrice: $ " +df2.format(price) + "\n\n";
}
}
Then I made a class called Inventory to manage instances of the Book class. However, I'm still not sure if most of my code is correct since I compiled it without any errors. What I mean is the constructor itself, the addBook method and the changeQuantity method.
The constructor takes one argument, which is the size of the books array. It should create the empty array of the specified size, and initializes the nextEntry field to be 0. I use the printInventory method here. This method should print the entire inventory from the Book class, using the toString()method on each book.
Inventory class:
import java.math.RoundingMode;
import java.text.DecimalFormat;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import java.util.Arrays;
public class Inventory {
private Book[] books;
private int nextEntry;
int questionAmt;
public Inventory(int size){
size = 7;
books = new Book[size];
nextEntry = 0;
}
public boolean addBook(Book theBook) {
if (nextEntry > 27)
{ return false;}
else{
nextEntry++;
books[nextEntry] = theBook;
return true;
}
}
public boolean changeQuantity(String isbn, int changeAmt) {
if (changeAmt < 0) {
return false;
}
else {
return true;
}
}
public void printInventory()
{
for (int i=0; i<books.length; i++) {
System.out.println(books[i].toString());
return;
}
}
Then I added the text file, which is called inventory. This is what should be shown in the code and I should be able to edit the quantity it inside the console. I also added a 28 because it needs 28 Books.
inventory.txt:
28
013478796X_Tony Gaddis_Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Data Structures_4_PE_10_121.75
0321409493_John Lewis_Java Software Solutions: Foundations of Program Design_5_AW_12_94.05
0023606924_Richard Johnsonbaugh_Algorithms_1_PH_1_109.00
0134743350_Harvey Dietel_Java: How to Program, Early Objects_12_PE_12_134.84
0131474340_Ralph Morelli_Java, Java, Java, Object-Oriented Problem Solving_3_PH_4_95.25
0596100469_Alex Martelli_Python in a Nutshell_2_OR_6_39.99
0134802217_Tony Gaddis_Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Objects_7_PE_8_118.67
1403946876_Sally Fincher_Studying Programming_1_PM_3_26.59
0596510047_Andy Oram_Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think_1_OR_5_44.99
0143037889_Ray Kurzweil_The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology_1_PG_20_17.70
0135205972_John Lewis_Java Foundations: Introduction to Program Design and Data Structures_5_PE_5_129.99
0131872893_Wanda Dann_Learning to Program with Alice_1_PH_12_47.50
159413962X_Dave Eggers_The Circle_1_AW_4_3.99
1887902996_John Zelle_Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science_1_FB_2_26.40
0133356728_Rafael Gonzales_Digital Image Processing_4_PE_3_248.17
1592400876_Lynne Truss_Eats, Shoots & Leaves_1_PG_5_17.70
0072823798_William Collins_Data Structures and the Java Collections Framework_2_MH_6_105.57
0072866098_Allen Tucker_Programming Languages: Principles and Paradigms_2_MH_1_127.50
0534950973_Michael Sipser_Introduction to the Theory of Computation_2_CT_3_98.90
0131496710_Francis Hill_Computer Graphics Using OpenGL 3rd Edition_3_PH_4_112.00
0321173486_Dave Shreiner_OpenGL Programming Guide_5_AW_1_24.00
0072865512_Steven Schach_Object Oriented and Classical Software Engineering_6_MH_9_123.44
0321228383_Michael Kifer_Database Systems: An Application-Oriented Approach_2_AW_3_112.86
1416587787_Cliff Stoll_The Cuckoo's Egg_1_PG_3_13.32
1400032717_Mark Haddon_The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_1_VI_10_13.95
006025492X_Maurice Sendak_Where the Wild Things Are_1_HC_6_17.95
0694003611_Margaret Brown_Goodnight Moon_1_HC_138_8.99
069401298X_Arnold Lobel_Frog and Toad Together_1_HC_27_11.55
Last, but not least, I made an InventoryTester file to read the text file and print it using the code from both classes.
