Card Description Program in Scanner

[sauronamaterasu13]

ok, using a standard deck of 42 cards, I'm supposed to make a program that is supposed to take in a user input of a card name in shorthand notation (i.e. 4S) and the program is supposed to give the description of the card (i.e. if the above example were inputted, the output would be Four of Spades)

the problem I'm having is that whatever I input comes out as nullSpades (if using the above example) instead of the proper description

class:

 
  public class Card 
   {
   
      String cardNumber,cardSuit;
   
      public Card(String description)
      {
         String cardDescription = description;
         String cardNumberValue = cardDescription.substring(0);
                  	
         if (cardNumberValue.equals("1"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Ten of ";
         }
            
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("2"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Two of ";
         }
         
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("3"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Three of ";
         }
         
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("4"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Four of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("5"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Five of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("6"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Six of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("7"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Seven of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("8"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Eight of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equals("9"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Nine of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equalsIgnoreCase("J"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Jack of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equalsIgnoreCase("Q"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Queen of ";
         }
         	
         else if (cardNumberValue.equalsIgnoreCase("K"))
         {
            cardNumber = "King of ";
         }
         
         else if (cardNumberValue.equalsIgnoreCase("A"))
         {
            cardNumber = "Ace of ";
         }
            
         String cardSuitValue = cardDescription.substring(1);
      		
         if (cardSuitValue.equalsIgnoreCase("D"))
         {
            cardSuit = "Diamonds";
         }
         	
         else if (cardSuitValue.equalsIgnoreCase("H"))
         {
            cardSuit = "Hearts";
         }
         	
         else if (cardSuitValue.equalsIgnoreCase("S"))
         {
            cardSuit = "Spades";
         }
         
         else if (cardSuitValue.equalsIgnoreCase("C"))
         {
            cardSuit = "Clubs";
         }
      }
      
      public String getDescription()
      {
         String fullDescription = cardNumber + cardSuit;
         return fullDescription;
      }
   }

driver:

   import java.util.Scanner;

   public class CardDriver 
   {
      public static void main(String[] args) 
      {
         Scanner reader = new Scanner(System.in);
       
         System.out.print("Enter a card number and its suit like this (4S): ");
         
         String cardDescription = reader.next();
         String description = cardDescription;
       
         Card card = new Card(cardDescription);
       
         System.out.println(card.getDescription());
      }
   }

[Norm]

To see what the code is doing, use a println() statement to print out the value of variables like Number, cardNumber and userInput after they are given values.

[sauronamaterasu13]

ok, i got the if else around the bottom of the class to print out the suit, but the problem now is that whenever i try to get the number of the card, it prints out null

[JavaAdviser]

You are using the substring method wrongly. The way you are calling it is only giving the same string.

You need to give a range when you want to have specific character.
Like this

String cardNumberValue = cardDescription.substring(0, 1);

or

String cardNumberValue = Character.toString(cardDescription.charAt(0));

[sauronamaterasu13]

ok i gotcha, but how come it ends up working for the suit and not the number

because i have this code for number:

String cardNumberValue = cardDescription.substring(0);

and this for the suit:

String cardNumberValue = cardDescription.substring(1);

[JavaAdviser]

Exactly.
Here's the JavaDoc comment for the version of substring you use.
"The substring begins with the character at the specified index and extends to the end of this string."

[sauronamaterasu13]

o ok, i see what you are taking about, thanks