Card and CardTest

hi i have a logic error with my program. it returns and prints unknown for every value. have a look...
what should i even put in the constructor?

Code :

---

public class Card 
{
	 public Card()
	  {
	    String value, suit;
	  }
 
	  /* getDescription method that takes
	   * the user input and turns it into a longer string
	   * or returns the string, "Unknown"
	   * */
	  public String getDescription(String value)
	  {
	    String cardValue = value.substring(0,1);    //breaking apart the suit from the value using the substring method
	    if (cardValue.equalsIgnoreCase("A"))
	      value = "Ace of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("2"))
	      value = "Two of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("3"))
	      value = "Three of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("4"))
	      value = "Four of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("5"))
	      value = "Five of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("6"))
	      value = "Six of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("7"))
	      value = "Seven of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("8"))
	      value = "Eight of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("9"))
	      value = "Nine of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equals("1"))  //only concerned about the first digit, so 1 will suffice for ten!
	      value = "Ten of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equalsIgnoreCase("J")) //using the method equalsIgnoreCase() to ensure reading the user's data properly
	      value = "Jack of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equalsIgnoreCase("Q"))
	      value = "Queen of ";
	    else if (cardValue.equalsIgnoreCase("K"))
	      value = "King of ";
	    else
	      return "Unknown";
	    //end if
	    //now I handle the problem of having the card 10 in the user input with the following if statement
	    String suit;  //string that will return the suit INTO the return value
	    if (cardValue.equals("1"))
	          suit = value.substring(2,3);
	    else 
	          suit = value.substring(1,2);
	    //end if
 
	    //now this if statement discovers the suit
	    if (suit.equalsIgnoreCase("D"))
	         suit = "Diamonds";
	    else if (suit.equalsIgnoreCase("H"))
	         suit = "Hearts";
	    else if (suit.equalsIgnoreCase("S"))
	         suit = "Spades";
	    else if (suit.equalsIgnoreCase("C"))
	         suit = "Clubs";
	    else
	          return "Unknown";
	    //end if
 
	    String fullDescription = value + suit;
	    return fullDescription;
	  }
}
 
public class CardTest 
{
	/**
	 * this program runs the card class and prints a description of the user's card
	 */
	public static void main(String[] args) 
	{
	    Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
	    Card card = new Card();
	    System.out.println("Enter a card and its suit like this (4S): ");
	    String userInput = in.next();
	    System.out.println(card.getDescription(userInput));
	}
}

---

it prints unknown on every run! :eek:

Your getDescription method has a String parameter called value, and this hides the instance variable value. You should probably set 'value' in the constructor, and remove the parameter from getDescription. Something like:

Code :

---

public class Card
{
	String description;
 
	public Card(String d)
	{
		description = d;
	}
 
 
	public String getDescription()
	{
		//Convert description to long form
		//with your existing code, and return
	}
 
}

---

It would probably actually be better if the constructor called a method to convert description to the long form you want. That way it only has to be done once, and getDescription can just return the string:

Code :

---

public class Card
{
	String description;
 
	public Card(String d)
	{
		description = Convert(d);
	}
 
	private String Convert(String d)
	{
		//All the messy stuff
	}
 
	public String getDescription()
	{
		return description;
	}
 
}

---

The method Convert can have temporary variables called value and suit if you like.