InventoryTester:
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;
public class InventoryTester {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
Scanner inFile= new Scanner(new File("inventory.txt"));
Book books;
String inLine= inFile.nextLine();
int size= Integer.parseInt(inLine);
Inventory myInventory= new Inventory(size);
while (inFile.hasNext()) {
inLine= inFile.nextLine();
String ISBN = inFile.next();
String author = inFile.next();
String title = inFile.next();
int edition = inFile.nextInt();
String pubCode = inFile.next();
int quantity = inFile.nextInt();
double price = inFile.nextDouble();
myInventory.addBook(new Book(ISBN, author, title, edition, pubCode, quantity, price));
String[] tokens = inLine.split("_");
myInventory.printInventory();
}
inFile.close();
}
}
I was trying to make Java understand that there are strings, ints, and doubles. I'm trying to convert the text file using arrays into Strings, ints, and doubles. It should print, but the code considers it to be null. Am I missing something?
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "Book.toString()" because "this.books[i]" is null
at Inventory.printInventory(Inventory.java:42)
at InventoryTester.main(InventoryTester.java:28)
----jGRASP wedge2: exit code for process is 1.
You could make a class to manage your inventory with an arraylist containing books. And then save that class in a binary file.
The class could look like this:
public class BookList implements Serializable
{
private ArrayList<Book> books;
public BookList()
{
books = new ArrayList<>();
}
public void addBook(Book book)
{
this.books.add(book);
}
public void removeBook(Book book)
{
this.books.remove(book);
}
public ArrayList<Book> getAllBooks()
{
return books;
}
And then save and load the file like this.
File file = new File("inventory.bin")
public void save(BookList bookList){
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(file);
ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(out);
oos.writeObject(bookList);
}
public BookList load(){
BookList bookList = null;
FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream(file);
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(in);
bookList = (BookList) ois.readObject();
in.close();
ois.close();
}
Then you shouldn't have any trouble reading from the file.
REMEMBER! Both the list class and book class needs to implement Serializable.

Adding objects to ArrayList [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Why does my ArrayList contain N copies of the last item added to the list?
(5 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
This if my first question on stackoverflow. I can usually find answers myself but I'm having trouble with this one. I've got 2 objects, "Book", and "Periodical". These are subclasses to a class "Publication". Now, I'm trying to add 3 instances of "Book" and 3 instances of "Periodical" to an ArrayList. I'm having trouble figuring out how to do this.
With this current code, I get an error "no suitable method found for add(Book,Book,Book,Periodical,Periodical,Periodical).
Here is the current code:
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Date;
public class DriverProgram {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Instantiate 3 instances of each object.
Book book1 = new Book(1234, 1, "James", 100, "Hello", "Berkwood Inc.", new java.util.Date(), "History");
Book book2 = new Book(2345, 2, "Ralph", 200, "Goodbye", "Shackles Co.", new java.util.Date(), "English");
Book book3 = new Book(3456, 3, "Julia", 300, "Hello Again", "Trustin Inc.", new java.util.Date(), "History");
Periodical periodical1 = new Periodical("Daily", "Dylan", "History 101", "History Inc.", new java.util.Date(), "History");
Periodical periodical2 = new Periodical("Weekly", "Jannette", "Mathematics 101", "Mathematics Inc.", new java.util.Date(), "Mathematics");
Periodical periodical3 = new Periodical("Monthly", "Patricia", "Science 101", "Science Inc.", new java.util.Date(), "Science");
// Create an array list of the Publication class type, and add the objects to it.
