Help would be Greatly Appreciated.. please

[aejames23]

Alright im making this big project. Basically I have a text file

FirstName LastName Salary
Benjamin Jensen 1,800
Elizabeth Adams 45,700
Elise Killy 2,913,500
Austin Sasiak 156,000

Now i have to make 2 scanner classes, one to read the file and one to take input from user.
The user has to enter in

Enter field widths for first, last, and salary (2-15): 12 16 10
Enter field widths for first, last, and salary (2-15): 12 10 10
Enter alignment in field (L or R): r
Enter exponent of 10 for rounding (0-3): 2

And this would make display

First Last Salary
Benjamin Jensen 1,800
Elizabeth Adams 45,700
Elise Killy 2,913,500

I have to change the alignments and the widths by whatever the user enters. I have do not know how to do this. help would be much appreciated. so far i have.

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
	{
		File file = new File ("employee.txt");
		Formatter formatter = new Formatter();
	    System.out.println(formatter.format("%5s %5s %5s", "FirstName","LastName", "Salary"));

		BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("employee.txt"));
		String line;
		while((line = in.readLine()) != null)
		{
		    System.out.println(line);
		}
		System.out.println(TableFormat.padString("Hello", 5, 'L'));
		TableFormat.round();
		System.out.println(TableFormat.addCommas(723723));
	    
	}

[Fubarable]

You're already using a Formatter object:

System.out.println(formatter.format("%5s %5s %5s", "FirstName","LastName", "Salary"));

This functions similar to System.out.printf and String.format. The only thing you have to change is the format String, "%5s %5s %5s". Instead of using the hard coded "5"'s create a format String that uses the numbers given by the user, and then use that with your Formatter (or printf of String.format).

[aejames23]

What do you mean by create a format String?, i do not know how to make that and incorporate it with the formatter

[Fubarable]

You're already using a format String, "%5s %5s %5s", but you're hard coding it with 5's. Instead create one with variables:

// specifier1, specifier2, specifier3 are variables
String formatString = "%" + specifier1 + "s %" + (.... you should get the idea);

[aejames23]

oh okay! i also have two other methods. One that puts commas in the salary. and one that rounds the salary. How would I incorporate this into there?

[Fubarable]

oh okay! i also have two other methods. One that puts commas in the salary. and one that rounds the salary. How would I incorporate this into there?

By doing a little experimenting. Play around with your code and try things out, and I'll bet you'll solve it. If not, come back with your attempts and let us see what you've tried. Just don't rush back here. give it a decent go first.

[aejames23]

File file = new File ("employee.txt");
		
		Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
		System.out.println("Enter field widths for first, last, and salary (2-15) ");
		int one;int two; int three;
		one = input.nextInt();
		two = input.nextInt();
		three = input.nextInt();
		if (one < 2 || two < 2 || three < 2 || one > 15 || two > 15 || three > 15 )
		{
			do
			{
				System.out.println("Enter field widths for first, last, and salary (2-15) ");
				one = input.nextInt();
				two = input.nextInt();
				three = input.nextInt();
			}
		while ((one < 2 || two < 2 || three < 2 || one > 15 || two > 15 || three > 15));
		}
	
		Formatter formatter = new Formatter();
	    System.out.println(formatter.format("%"+ one + "s %" + two + "s %" +three + "s", "","", ""));

		BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("employee.txt"));
		String line;
		while((line = in.readLine()) != null)
		{
		    System.out.println(line);
		}

Alright i got this, but i do not know how to incorprate in the methods of adding commas, and rounding. How do i make sure that only the salary part gets rounded and puts commas to?
How do i use only the salary part of the text file?