Help string not storing in Variable

[nava111]

hi i'm new to java programming and i have a problem with using the scanner, here is an extract of the code , i need help with storing a value into a, it is initialized with null first but when i enter a string from the terminal and print out the output it is still null. what is wrong with the code? as you can see from the code i have not used the scanner but i have modified the code to 'a=Input.next();' but still no luck

 
 public String processInput(String theInput) {
 
		String theOutput = null;
		String a=null;
		Scanner Input = new Scanner(System.in);
 
   if (state == WAIT) {
		       theOutput="type enter"
		   if (theInput.equalsIgnoreCase("enter")) {
			theOutput =question1[Question];
	                theInput=a;
                        theOutput = "" a "";
	                                   }
 
			  else {
            theOutput = "Wrong password " ;
                   }
		                               }

[Norm]

print out the output it is still null.

Where do you print out the value of a? I don't see any print statement in the posted code.

Where does the code assign any values to a?

Is there some other code you are talking about? The posted code doesn't show the problem you are having.

[nava111]

this is a protocol file of a server theInput is what is entered into the terminal, and theOutput is what is sent back from the server to the client so i am not getting the value of 'a' sent back to me im still getting null

[Norm]

Can you post the code that shows the error? What you posted doesn't show the error.

Where is the variable a assigned a value after it is assigned the value of null?

[nava111]

The program has no errors it compiles and runs but its not storing what i enter into 'a' and stays as null
-' theOutput =question1[Question];' server sends the question and waits for input from client(which is the input i want to store in a)
- i then type input, for example '1'
- 'theInput=a;' theInput is equal to 1 and stored in a (this is where i think the problem is maybe wrong line of code)
-'theOutput = "" a "";' server sends back what i put into theInput and stored in a to the terminal but i still get null instead of 1

[Norm]

its not storing what i enter into 'a'

There is no statement in the posted code that stores anything in a after a is assigned null.

Do you know how an assignment statement works? The variable receiving the value is to the left of the =

variableToReceiveValue = theValueToBeAssigned;

[nava111]

yes,sorry about that because i kept playing around with that line of code 'theInput=a;' it was previously 'a=theInput'. i changed the line to various other code such as 'a=Input.next();', 'a=Input.next(theInput);', it compiled and run but the connection between the server and client froze.

[Norm]

Please post the current version of the program and explain what it is doing and what you want it to do.