ArrayList <Publication> publications = new ArrayList<Publication>();
publications.add(book1, book2, book3, periodical1, periodical2, periodical3);
// Pass the array list to a method to loop through it and display the toString methods.
displayObjects(publications);
} // End of main
static void displayObjects (ArrayList<Publication> publications) {
// Loop through array list and display the objects using the toString methods.
for (Publication p : publications) {
System.out.print(p.toString());
} // End of for each loop
} // End of displayObjects
} // End of DriverProgram class
I've also tried changing:
publications.add(book1, book2, book3, periodical1, periodical2, periodical3);
To this:
publications.add(book1);
publications.add(book2);
publications.add(book3);
publications.add(periodical1);
publications.add(periodical2);
publications.add(periodical3);
Which rids my program of the compiler error, but then it just prints the "periodical3" object, 6 times. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance! :)
EDIT:
Here is my Book class:
public class Book extends Publication{
private static int isbn = 0;
private static int libraryOfCongressNbr = 0;
private static String author = "";
private static int nbrOfPages = 0;
// Constructor for Book class with parameters for each attribute.
public Book(int newISBN, int newLibraryOfCongressNbr, String newAuthor, int newNbrOfPages, String newTitle, String newPublisher, java.util.Date newPublicationDate, String newSubject) {
super(newTitle, newPublisher, newPublicationDate, newSubject);
isbn = newISBN;
libraryOfCongressNbr = newLibraryOfCongressNbr;
author = newAuthor;
nbrOfPages = newNbrOfPages;
}
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Getters ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
int getISBN() {
return isbn;
}
int getLibraryOfCongressNbr() {
return libraryOfCongressNbr;
}
String getAuthor() {
return author;
}
int getNbrOfPages() {
return nbrOfPages;
}
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Setters ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void setISBN(int newISBN) {
isbn = newISBN;
}
void setLibraryOfCongressNbr(int newLibraryOfCongressNbr) {
libraryOfCongressNbr = newLibraryOfCongressNbr;
}
void setAuthor(String newAuthor) {
author = newAuthor;
}
void setNbrOfPages(int newNbrOfPages) {
nbrOfPages = newNbrOfPages;
}
//toString method for Book class
public String toString () {
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
result.append("\nISBN: " + isbn + "\n");
result.append("\nPublisher: " + libraryOfCongressNbr + "\n");
result.append("\nAuthor: " + author + "\n");
result.append("\nNumber of Pages: " + nbrOfPages + "\n");
result.append("--------------------------------------------------------- ");
return super.toString() + result.toString();
} // End of toString
} // End of Book class
My Periodical class is identical, but here is my Publication class:
import java.util.Date;
public abstract class Publication {
// Data fields.
private static String title = "";
private static String publisher = "";
private static java.util.Date publicationDate;
private static String subject = "";
// Constructor for Publication class with parameters for each attribute.
public Publication(String newTitle, String newPublisher, java.util.Date newPublicationDate, String newSubject){
title = newTitle;
publisher = newPublisher;
publicationDate = newPublicationDate;
subject = newSubject;
}
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Getters ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
String getTitle() {
return title;
}
String getPublisher() {
return publisher;
}
java.util.Date getPublicationDate() {
return publicationDate;
}
String getSubject() {
return subject;
}
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Setters ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void setTitle(String newTitle) {
title = newTitle;
}
void setPublisher(String newPublisher) {
publisher = newPublisher;
}
void setPublicationDate(java.util.Date newPublicationDate) {
publicationDate = newPublicationDate;
}
void setSubject(String newSubject) {
subject = newSubject;
}
//toString method for Publication class
public String toString () {
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
result.append("\nTitle: " + title + "\n");
result.append("\nPublisher: " + publisher + "\n");
result.append("\nPublication Date: " + publicationDate + "\n");
result.append("\nSubject: " + subject + "\n");
return result.toString();
} // End of toString
} // End of Publication class
Let me know if you need anything else!
EDIT x2: Sorry, I realize my post is getting quite long.
So I've gotten rid of all "static" keywords from my class variables, or "data fields" as I've called them in my code. I then changed my code back to this code:
ArrayList <Publication> publications = new ArrayList<Publication>();
publications.add(book1);
publications.add(book2);
publications.add(book3);
publications.add(periodical1);
publications.add(periodical2);
publications.add(periodical3);
And it works! It executes as it should! I just one question though, since this code doesn't seem to work:
publications.add(book1, book2, book3, periodical1, periodical2, periodical3);
Is there a shorter way to add all of the objects to the ArrayList with out doing it one by one?
