Beginner needing help

[Krakatau7]

Im currently nitting a small calculator

Im to create a mutator method that lets the user chose one of the four calculation forms ( + - * /) - The characters + - * / is passed as parameters but my method should check that the user is using a legal character.

This is my method so far, however bluej needs a ')' somewhere - I cant see it. Also, since its a mutator method, I figure it should change one of my variables but Im not sure which.

public void enterOperator(char Oper)
    {
        if (Oper != '+' '-'  '*'  '/')
        System.out.println("Invalid operator");
    }

[Fubarable]

Code tags added to help your code become readable. To learn to do this yourself, please see the first link in my signature links below. Also, This isn't really an IDE or an "other-IDE" type question as it has nothing to do with BlueJ and all to do with basic Java, so I'm moving this thread to the new to Java section. Also, your title is poor. Of course you need help, else you wouldn't be posting here. Better to give a one line summary of the problem, say: "compiler error, says missing parenthesis" or somesuch.

Finally, you may not be showing us information to help us solve the problem. I suggest showing more code (with code tags), posting the actual error message and showing with a comment in your code which line causes the error to occur.

[user0]

public void enterOperator(char Oper)
    {
        if (Oper != '+' '-'  '*'  '/')
        System.out.println("Invalid operator");
    }

Two things wrong here I can see: 1. When you are checking for equality in Java, you need to do each one individually. 2. When comparing multiple conditions, you need to use a logical operator such as && (AND) or || (OR). Try breaking your if condition as follows:

if(Oper != '+' || Oper != '-' || Oper != '*' || Oper != '/') {
             System.out.println("Invalid operator");
}

Best,

[Krakatau7]

Hello to both of you

Thanks for the advice, I now know how to tag codes and I think my code is now partially working :-)))

[goldest]

if(Oper != '+' || Oper != '-' || Oper != '*' || Oper != '/') {
             System.out.println("Invalid operator");
}

That's correct!

The missing parenthesis problem was also occurring because of the same issue and the compiler was expecting a ')' after the first token in the if statement.

OP, please confirm if it works correctly now or not.

Goldest

[Krakatau7]

yes, it works now.

Although, in my assignment, this is meant to be a mutator method - but I dont see anything changing by this method.

[goldest]

In that case, may be you are supposed to set this operator somewhere.

Check the assignment one more time. You might be missing something out of it.

Goldest

[Krakatau7]

Since the method is about the calculation operator I suppose it has to be set with either the field concerning the operator or the accessor method also concerning the operator.

[code]
public Calculator(int _firstNumber, int _secondNumber, char operatorChar, boolean _ctrlTest)
{
_firstNumber = firstNumber;
_secondNumber = secondNumber;
operatorChar = ' ';
...
// some code is left out
...
public char getoperatorChar()
{
return operatorChar;
}

[coode]

Either way, I dont know how to set it (or could you use the phrase "save it" ?)

(again Im really new with this, so hints to anywhere I can read on this specific subject is very welcome)

[Iron Lion]

An object's variables are typically accompanied by a pair of "getter" and "setter" methods. In this case, the getter method is already present as getoperatorChar(), and what you want to do is write the corresponding setter method. It seems that the method in your earlier post is halfway there, and you're just missing an assignment statement.

[goldest]

Seems like your mutator method should look like this,

public void setOperatorChar(char Oper) {
		if (Oper == '+' || Oper == '-' || Oper == '*' || Oper == '/') {
			this.operatorChar = Oper;
		} else {
			// This can be anything as per your requirements 
                        // in case of invalid operator.
		}
	}

Here is a link if you are interested to know about accessors and mutators : Accessors-Mutators

Make sure to declare this correctly

operatorChar = ' ';

The assignment above is not valid. Either put the char value in ' ' or assign the proper value.

Hope that helps,

Goldest

[Krakatau7]

Im really amazed with the help Im getting here.

So far, I now know that I need to split up equality statements with a logic operator. I think my book mentions that mutator methods need to store variables more permanent. Also the right hand side must match the variable of the given method. I figure Oper is expressed by either getoperatorChar or just operatorChar. Any help on that?


[code]
public void enterOperator(char Oper)
{
if (Oper != '+' || Oper != '-' || Oper != '*' || Oper != '/')
System.out.println("Invalid operator");
operatorChar = Oper;
}
[code]

[Krakatau7]

 public void enterOperator(char Oper)
    {
        if (Oper == '+' || Oper ==  '-' || Oper == '*' || Oper == '/') {operatorChar = Oper;}
        
        else {System.out.println("Invalid operator");}
        
    }

So I changed it a bit; != to == and assigned Oper til a previous variable (after the if statement)

and my else statement remains the same.

Does this look better?

[JavaHater]

if (Oper != '+' || Oper != '-' || Oper != '*' || Oper != '/')
[code]

if you can use Character class in your assignment

if ( "+-*/^%|&".contains(Character.toString(oper)) ){
            this.operatorChar = oper;
}

[goldest]

and my else statement remains the same.

Does this look better?

No, it doesn't.

The purpose of the mutator methods is to SET something. There is nothing getting set inside that else loop. What if the operator provided doesn't match with if statement? Then, your mutator method will eventually do nothing other than printing to console.

Thats why I said in my previous post to handle this properly in that else loop.

Hope that helps,

Goldest

[Krakatau7]

To Goldest

Im not sure what you mean. I need to assign operatorChar = " " instead?

and I think you need to explain to me how my else statement is not doing what is is supposed to do.

Thank you.

[Krakatau7]

...but the method should check wether number is the first or the second in the calculation. This is done based on the previous action by the user - if it was a choice of calculation, the number entered is of course the second number. With no previous action by the user, the number is therefor the first number in the calculation.

In the field, we were to create a logical field keeping track of if the next number entered is the first or the second number in the calculation. Im pretty sure that I need to involve this in the new mutator method.

At the same time we were to make a a toString method changing a real number to string a string object shown with two decimals. Also very certain I need to include this in the new method.


The last field is the logical

public Calculator(int _firstNumber, int _secondNumber, char operatorChar, boolean _ctrlTest)
    {
        // initialise instance variables
        _firstNumber  = firstNumber;
        _secondNumber = secondNumber;
        operatorChar  = " ";
        _ctrlTest      = ctrlTest;
    }

...
some code left out
...

This is the toString method

 public String toString()
    {
        DecimalFormat df = new DecimalFormat("#.##");
        return df.format(firstNumber);
    }

Im really without clues, so could you hint me away?