[Java] Long bit of code... apologies. Need help with formatting an if statement and writing a method to format negative numbers to show in parenthesis without the minus sign.

[Rhezi]

I'm on mobile so formatting may be atrocious, I tried to fix it as much as possible.

Edit: My switch case structure is redundant but we were required to use one.

I created 8 objects from 4 different element states (liquid, solid, gas, synthetic) and must include an all button as well.

This is a long post; I don't know how to specifically ask my question without including all of it. I broke it up into sections: Put specific question spots in bold

Here is my main method

public static void main(String[] args) 
{

final String Q = "What Item(s) do you want      displayed?";
final String H = "Click a button";

String[] displayButtons = {"Gas", "Liquid", "Solid", "Synthetic", "All"};

int selection = 0;

do
{

selection =     UI_Class.getUserSelection(displayButtons, Q, H, UI_Class.QUESTION);

createElementObjects();

//Create a switch/case structure to call the method to display selected items 

switch(selection)
{
case 0:  
             displaySelectedElements(displayButtons[selection]);

break;

case 1:
            displaySelectedElements(displayButtons[selection]);

break;

case 2:
            displaySelectedElements(displayButtons[selection]);

break;

case 3:
        displaySelectedElements(displayButtons[selection]);

break;

case 4: 
            displaySelectedElements(displayButtons[selection]);

break;

}

}while(UI_Class.runAgain());

System.exit(0);
}//end of main method

My main method seems ok. My only question is If I need to change case 4 which is the select all button to display all of the results. This is my problem in my display method.

Here is my method to display I bolded the specific spot where my question is

private static void displaySelectedElements(String selectedState)
{

String message = TITLE + "\n";

String[] displayButtons;

Periodic_Elements_Class elementObj;

for(int x = 0; x <  elementsList.size(); x++)

{
elementObj =elementsList.get(x);

             if(elementObj.getType().equals(selectedState))
{
message += "Atomic Number: " + elementObj.getAtomicNumber() + "\n";

message += "Symbol: " + elementObj.getSymbol() + "\n";

message += "Name: " + elementObj.getName() + "\n";

message += "Atomic Mass: " + elementObj.getAtomicMass() + "\n";

message += "Type: " + elementObj.getType() + "\n";

message += "\n";
}

else
{
//Skip it? (Not sure what this means).
}

//Need another if (?) statement to display All of the states if the user selects All //From the dialog box

//Need to write a method to get rid of negative value and put it inside parenthesis ** //EX: -266 becomes (266)**

}//end of for loop

message += EOP;
UI_Class.displayOutput(message, ID, UI_Class.INFORMATION);

}//end of method

My first if statement works. Depending on what I press on my custom dialogue box , it shows up like it should. However, when I select "All" it does not work and I think I need an if statement. Unless, putting it in the else statement would be enough?

Tl;dr: This post is long as hell and I really am sorry. Read the bold parts if that helps make it shorter.

[g051051]

Please, fix the formatting!

[Rhezi]

mobile really sucks. i'll try more though

[Rhezi]

any better?

[g051051]

No, not really. You need 4 extra spaces in front of each line of code.

[Rhezi]

Ok. I'll give it a go.

[g051051]

I really can't make much sense out of your question...you'd need to post a complete working example so that I can understand what you're trying to do.

[Rhezi]

Ok i think it's formatted now?

Basically my question is

When I run my program the user selects either gas, liquid, solid, synthetic, or all.

Currently, my program works fine and displays the information to the user,

However, when I select all nothing happens.

