getting strings from arraylist

[Ms.Ranjan]

I have hashmap<string,ArrayList<string>>.I am able to loop through the map

for (Iterator it = map.keySet().iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
String name = "xxxx";

if(name==(String) it.next())
{

for(Object value : (ArrayList<String>)map.get(name)) {

System.out.println(name+"-->"+value);


}
}

so what i get is
xxxx --> [val1,val2]

but i need string from the arraylist like

xxxx --> val1
xxxx --> val2

any idea of how i get this??and also i need to check if the arraylist is empty

xxxx --> []

Thanks

[xcallmejudasx]

you can't compare strings using ==. Instead try

if(name.equalsIgnoreCase((String)it.next())){
//do stuff
}

[Mr.Beans]

First of all you have no need for all the casting since you are already using generics within the map.

map.get(String) will return an ArrayList<String>.

Also next time use the code tags and make sure your brackets are in the correct location.

I think you want something along the lines of this:

HashMap< String, ArrayList<String> > myMap = new HashMap< String, ArrayList<String> >();
String name = "xxx";
for(Iterator<String> it = myMap.keySet().iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
    String next = it.next();
    if(next.equalsIgnoreCase(name)) {
        if(myMap.get(name).size() >=0) {
            for(String value : myMap.get(name)) {
                System.out.println(name + " ---> " + value);
            }
        } else {
            System.out.println(name + " ---> NO_VALUES" );
        }
    }
}

Mr. Beans

[Ms.Ranjan]

Hi
Thanks for your reply

if(myMap.get(name).[B]size() [/B]>=0) {

The method size() is undefined for the type Object

for(String value : [B]myMap.get(name)) [/B]{

Can only iterate over an array or an instance of java.lang.Iterable

these are the error that i get

Thanks

[pbrockway2]

If the compiler regards myMap.get(name) as an Object, and not something that has a size() method or implements Iterable, that's because you have the declaration of it wrong.

[Ms.Ranjan]

Thankyou..yes my declaration was wrong....But what if i have this hashmap inside a multimap something like this

HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>> map =new HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>> ();
MultiMap m = MultiValueMap.decorate(map);
ArrayList arr1=new ArrayList();
arr1.add(val1);
arr1.add(val2);
ArrayList arr2=new ArrayList();
m.put(key1,arr1);
m.put(key1,arr2);
m.put(key2,arr1);
m.put(key2,arr2);
for (Iterator it = m.keySet().iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
           String name=key1;
            String n = (String) it.next();
            //System.out.println(name);
if(name.equalsIgnoreCase(n))
        	  {
for(Object value : (ArrayList)m.get(name)) {
                System.out.println(name"---> "+value);
}
}

now this give me
key1-->[val1,val2]

and now how can i get individual strings from this arraylist

[pbrockway2]

> how can i get individual strings from this arraylist

By iterating over the array list and printing the contents.

I think you will stand the best chance of getting specific help if you post a SSCCE. What you posted won't compile because of the MultiMap. (and the typo near the end).

[Ms.Ranjan]

>
I think you will stand the best chance of getting specific help if you post a SSCCE. What you posted won't compile because of the MultiMap. (and the typo near the end).

I am sorry if it was not of SSCCE type,but didnt understand why you said it wont compile because of Multimap???

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;

import org.apache.commons.collections.MultiMap;
import org.apache.commons.collections.map.MultiValueMap;
public class Multitest {
	
public static void main(String args[])
{
	HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>> map =new HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>> ();
	MultiMap m = MultiValueMap.decorate(map);
	ArrayList<String> arr1=new ArrayList<String>();
	arr1.add("val1");
	arr1.add("val2");
	ArrayList<String> arr2=new ArrayList<String>();
	m.put("key1",arr1);
	m.put("key1",arr2);
	m.put("key2",arr1);
	m.put("key2",arr2);
	for (Iterator it = m.keySet().iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
	           String name="key1";
	            String n = (String) it.next();
	            //System.out.println(name);
	if(name.equalsIgnoreCase(n))
	        	  {
	for(Object value : (ArrayList)m.get(name)) {
		  
	                System.out.println(name+"---> "+value);
	}
	}
	}
}
}

Here is the code
and its output is
key1---> [val1, val2]
key1---> []

can you now help me on how to get the arraylist as strings??

[pbrockway2]

I am sorry if it was not of SSCCE type,

No need to be sorry. Just don't be surprised. People can offer the most specific help if they know what a problem is. A SSCCE is effective in describing a problem: "I need to do this, How do I do that?" and variants are not problem descriptions.

but didnt understand why you said it wont compile because of Multimap???

