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I'm writing Java code. I have files that looks like:

  1. President and Vice-President ==> Fred Flinestone(P)
  2. US Senate ==> Louise Moon (P)
  3. Proposition #1 ==> Yes
  4. Amendment #1 ==> Decline

I am trying to separate the different contest (President and Vice-President, US Senate, etc.) from the "voter's choice" (Alvin Boone..., Louise, etc) line by line. I want to use the first token to create an array list and the second token to be added to the corresponding array list.

I hope I am not over my head with this as I am a new Java programmer but all help is appreciated. So far I have.

public void go () {
  getContest();
}

void getContest() {
  // reading file and call the addContest() method for each line/
  try {
    String line = null;
    while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
      addContest(line);
    }
  }
}

void addContest (String lineToParse) {
  String[] tokens = lineToParse.split(">");

  // somehow this will add contests to
  // its own array 0 is the first part of split
  contestList.add(tokens[0]);
}

I hope I am not asking for too much but if I can find out how to create the array list I am sure I can put second token in the corresponding array. Thank you!

share|improve this question
    
Is this homework? If so, please add the homework tag –  Jim Garrison Feb 12 '12 at 1:42
    
This is not homework –  user1204524 Feb 12 '12 at 3:00
    
I will accept any help...even if its a website that tells me how to use a for loop with an array..this is not for any grade.. –  user1204524 Feb 12 '12 at 4:24
    
Cool; what's it for? You'd really be better off using a list to avoid having to know, or guess, the number of elements. Or a map keyed by the contest, holding lists of each's "entries". The data you show makes it difficult to guess what you actually need; by telling us what the requirements are, and where they came from, you make it easier for us to guess. –  Dave Newton Feb 12 '12 at 4:50
    
I was always told you learn by doing. I write programs I come up with and I have been on the student government board so...Trying to make a tally machine..which is the reason why I chose using an array list. Then the 2nd token would be used to tally up the votes. I just started this code an ran into this problem. What else could I provide to help? –  user1204524 Feb 12 '12 at 5:04

1 Answer 1

up vote 0 down vote

It looks like you would probably be better served by a map. The first element is the key, and the second element the value.

ArrayList<String> lines = new ArrayList<String>();
String line;
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
    lines.add(line);
}
HashMap<String, String> votes = new HashMap<String, String>();
for(String line: lines) {
    String[] terms = line.split(">");
    votes.put(terms[0], terms[1]);
}
share|improve this answer
    
thank you so much! I will try it out tomorrow. –  user1204524 Feb 13 '12 at 5:10
    
Im still working on this and I am learning to read code as well..so can you tell me..regarding the "lines" in the code above..it needs to will be a local String variable? eclipse wants me to add it as an object. –  user1204524 Feb 15 '12 at 3:26
    
Updated to demonstrate one way to do this. You could also just use the while loop directly and eliminate the lines variable. –  Carl Manaster Feb 15 '12 at 14:13
    
the .put is not working is there anything else to use? –  user1204524 Feb 18 '12 at 22:52
    
String No_Selection; String line = null; String[] anArray = line.split("==>"); line.put(anArray[0], anArray[1]); –  user1204524 Feb 18 '12 at 22:52

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