If I understand the problem correctly, you have 6 Publication objects, and you are only seeing the values of the most recently created one.
That would likely be caused because you have static class variables instead of instance variables.
For example
class A {
static int x; // class variable
int y; // instance variable
public A(int val) {
x = val; // All 'A' classes now have x = val;
y = val; // Only 'this' class has y = val;
}
}
If I were to run this
A a1 = new A(4);
A a2 = new A(5);
System.out.println(a1.x);
Then I would see it print 5 and not 4, which describes the scenario you are seeing because you have assigned all variables in the Publication class to those that you use during the last call of new Periodical.
The solution is to not use static variables if you want to have multiple instances of a class with their own values.

Issues using String data type in my constructor, application file not running properly

So i've been messing around with String data types in the constructor of my class file, and while everything compiles correctly, when I run the application file, the program doesn't give the desired result. I kept it short to see if it would work, so my class file is as follows:
public class StringPractice
{
private String color;
private String brand;
public StringPractice() {
String color = "";
String brand = "";
}
public StringPractice(String clor, String brnd) {
setColor(clor);
setBrand(brnd);
}
public void setColor(String clor) {
if (clor.equalsIgnoreCase("Red")) {
color = clor;
}
else {
System.out.println("We dont't carry that color");
}
}
public void setBrand(String brnd) {
if (brnd.equalsIgnoreCase("Gibson")) {
brand = brnd;
}
else {
System.out.println("We do not carry that brand");
}
}
public String getColor() {
return color;
}
public String getBrand() {
return brand;
}
public void display() {
System.out.println("Our brands are: " + brand + "Our colors are: " + color);
}
My application file is as follows:
import java.util.Scanner;
public class UseStringPractice
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String brand = "";
String color = "";
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
StringPractice Guitar1;
System.out.println("Please enter the brand you would like");
brand = keyboard.next();
System.out.println("Please enter the color you would like");
color = keyboard.next();
Guitar1 = new StringPractice(brand, color);
Guitar1.display();
}
}
What am I doing incorrectly? Am I using the wrong methods to parse the information from scanner? Or am I using equalsIgnoreCase incorrectly? This is my first attempt at implementing these methods, so I may be wayyy off for all I know. When I run the application class, my result is that of the trailing else clause, or, "We do not carry those brands" or "We don't carry that color". Then, in my display statement, the variable names are replaced with "null". This is all for practice so any insight would be fantastic. Thanks!
Your arguments being passed to your constructor should be flipped.
In your application:
Guitar1 = new StringPractice(brand, color);
but in your code:
public StringPractice(String clor, String brnd) {

Creating multiple objects within a class

I am trying to create a class. Let's call it Questionnaire. In Questionnaire, I want to instantiate a number of classes called Question. The constructor for Questionnaire accepts a string array of words, and for each word, there should be a Question class to accept it as an argument for its constructor. In other words, for every string that is passed as an argument, I want to create a Question.
I need to be able to put Questionnaire within a bigger class and still call the methods of the Question classes. The size of the array passed to Questionnaire varies as well. I don't know how I can put multiple classes within another class when I don't know how many classes there will be, and how to reference them from an outer class. If the array was a fixed length I'd just create Questions as question1, question2, question3... but since this is not the case I am not sure anymore. I do know there is a maximum number of Question classes I want to create though.
edit: I'm using J2ME CDLC 1.1 MIDP 2.0 for this (it's part of a mobile phone app) so my solutions are constrained by what it offers.
You don't want to have a separate variable per question - use a List<Question> to have one variable which refers to a collection of questions:
public class Questionnaire
{
private final List<Question> questions;
public Questionnaire(String[] words)
{
questions = new ArrayList<Question>();
for (String word : words)
{
questions.add(new Question(word));
}
}
// Use questions here
}
EDIT: If you're in an environment without generics, you could use the non-generic form, like this:
private final List questions;
public Questionnaire(String[] words)
{
questions = new ArrayList();
for (String word : words)
{
questions.add(new Question(word));
}
}
or like this if you don't have List/ArrayList:
private final Vector questions;
public Questionnaire(String[] words)
{
questions = new Vector();
for (String word : words)
{
questions.add(new Question(word));
}
}
In either case you'll need to cast on every access. Alternatively, you could use an array:
private final Question[] questions;
public Questionnaire(String[] words)
{
questions = new Question[words.length];
for (int i = 0; i < words.length; i++)
{
questions[i] = new Question(word);
}
}
As J2ME API lacks the Collections API, your best bet is to grab a Vector.
