Trying to work out this program

[KidneyinaCooler]

I'm having a hard time understanding this program.

Basically the program should either sort the array of items by name or by price and display the full list that is now sorted.

I get the comparator and all that, but I must be missing something because two of the files will not compile. The objects aren't being recognized


These two will.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;


public class CoffeeDriver
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
   {
   	char choice;
      Item inventory[] = new Item[4]; 
      
		inventory[0] = new Item("Coffee", 1.00); 
		inventory[1] = new Item("Water", 2.00);
		inventory[2] = new Item("Milk", 1.50);
		inventory[3] = new Item("Bagel", 1.25);
		inventory[4] = new Item("Donut", 0.75);
		

		choice = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null,
			"Welcome to Wings Coffee Shop." +
			"\nWould you like to see these items sorted by" +
			"\nname or by price? (n/p)",
      JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE).charAt(0);
      choice = Character.toLowerCase(choice);                          
                       
		switch(choice)
      {
      	case 'n':  
            Arrays.sort(inventory);
				System.out.println();
    			System.out.println("Sorted by name");

    			for (int i=0; i<4; i++)
				{
      			Item item = inventory[i];
     				String name = item.getName();
      			double price = item.getPrice();
      			System.out.println(name + "    " + price);
    			} 	
				break;
         
			case 'p':
				Arrays.sort(inventory);
				System.out.println();
    			System.out.println("Sorted by price");

    			for (int i=0; i<4; i++) 
	 			{
      			Item item = inventory[i];
      			String name = item.getName();
      			double price = item.getPrice();
      			System.out.println(name + "    " + price);
    			}
            break;
         
			default:
            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,
				"Invalid entry, Please try again");
            break;
       }         
 	 }
}

import java.util.Comparator;
public class Item implements Comparable<String>
{
	String name;
   double price = 0.00;
   
	// Constructor
	public Item(String itemName, double itemPrice)
	{
		this.name = itemName;
      this.price = itemPrice;
   }
	// Set name method
	public void setName(String name)
	{
   	this.name = name;
	}
	// Get name  method
	public String getName()
	{
   	return name;
	}
	// Get price method
   public void setPrice(double price)
   {
   	this.price = price;
   }	  
	// Set price method	  
	public double getPrice()
   {
   	return price;
   }
 	//compare items by name:
  	public int compareTo(String otherName) 
	{
    return name.compareTo(otherName);
   }
}

These two won't.

package comparable.ex03;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class PriceComparator<Item> implements Comparator<Item>
{
	public int compare(Item o1, Item o2)
	{
		int itemPrice1 =  o1.getPrice();
      int itemPrice2 =  o2.getPrice();
                
      if(itemPrice1 > itemPrice2)
		{
      	return 1;
      }
         else if(itemPrice1 < itemPrice2)
		{
         return -1;
      }
        else return 0;
	}
}

The errors:
PriceComparator.java:8: cannot find symbol
symbol : method getPrice()
location: class java.lang.Object
int itemPrice1 = o1.getPrice();
^
PriceComparator.java:9: cannot find symbol
symbol : method getPrice()
location: class java.lang.Object
int itemPrice2 = o2.getPrice();

package comparable.ex03;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class NameComparator<Item> implements Comparator<Item>
{
	public int compare(Item o1, Item o2)
	{
		String itemName1 = o1.getName();
		String itemName2 = o2.getName();
		return itemName1.compareTo(itemName2);
	}
}

The errors:
NameComparator.java:8: cannot find symbol
symbol : method getName()
location: class java.lang.Object
String itemName1 = o1.getName();
^
NameComparator.java:9: cannot find symbol
symbol : method getName()
location: class java.lang.Object
String itemName2 = o2.getName();




Isn't there an easier way to sort and display a list like this?
How do I get this to work???

[KidneyinaCooler]

When I run CoffeeDriver I see the initial screen to get the input from the user but then get this error:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ClassCastException: Item cannot be cast to java.lang.String
at Item.compareTo(Item.java:9)
at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1144)
at java.util.Arrays.sort(Arrays.java:1079)
at CoffeeDriver.main(CoffeeDriver.java:49)

[Fubarable]

Issues:

I'm surprised you don't get an array index out of range when you try to add a 5th Item in the [4] slot of your Item[4] array. You should know that this array will hold four Item objects at index [0], [1], [2], and [3].

If Item implements a generic Comparable, it shouldn't be a Comparable<String> but rather it should extend Comparable<Item> since you're comparing one Item to another. Then in the compareTo method you will pass an Item object in the parameter and compare its String with the "this" String (if String comparison is what you want to do).

[KidneyinaCooler]

Yeah I fixed that, changed it to a 4.

[KidneyinaCooler]

I'm not sure I know what you mean here when referring to change the compareTo method

how do I get to to compare it from the return statement?

import java.util.Comparator;

public class Item implements Comparable<Item>
{
	String name;
   double price = 0.00;
   
	// Constructor
	public Item(String itemName, double itemPrice)
	{
		this.name = itemName;
      this.price = itemPrice;
   }
	// Set name method
	public void setName(String name)
	{
   	this.name = name;
	}
	// Get name  method
	public String getName()
	{
   	return name;
	}
	// Get price method
   public void setPrice(double price)
   {
   	this.price = price;
   }	  
	// Set price method	  
	public double getPrice()
   {
   	return price;
   }
 	//compare items by name:
  	public int compareTo(Item otherName) ????
	{
            return name.compareTo(otherName);????
   }
}

[Fubarable]

You want to compare the name held in this Item, with the name held in the other Item, so do just that:

public int compareTo(Item other) {
   return name.compareTo(other.getName());
}

[KidneyinaCooler]

Thanks so much! I think I get it.

However, I realized that the code doesn't sort the prices right. It will sort the items by name but not by the prices.