Try, catch? array help

Code :

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import java.util.*;
import java.util.Random; 
 
public class arraychange{
	//Scanner - declare it globally so method can see it
	static Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
 
	public static void main(String[] args) {
 
		System.out.print("What size array would you like to initialize? (at least 4) ");
		//ask for the input but make sure it is an integer
		int size = input.nextInt();
 
		//declare array
		int[] array = new int[ size ];
 
 
		Random randomNumbers = new Random();
 
		for (int num = 0; num <array.length; num++ )  
			array[num] = randomNumbers.nextInt(50);
 
		System.out.printf("The values in the array are:\n");
		for (int value = 0; value < array.length; value++ )	 \
			System.out.printf("value[ %2d ] =%4d\n", value, array[ value ]);  
 
		System.out.printf("Enter the index of the value you would like to change: ");  
		int edit = input.nextInt();
		array[ edit ] = edit;
 
		[B]System.out.printf("The value sent is%4d", array[ edit ]);  [/B]
		System.out.printf("\nEnter a new value (1-50) :");	
 
		int change = input.nextInt();
		array[ edit ] = change;
 
		System.out.printf("The values in the array are:\n");
		for (int value = 0; value < array.length; value++ )	
			System.out.printf("value[ %2d ] =%4d\n", value, array[ value ]);	
	}
}

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Why does the value sent display the index and not the random number for that index? How would you make it do that? Also how/where would I add a try, catch statement to make sure the array size at the beginning is an int greater then 4 and not a double?

Hi alkamenes,

Just quickly popped on and noticed that noone had replyed yet, I don't have long, but hopefully I can give you a quick answer.

Looking at you code, I'm not entirely sure I understand your question. You are using a for loop and using the value of the variable "value" to access to index of an array. This means you already have the index which the random number is at (and are printing it out). Do you mean you wish to provide a number and it finds the index which the number is at?

e.g.
Output:
value[ 0 ] = 28
value[ 1 ] = 1
value[ 2 ] = 10
value[ 3 ] = 15

user enters "10" and 2 is displayed? If so, you will need to use a collection, such as an ArrayList. A collection is an object and has built in methods attached to it, such as indexOf(Object) (just cast/wrap the int as an Integer). - ArrayList (Java 2 Platform SE 5.0)

ArrayList <Integer> myArray = new ArrayList<Integer>();

Use the .add method to add a new entry, the ArrayList will grow dynamically as you add more enteries.


As for validating the users input, I would read the input into a validation method which receives a String and returns an int. Inside this method you can do conversions and check that it is greater than 4. Using a try/catch statement would handle (albeit not very nicely) the user putting in anything other than an int, but not the size being less than 4, as it does not look like this will cause your code to throw an error. As your code is, you would need to either wrap the whole thing in a try block because other exceptions would be thrown further down because the variable size has not been initialized, or just around the section where you set size to the user's input and set size to a default value in catch. e.g

Code :

---

int size = 4; //default value
try{
  int size = input.nextInt();
}catch (Exception e){}
 
if (size < 4){
  size = 4;
}

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(How do you put tabs in a code block??)

Though I say it again, a validation method would be a lot nicer.


Anyway, I hope this quick reply at least will help point you in the right direction, I'll check back once I get home and can actually sit down for more than 2 mins.

P.S. Don't forget to start your class name with a capital!

Code :

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public class ArrayChange{

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P.P.S, To update a specified index in the array list, use .set(int index, Object element)