Vector questions = new Vector();
for (int i = 0; i < words.length; i++) {
questions.addElement(new Question(words[i]));
}
You probably want to go with a Set of questions rather than List. Try :
private final Set<Question> questions;
This will prevent duplicate questions. Everything else will be the same as JonSkeet's answer.
Why don't you use a List on the questionaire and for each question you add you add one to the List, for example.
public class Questionnaire
{
public List<Question> myQuestions {get; private set;}
public Questionnaire(string[] questions)
{
myQuestions = new List<Questions>();
foreach(string q in questions)
{
myQuestions.Add(new Question {questionText = g});
}
}
}
public class Question
{
public string questionText {get; set;}
}
Then you will be able to check the questions from outside... this is what you want?
Hope this helps
EDIT: ohh is Java, but you got the idea right?
import java.util.*;
public class Questionnaire implements Iterable<Question> {
private final List<Question> questions;
public Questionnaire(String ...words) {
questions = new ArrayList<Question>(words.length);
for(String word : words) {
questions.add(new Question(word));
}
}
// allows you to use a Questionnaire object in a for-each loop
public Iterator<Question> iterator() { return questions.iterator(); }
#Override
public String toString() { return questions.toString(); }
}
You could add many more goodies to your class to make it more useful. An example of using the class above follows:
public class QuestionnaireTest {
public static void main(String[] words) {
Questionnaire questionnaire = new Questionnaire(words);
for(Question q : questionnaire) {
System.out.println("You asked: " + q);
}
}
}
You could also use it as follows:
public class QuestionnaireTest3 {
public static void main(String[] words) {
// because I declared the constructor to accept "String ...words", I can specify as many questions as I want using simple syntax
Questionnaire questionnaire = new Questionnaire("How deep the ocean?", "How high the moon?");
for(Question q : questionnaire) {
System.out.println("I asked: " + q);
}
}
}
Even though I did so in my first example above, you should really accept an array of String objects as questions. Here's a better design:
public class Questionnaire implements Iterable<Question> {
private List<Question> questions = new ArrayList<Question>();
public void add(Question q) {
if(q == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("can't add null question!");
questions.add(q);
}
public Question get(int index) {
if(index < 0 || index >= questions.size()) throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException("invalid question index: " + index);
return questions.get(index);
}
// allows you to use a Questionnaire object in a for-each loop
public Iterator<Question> iterator() {
return Collections.unmodifiableList(questions).iterator();
}
#Override
public String toString() { return questions.toString(); }
}
public abstract class Question {
public String getText();
public String getAnswer();
public String getOptions();
// ...
}
public class YesNoQuestion extends Question {
private final String text;
private final String answer;
public YesNoQuestion(String text, boolean answer) {
if(!(text.startsWith("Is"))) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Must start with is: " + text);
this.text = text;
this.answer = answer ? "Yes" : "No"; // if answer == true, the "Yes",...
}
#Override
public String getText() { return text; }
public String getAnswer() { return answer; }
public String getOptions() { return "Yes or No ?"; }
}
And now you can use it as follows:
public class QuestionnaireTest4 {
public static void main(String[] words) {
Questionnaire test = new Questionnaire();
test.add(new YesNoQuestion("Is dogs animals?", false));
test.add(new YesNoQuestion("Is me has cheezburgers?", true));
for(Question q : questionnaire) {
System.out.println(q);
System.out.println(q.getOptions());
String input = null; // you need to code this part
if(q.getAnswer().equals(input))
System.out.println("CORRECT!");
else
System.out.println("YOU IS STUPID!!!!");
}
}
}

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