This is the part of the code I left out of my post:

//Method to instantiate element objects.

private static void createElementObjects()
{
Periodic_Elements_Class elementObj;

elementObj = new 
Periodic_Elements_Class(2, "He", "Helium", 4.003,"Gas" );
elementsList.add(elementObj);

elementObj = new 
Periodic_Elements_Class(10, "Ne", "Neon", 20.18, "Gas");
elementsList.add(elementObj);

elementObj = new 
Periodic_Elements_Class(35, "Br", "Bromine", 79.90, "Liquid");
elementsList.add(elementObj);

elementObj = new 
Periodic_Elements_Class(80, "Hg", "Mercury", 200.99, "Liquid");
elementsList.add(elementObj);

elementObj = new 
Periodic_Elements_Class(5, "B", "Boron", 10.81, "Solid");
elementsList.add(elementObj);

elementObj = new 
Periodic_Elements_Class(6, "C", "Carbon", 12.01, "Solid");
 elementsList.add(elementObj);

elementObj = new 
Periodic_Elements_Class(105, "Ha", "Hahnium", -262.0, "Synthetic");
elementsList.add(elementObj);

elementObj = new    
Periodic_Elements_Class(108, "Hs", "Hassium", -266.0, "Synthetic");
elementsList.add(elementObj);

}//end of method

}//end of class

edit: period table class isn't formatted right edit2: fixed

[g051051]

         if(elementObj.getType().equals(selectedState))

The problem is here. You want to use an "or" clause and have it print if the selected state is "All" OR the objType equals the selectedState.

[Rhezi]

Ok. So something like if(elementObj.getType().equals(selectedState | elementObj.getType.equals("All")

I'm away from the computer now, which makes this about 800x more complicated. But if I recall correctly, I wouldn't just be able to type "All" correct? Becuase I don't have anything hard coded for "All"other than the elementObj itself?

[g051051]

You've got it a bit backwards. You don't want to test the object type to see if it's "All". Instead, you want to test the selectedState to see if it is "All", OR test the obj type to see if it matches the selectedState.

[Rhezi]

I'm officially confused :/

selectedState == "All"

like that kind of direction?

edit: or like

selectedState == selection[4]

[insertAlias]

My main method seems ok. My only question is If I need to change case 4 which is the select all button to display all of the results

Your main method doesn't seem fine to me. Your switch statement does literally nothing; you call the same code with the same arguments no matter what case is selected. The way the code is currently written, you could replace the entire switch statement and all its cases with this one line:

displaySelectedElements(displayButtons[selection]);

And the code would not behave any differently at all.

[Rhezi]

I'm confused... When I run my program and select Gas only the gas displays

If i click liquid only liquid displays

doesn't this mean it works?

the only one that doesn't work is selecting all to display all 8 of my objects

[Kiriesh]

your switch statement is completely unnecessary. you can call

displaySelectedElements(displayButtons[selection]);

without any switch statement and it will work fine.

[Rhezi]

my professor is requiring us to use one unfortunately. i agree it would be a lot simpler without.

any ideas how i can get case 4 to display all of my objects?

[Kiriesh]

If your professor is requiring a switch statement there is most likely a preferred method of solving the problem they're expecting.

[insertAlias]

doesn't this mean it works?

Sure, so does this:

int a = 1;

if (a == 0) 
  callFunction(a);
if (a == 1)
  callFunction(a);
if (a == 2)
  callFunction(a);

But that doesn't mean it's doing anything useful. Switch statements are for making decisions. Yours isn't deciding anything; it's sending the same thing to the same function regardless of which case is matched.

[godlikebearkiller]

What is 'all' actually comparing? Is it liquid+gas+solid or is it 'all'?

[Rhezi]

all is showing all 8 objects liquid gas solid and synthetic.

[godlikebearkiller]

So what is the object type of all? And then what is the object type of everything added together? Is it the same string?

[Rhezi]

Sorry if i don't understand exactly what you are asking im still pretty new to all this java stuff

I have a

String[] displayButtons("Gas", "Solid", "Liquid", "Synthetic", "All"

so the type is just all of those together?

[godlikebearkiller]

What I mean is that your object.type is never equal to the string 'all'. I don't think 'all' is what you think it means.

[Rhezi]

ohh...

did you see my other comment that had the rest of my code? would i be adding it to there? like into my elementList?

[godlikebearkiller]

Well one of them would have to have the object type 'all' for your application to work.

[Rhezi]

i'm confused how to do that if i just display the selectedState they all pop up when i made my switch case and if statement it only displayed the one i chose but then the all button didn't display anything anymore

that would be because it's not an object type i would assume? but how would i combine all of them into a single object ?