Noob question about using ints in booleans

Okay. I know this is pretty basic stuff. Sorry. This is a trouble I have that I don't know how to deal with. I create a boolean if statement, and at some times it won't let my use int's. Of course I am using ints, but I get an error message "this method must return a type of int" because I created an if statement with booleans... but the return is a number, not a true/false. I just don't see what I'm doing wrong. Sample code:

/* calculates the total amount of time required to cook */
private int totalCookTime(int cookingLength, int foodAmount, int stoves, int cookingLengthMinutes) {
if (cookingLength > 0 && cookingLengthMinutes <= 0) {
return ((cookingLength*foodAmount)*MINUTES_IN_HOUR)/stoves;
} else if (cookingLength > 0 && cookingLengthMinutes > 0){
return (((cookingLength*foodAmount)*MINUTES_IN_HOUR)+cook ingLengthMinutes)/stoves;
} else if (cookingLength <= 0 && cookingLengthMinutes > 0) {
return (cookingLengthMinutes*foodAmount)/stoves;
}
}

of course in the body I have initiated all the parametres etc.

So sorry that this question is so dumb.

Oh, and I use Eclipse, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for your time.

Jo

Sorry, your method does not have a return in full path.

Those if statements look fine, are you getting errors? If so, what are they?(don't paraphrase, copy and post the exact error)

Also, use code tags
[c ode]
your code
[/code]

Also, if none of the conditions are met it wont return anything.

Suppose all of your if-tests fail; the compiler doesn't evaluate your code so that could happen. Your method doesn't return anything so your compiler starts to whine about it; the remedy is simple: stick a "return 0;" at the very end of that method even if it is never executed, the compiler can't tell.

kind regards,

Jos

Your problem is that all of your "returns" are inside of if blocks. The compiler does not even attempt to evaluate those conditions and so it envisions a possibility that none of those if blocks will evaluate as true and, therefore, your method could wind up not returning anything. Either add an else block that returns a default value or add a return at the end of the method that returns a default value, or better yet, rewrite the method in the following manner

Code:

---

public int someMethod(int arg) {
    int retVal = someDefaultValue;
    if (arg > someValue) {
        retVal = someArgExpression;
    } else if (arg < someOtherVale) {
        retVal = someOtherArgExpression;
    }
    return retVal;
}

---

Edit Man, am I SLOW!

Oh! Thank you very much. When I added the final else statement (which is something that should never happen in the program) it all worked fine. So the error "this method must return a type of int" put me off because I was trying to work out why it wasn't an int!

Thankyou very much. :)

This code is pretty messy...

Quote:

---

Code:

---

private int totalCookTime(int cookingLength, int foodAmount, int stoves, int cookingLengthMinutes) {
  if (cookingLength > 0 && cookingLengthMinutes <= 0) {
    return ((cookingLength*foodAmount)*MINUTES_IN_HOUR)/stoves;
  } else if (cookingLength > 0 && cookingLengthMinutes > 0){
    return (((cookingLength*foodAmount)*MINUTES_IN_HOUR)+cook ingLengthMinutes)/stoves;
  } else if (cookingLength <= 0 && cookingLengthMinutes > 0) {
    return (cookingLengthMinutes*foodAmount)/stoves;
  }
}

---

---

Firstly, your calculation is the same for the first 2 branches and it only changes in the final branch because if cookinglength <= 0 it renders the major part of your calculation as 0.

What you have written has the same effect as:

Code:

---

int cookingTime = 0;

if (cookingLength <= 0 && cookingLengthMinutes > 0) {
  cookingTime = (cookingLengthMinutes*foodAmount)/stoves;
} else {
  cookingTime = (cookingLength*MINUTES_IN_HOUR*foodAmount + cookingLengthMinutes)/stoves;
}

return cookingTime;

---

And even then, it appears to me that your variable cookingLengthMinutes indicates the same value as cookingLength*MINUTES_IN_HOUR ? That is, if cookingLength holds the cooking time in Hours and MINUTES_IN_HOUR = 60. In which case, you don't need any conditional statement because the calculation is the same for all values.

EDIT: Looking at your code again, it seems like you are storing the cooking time in two variables: one for hours and another for minutes e.g.
Total cooking time could be 1hr + 30minutes. But it should be all stored in minutes to simplify calculations and can still be output as hours & minutes.
And if that is the case, then:

Code:

---

  cookingTime = (cookingLength*MINUTES_IN_HOUR*foodAmount + cookingLengthMinutes)/stoves;

---

Should be

Code:

---

  cookingTime = (cookingLength*MINUTES_IN_HOUR*foodAmount + cookingLengthMinutes*foodamount)/stoves;

---

Infact, then your whole method should look like this:

Code:

---

private int totalCookTime(int cookingLength, int foodAmount, int stoves, int cookingLengthMinutes) {
  int cookingTime = 0;
  cookingTime = (cookingLength*MINUTES_IN_HOUR*foodAmount + cookingLengthMinutes*foodamount)/stoves;
  return cookingTime;
}

---

i.e. the total minutes for cooking is cooking hours*minutes in hour + cooking minutes
and the total cooking time is (the total minutes*foodamount) divided by number of stoves