Thread: frustrating loop/array issue

Hey everyone!

Fairly new to Java and have been struggling with some of the array use issues.

I have 2 arrays the size of which is set by a SIZE variable:

2 Dimensional

Array 1: UserID[]
Array 2 TransAmount[]

Now I can loop through and printout the contents of these using a standard IF loop.

What i'm having trouble with is looping through and printing out the number of transactions for each unique UserID WITHOUT using a sort/list function and without altering the data structure.

What i've pretty much done to date is:

for(i=0;i<size;i++)
      {
          System.out.print(UserID[i]);
          System.out.print(", ");
          System.out.println(TransAmount[i]);

I would then try to setup a seperate For loop with a nested IF statement to basically increment a count value when comparing the previous userID with the next. and then print out the value etc. The problem is that this doesnt work for an unordered list where the userIDS appear multiple times. It also ends up just looping around and printing out every userid with the count.

Anyway, a little help or pointer in the right direction would be appreciated. Its definitely an issue with my logic for the loop so id appreciate some advice.

Would be so simple if i could sort the list etc.

Cheers

Having 2 arrays is not the same as having one 2-dimensional array....
Array 1: Userid[];
Array 2: TransAmount[];
Is two arrays.
2-dimesional array: myArray[][];

To access all members of a 2-dimensional array, you would use a nested loop setup. A for loop inside a for loop. The outer loop runs through the array of arrays, and the inner loop runs through each element of each array.

Inside the inner loop, where you access each element one at a time, is the place to do the work. If the id appears multiple times, it will be printed multiple times. If that is undesired, you have to find a way to filter. This can be done many ways. Too many to list them all.

You can sort the list... Again many ways to do that...

With that being said:
Do you have to use arrays?
Why do you say "if i could sort the list"... why can you not?
It looks to me like a key/value setup may be more suitable for what it looks like you are trying to do.

Collections (Java 2 Platform SE v1.4.2)

static void sort(List list)
Sorts the specified list into ascending order, according to the natural ordering of its elements.
static void sort(List list, Comparator c)
Sorts the specified list according to the order induced by the specified comparator.

Just to elaborate on sorting. Be sure to read up on documentation! If you don't understand how to read it, let us know.

Hi guys,

Unfortunately, the assignment for uni wont allow us to use sort functions. I can pretty much get all the way to the point where I can print out the multiple entries/lines etc. It seems like im going to have to filter the output in some manner to ensure that I just get the total transactions per user and not every line etc.

So any ideas on how to filter the output without altering any data structures.

Also my bad on the 2 dimensional arrays...your right they are flat single arrays etc.

Thanks Guys,
P.S Why they wont let us use sort is beyond me...I could have finished this in an hour otherwise....bloody uni

Actually thinking about it...I guess I could use a boolean to set to true after an id has been outputed and then an if statement to avoid printing it again

What about creating a new set of the data to be printed as you go through the arrays, and then printing your new data set after you have gone through them all. If the id exists in your new set, skip it and go to the next.