It won't compile, because there is no MultiMap class in the "plain" JRE.

From MultiValueMap API documentation: "A MultiValueMap decorates another map, allowing it to have more than one value for a key.

"A MultiMap is a Map with slightly different semantics. Putting a value into the map will add the value to a Collection at that key. Getting a value will return a Collection, holding all the values put to that key.

"This implementation is a decorator, allowing any Map implementation to be used as the base.

"In addition, this implementation allows the type of collection used for the values to be controlled. By default, an ArrayList is used, however a Class to instantiate may be specified, or a factory that returns a Collection instance."

In your case you put exactly two values into the map m with key "key1":

m.put("key1",arr1);
m.put("key1",arr2);

The two values are both ArrayList<String>. When you later call m.get(name) you are going to get back an ArrayList which will contain exactly the same two arrays that you associated with the key "key1". Be clear about this: the returned ArrayList is an array list of ArrayLists: it is not an array list of Strings.

To print something like

key1--->val1
key1--->val2

where the values val1, val2 etc are the union, or concatenation, of the array lists returned by m.get(), take the array lists (you are currently calling them value and iterate over their contents.
I think I might have said this before, but you may not have realised that value is not merely an Object, it is an ArrayList<String>.

Checking for value being empty is not really needed here as empty array lists contribute nothing to the output. But if you need to know that use the size() method.

Duplicates could be a problem. For instance if you had

ArrayList<String> arr1=new ArrayList<String>();
arr1.add("val1");
arr1.add("val2");
ArrayList<String> arr2=new ArrayList<String>();
arr2.add("val1");
m.put("key1",arr1);
m.put("key1",arr2);

then the output would list "val1" twice. If you really want a union rather than a concatenation, form a Set<String>, add the contents of each of the lists returned by m.get() and then print the output.

[Ms.Ranjan]

since value is not merely an object,its an ArrayList<String>,i tried to iterate like this why is that i get "Can only iterate over an array or an instance of java.lang.Iterable" and value is underlined

for(Object value : (ArrayList)m.get(name)) {
		  for(String val:[B]value[/B])
		  {
	                System.out.println(name+"---> "+val);
		  }
	}

[OrangeDog]

Again, you're declaring it wrong and don't need casts.

for (ArrayList<String> value : m.get(name)) {
    for (String val : value) {
        System.out.println(name + "---> " + val);
    }
}

[Ms.Ranjan]

(ArrayList<String> value : m.get(name)) is again causing the same error,meaning again my declaration is wrong..

MultiMap m = MultiValueMap.decorate(map);

it tried parameterizing MultiMap with <String,HashMap>,it says
The type MultiMap is not generic; it cannot be parameterized with arguments..
so how do i solve the problem???

[hawaiian robots]

You are making this a lot more difficult then what it needs to be.

public static void main(String[] args)
{
   HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>> myMap = new HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>>();
   ArrayList<String> e1 = new ArrayList<String>();
   e1.add("val1");
   e1.add("val2");
   ArrayList<String> e2 = new ArrayList<String>();
   e2.add("val1");
   e2.add("val2");
   e2.add("val3");
   e2.add("val3");
   myMap.put("E1", e1);
   myMap.put("E2", e2);
   
   for (String key : myMap.keySet())
   {
      for (String value : myMap.get(key))
      {
         System.out.println(key + " = " + value);
      }
   }
}

[Ms.Ranjan]

the problem is I need duplicate values

ArrayList<String> e1 = new ArrayList<String>();
               e1.add("val1");
	   e1.add("val2");
	   
	   ArrayList<String> e2 = new ArrayList<String>();
	   
	   e2.add("val1");
	   e2.add("val2");
	   e2.add("val3");
	   e2.add("val3");
	   myMap.put("E1", e1);
	   myMap.put("E1", e2);

will fetch me
E1 = val1
E1 = val2
E1 = val3
E1 = val3

but i need the duplicate values too..
E1 = val1
E1 = val2
E1 = val1
E1 = val2
E1 = val3
E1 = val3

is there anyway i can have the duplicate values too???

[Ms.Ranjan]

Special thanks to "pbrockway2" for you patience in explaning the problem and helping me..and thanks to all of them who helped me solve the problem...

finally it was arraylist of arraylist that i was having as value,so two loops one for the outer arraylist and the other for the inner one,iterating over them helped me to get the string and had to cast to specific type since it was stored as a object.

Thanks guys...

[pbrockway2]

You're welcome - with collections going "2 deep" like that you have to work slowly and think what sort of thing is being returned by each method.

I'm not entirely sure you have to cast a variable declared as Object as something else, rather than just declaring it as what it is. But that's your call...