Password Checker

[lily_ruiz_06]

I have a problem with this code and can't seem to find what it is. It compiles correctly but doesn't work as it should ie ( verifies password meets all requirements) it just says "valid" no matter what. Can someone help me? Your help is appreciated.

import java.util.Scanner;

public class PasswordChecker
{//start class

public static void main(String[] args)
{//start main

/************************************************** ********
* Declare and initialize variables
************************************************** ********/
Scanner stdIn = new Scanner(System.in);
boolean containsDigit = true;
boolean containsLowerCaseLetter = true;
boolean containsUpperCaseLetter = true;
boolean containsSpecialCharacter = true;
boolean noAnd = true;
boolean noEnd = true;
boolean length = true;
String password;
/************************************************** *********************
*Displays message for user input and loops
************************************************** **********************/

int numberOfTries = 0;
while (numberOfTries < 3)
{// While loop to Continue to prompt the user for a password until these criteria are met.
System.out.println("Password Verifier");
System.out.println("Please enter a password that meets the following rules: ");
System.out.println("Is at least 8 characters long ");
System.out.println("Contains at least 1 lower letter character ");
System.out.println("Contains at least 1 upper letter character ");
System.out.println("Contains at least 1 numeric digit ");
System.out.println("Contains at least 1 special character from the set: !@#$%^&* ");
System.out.println("Does not contain the word \"and\" or the word \"end\"");


password = stdIn.next();//input for password
numberOfTries++;


/************************************************** ********
*Decision statements for password requirements
************************************************** ********/


if (password.length() >= 8)
{// If length greater than or equal to 8 characters in length its a good password
length = true;
}

for (int i = 0; i < password.length(); i++)
{
char ch = password.charAt(i);

if (Character.isDigit(ch))
{// Check for Digits in password
//• Contains at least 1 numeric digit
containsDigit = true;
}
if (Character.isLetter(ch) && Character.isLowerCase(ch) ) {// Check for Letters in password
//• Contains at least 1 lower letter character
containsLowerCaseLetter = true;
}
if (Character.isLetter(ch) && Character.isUpperCase(ch) ) {// Check for Letters in password
//• Contains at least 1 upper letter character
containsUpperCaseLetter = true;
}
if(ch == '!' || ch == '@' || ch == '#' || ch == '$' || ch == '%' || ch == '^' || ch == '&' || ch == '*'){
//• Contains at least 1 special character from the set: !@#$%^&*
containsSpecialCharacter = true;
}
if(password.indexOf("and") == -1){
//• Does not contain the String “and”
noAnd = true;
}
if(password.contains("end")){
//• Does not contain the String “end”
noEnd = true;
}

}
//if conditions are true print valid
if (true)
{
System.out.println("Valid");
}
// if conditions are false print invalid
else if(false)
{
System.out.println("Invalid");
}
else if(!length)
{
//does not meet length requirements
System.out.println("Invalid" + "\n" + "Must contain at least 8 characters");
}
else if(!containsLowerCaseLetter)
{
//Does not contain a lowercase letter
System.out.println("Invalid" + "\n" + "Must contain at least 8 characters");
}
else if(!containsUpperCaseLetter)
{
//Does not contain an uppercase letter
System.out.println("Invalid" + "\n" + "Must contain at least one uppercase character");
}
else if(!containsDigit)
{
//Does not contain a digit
System.out.println("Invalid" + "\n" + "Must contain at least one digit");
}
else if(!containsSpecialCharacter)
{
//Does not contain a special character
System.out.println("Invalid" + "\n" + "Missing a special character");
}
else if(!password.contains("and"))
{
//Does not contain the String “and”
System.out.println("Invalid" + "\n" + "Contains the string \"and\"");
}
else if(!password.contains("end"))
{
//Does not contain the String “end”
System.out.println("Invalid" + "\n" + "Contains the string \"end\"");
}
}

}

}

[jim829]

Here is the first part of your if-else test area.

//if conditions are true print valid
            if (true)
            {
            System.out.println("Valid");
            }
            // if conditions are false print invalid
            else if(false)
            {
            System.out.println("Invalid");
            }

The code will always print valid because the first condition is always true and the next ones are never even considered.

Jim

[lily_ruiz_06]

Thanks for your response. How do I get it to check that each variable is true then? Also, is there an easier way to print the statement "invalid" + the corresponding statement(s) that make it invalid.

[jim829]

First you should initialize all your booleans to false (assume the password is bad and set the flags to true if they check out).

Then to see if the entire password is either valid or invalid, just 'AND' all the booleans together. If only one is false, the result will be false.

boolean isValid = containsLowerCaseLetter && containsUpperCaseLetter && containsDigit .....

Then you can do a separate test so show where the password was bad

if (!isValid) {
System.out.println("Password is not valid\n");
// code to show specifics
} else {
System.out.println("Password is valid\n");
}

To facilitate printing out the specific error messages, you could do something like this;

String ErrorMsg = containDigits ? "" : "Password did not contain digits\n";
ErrorMsg = containsUpperCase ? ErrorMsg : ErrorMsg + "No upper case characters\n";
ErrorMsg = containsLowerCase ? ErrorMsg : ErrorMsg + "No lower case characters\n";
// rest of tests here

System.out.println(ErrorMsg);

There are certainly more clever and optimal ways of doing it. I haven't tested this but you should get the idea. I may have overlooked something.

Regards,
Jim

[jim829]

One more thing I forgot to mention. Since your tests for digits or characters return boolean values, you don't need if statements.

For example, lets say some method returns true or false if the character is a digit or not:

boolean digitfound = false;  // booleans default to false anyway but this is clearer
if (isDigit(ch))
  digitfound = true;

The previous is actually saying

if (isDigit(ch) == true) {
  digitfound = true;
}

So just use the return value of your method as the actual assignment value;

digitfound = isDigit(ch);

digitfound will then be either true or false depending on whether ch was a digit or not.


Regards,
Jim