[Aquanun]

Hey guys I need a few methods for adding and removing Student objects from a previous class but what I'm looking for here is the constructors for an ArrayList method, how do I make a constructor with and without parameters for an ArrayList? Is the no parameter constructor like this?:

ArrayList<Student> students = new ArrayList<Student>();

Thanks for any and all replies!

[jon.kiparsky]

That constructor will create an empty ArrayList which accepts anything that can be a Student.
If you have a pre-existing Collection of Students, pass that Collection as a parameter to the constructor to make an ArrayList with that Collection's contents.

Hope that helps.

[smohd]

The ArrayList class(it is a class and not a method) has three constructors(one you written and another that jon.kiparsky pointed). What you are doing there in your code is to create a collection to hold Student objects. The ArrayList has built in methods for adding and removing elements(if what you need is to add and remove Student objects). Unless, I think you will have to customize your Student class constructors....

[Aquanun]

smohd, on 25 July 2011 - 10:41 AM, said:

The ArrayList class(it is a class and not a method) has three constructors(one you written and another that jon.kiparsky pointed). What you are doing there in your code is to create a collection to hold Student objects. The ArrayList has built in methods for adding and removing elements(if what you need is to add and remove Student objects). Unless, I think you will have to customize your Student class constructors....

Great thanks! And yeah I'm trying to basically create a database of Student objects using the ArrayList class, those methods to add and remove are just like students.add() and students.remove()?

[macosxnerd101]

The documentation is a great place to start!

[Aquanun]

macosxnerd101, on 25 July 2011 - 10:52 AM, said:

The documentation is a great place to start!

Yeah I read the doc! Every example I seem to see has an array listed above the ArrayList and the add method is given like this:

Integer[] integers = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
ArrayList<Integer> integerList = new ArrayList<Integer>();

for (Integer element : integers)
    integerList.add(element);

Is there a way to have an ArrayList and not have to have an array with it? I'm trying to make a GUI database that can add, remove, update a student object from the ArrayList when the "Add" "Remove" or "Update" button is pressed so there can't be a static number of students, I just want the ArrayList to be able to add and remove students!

[macosxnerd101]

Yes. You can use an ArrayList without an array. In fact, as the documentation states, the add() method only requires an element of matching type to what is being stored in the ArrayList. So if you are storing an ArrayList<String>, you can only pass a String to the add() method.

[jon.kiparsky]

Aquanun, on 25 July 2011 - 01:18 PM, said:

Is there a way to have an ArrayList and not have to have an array with it? I'm trying to make a GUI database that can add, remove, update a student object from the ArrayList when the "Add" "Remove" or "Update" button is pressed so there can't be a static number of students, I just want the ArrayList to be able to add and remove students!

You don't need an array, as mac has said. Those are examples of ways to populate an ArrayList.

Create your ArrayList<Student>, then create Students and use the add method to add them.

I'm not convinced that an ArrayList is the best choice for this application, but you should be able to make a toy application to exercise the ideas.

[smohd]

For more examples on how to use arrayLists look here and here

[macosxnerd101]

Locke has a tutorial on static arrays vs. ArrayLists, which you may find helpful as well.

[Aquanun]

Thanks guys I'll definitely take a look at those tutorials! Thanks for all the replies, +1s all around!

[macosxnerd101]

Glad we could help!