[crapmyster]

It's just something I want to do for now to make simple and basic. Could you do what I'm trying to do without using all that array stuff?

[macosxnerd101]

Sure- the way you are doing it will work; it's just a pain because you have to write more code for each variable. Arrays just make your life easier. You can write more code if you want to though. I highly recommend learning arrays, though.

[Fuzzyness]

Yes it is possible, but as much as you want to keep things simple and basic, this is probably the more simpler way to do it, may look like more work but it isn't that hard where with what you are wanting to do requires keeping track of restrictions and having a lot of if statements for checks etc. It isn't the most basic thing I understand. I am all for doing things one step at a time and learning to walk before you run, but this really is a basic fundamental learning opportunity. By doing it the way I suggested you get many benefits including and not limited to learning how to work a class with another class, how object interact with methods in other classes, good OOP design,and most importantly not having magic numbers, which are hardcoded like creating an array with length of 3 and only 3. Would be a fully functional program and teach you how to handle operations of multi-class projects that you will need to know for future projects.

It is possible to do it your way, but I really encourage you to do it the other way that was suggested.

Edit - Here is an example of what I was talking about. The basis is you have an Item, ShoppingCart to hold the items, and a Driver class Shop

Spoiler

Item Class

public class Item
{
	/*
	 * Class level objects to hold the values.
	 * They are class level so that they can
	 * be accessed from other methods in the class.
	 */
	private String name;
	private double price;
	private int quantity;
	
	/* Constructor take a Name, Price, and a Quantity */
	public Item(String name, double price, int quantity)
	{
		this.name = name;
		this.price = price;
		this.quantity = quantity;
	}
	
	/* 
	 * Appropriate getters to get the values. 
	 * Because they are private cannot be accessed
	 * outside of this class
	 */
	 
	public String getName()
	{
		return name;
	}
	
	public double getPrice()
	{
		return price;
	}
	
	public int getQuantity()
	{
		return quantity;
	}
	
	public double getTotal()
	{
		return price*quantity;
	}
	
	/* 
	 * The only setter you need is quantity
	 * because you don't need to set name or 
	 * the price over. Can only change the
	 * quantity of the item that you get.
	 */
	 
	public void setQuantity(int quant)
	{
		quantity = quant;
	}
	
	/*
	 * A toString() method to return a String
	 * representation of the products total
	 */
	public String toString()
	{
		return "Product: " + name + "\nPrice: $" + price + "\nQuantity: " + quantity + "\n";
	}
}

ShoppingCart

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class ShoppingCart
{
	/* 
	 * Create an ArrayList to be accessed by
	 * the entire class. ArrayList class
	 * is an generic since JDK 7 so must
	 * give it a type in the < >
	 */
	private ArrayList<Item> items;
	
	/* Instantiate the ArrayList to be used*/
	public ShoppingCart()
	{
		items = new ArrayList<Item>();
	}
	
	public void add(Item x)
	{
		items.add(x);
	}
	
	public void remove(String name)
	{
		int answer = search(name);
		if(answer >= 0)
			items.remove(answer);
	}
	
	public int search(String name)
	{
		for(int i = 0; i < items.size(); i++)
		{
			if(items.get(i).getName().equals(name))
				return i;
		}
		
		return -1;
	}
	
	public String view(int x)
	{
		return items.get(x).toString();
	}
	
	public void display()
	{
		double total = 0.0;
		for(int i = 0; i < items.size(); i++)
		{
			System.out.println("Item " + (i+1) + "\n" + items.get(i).toString());
			total += items.get(i).getTotal();
		}
		System.out.println("Your current final total is: $" + total);
	}
}

Shop

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Shop
{
	private static ShoppingCart cart;
	private static Scanner in;
	private static String name;
	private static int num;
	
	public static void main(String args[])
	{
		cart = new ShoppingCart();
		in = new Scanner(System.in);
		int choice = 1;
		printMenu();
		while(choice > 0 && choice < 6)
		{
			choice = in.nextInt();
			in.nextLine();
			switch(choice)
			{
				case 1: 
						System.out.print("\nPlease enter the name of the item: ");
						name = in.nextLine();
						System.out.print("Please enter the cost of the item: ");
						double price = in.nextDouble();
						System.out.print("Please enter how many you would like: ");
						int quantity = in.nextInt();
						in.nextLine(); 
						cart.add(new Item(name, price, quantity));
						break;
				case 2: 
						System.out.print("\nPlease enter the name of the item you would like to remove: ");
						name = in.nextLine();
						cart.remove(name);
						break;
				case 3:
						System.out.print("\nPlease enter the item you would like to search for: ");
						name = in.nextLine();
						num = cart.search(name);
						if(num != -1)
							System.out.println(cart.view(num));
						else System.out.println("The item does not exist!");
						break;
				case 4:
						System.out.print("\nPlease enter the item you would like to see: ");
						name = in.nextLine();
						num = cart.search(name);
						if(num != -1)
							System.out.println(cart.view(num));
						else System.out.println("\nThe item does not exist!");
						break;
				case 5: 
						System.out.println();
						cart.display();
						break;
				case 6:
						System.out.println("\nHave a good evening!");
						System.exit(0);
						break;
				default: 
						System.out.println("\nIncorrect Selection!");
						choice = 1;
						break;
			}
			System.out.println();
			printMenu();
		}
	}
	
	public static void printMenu()
	{
		System.out.println("Welcome to the Store!\nPlease choose one of the below options:");
		System.out.println("1. Add item");
		System.out.println("2. Remove Item");
		System.out.println("3. Search Item");
		System.out.println("4. View Item");
		System.out.println("5. See Cart");
		System.out.println("6. Exit");
		System.out.print("Your selection: ");
	}
}

This post has been edited by Fuzzyness: 13 October 2011 - 11:24 AM