TRAINING & REFERENCE

murach’s
beginning
Java with
Eclipse

Joel Murach
Michael Urban

Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

4340 N. Knoll Ave. • Fresno, CA 93722
www.murach.com • [email protected]
Editorial team
Authors: Joel Murach
Michael Urban
Editor: Ray Halliday
Production: Maria Spera

Books for Java and Python programmers

Murach’s Beginning Java with NetBeans
Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP (3rd Edition)
Murach’s Android Programming (2nd Edition)
Murach’s Java Programming (4th Edition)
Murach’s Python Programming

Books for database programmers

Murach’s MySQL (2nd Edition)
Murach’s Oracle SQL and PL/SQL for Developers (2nd Edition)
Murach’s SQL Server 2016 for Developers

Books for web developers

Murach’s HTML5 and CSS3 (3rd Edition)
Murach’s JavaScript (2nd Edition)
Murach’s JavaScript and jQuery (3rd Edition)
Murach’s PHP and MySQL (2nd Edition)

Books for .NET programmers

Murach’s C# 2015
Murach’s ASP.NET 4.6 Web Programming with C# 2015
Murach’s Visual Basic 2015
Murach’s ASP.NET 4.5 Web Programming with VB 2012

For more on Murach books,

please visit us at www.murach.com

© 2015, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
ISBN: 978-1-890774-89-9
Content
Introduction xv

Section 1 Get started right

Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 3
Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 33
Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 63
Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 97
Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 131
Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 147

Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 167
Chapter 8 How to code control statements 197
Chapter 9 How to work with strings 233
Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 253

Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 275
Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 307
Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 333

Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 357
Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 389
Chapter 16 How to work with exceptions 409
Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 433
Chapter 18 How to work with threads 463

Section 5 Real-world skills

Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 483
Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with a database 505
Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 531
Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 573

Appendixes
Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book 607
Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 619
 Expanded contents v

Expanded contents
Section 1 Get started right
Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming
An overview of Java.............................................................................4
Java timeline.....................................................................................................................4
Java editions.....................................................................................................................4
How Java compares to C++ and C#.................................................................................6
Types of Java applications.................................................................8
Two types of desktop applications...................................................................................8
Two types of web applications.......................................................................................10
Mobile apps....................................................................................................................12
An introduction to Java development............................................. 14
The code for a console application.................................................................................14
How Java compiles and interprets code.........................................................................16
Introduction to IDEs for Java development....................................................................18
An introduction to Eclipse................................................................20
How to select a workspace.............................................................................................20
How to import a project into a workspace.....................................................................22
How to open a file in the code editor.............................................................................24
How to compile and run a project..................................................................................26
How to enter input for a console application.................................................................26
How to work with two or more projects........................................................................28
How to remove a project from a workspace...................................................................28

Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code

Basic coding skills.............................................................................34
How to code a class........................................................................................................34
How to code a main method...........................................................................................34
How to code statements.................................................................................................36
How to code comments..................................................................................................36
How to print output to the console.................................................................................38
How to use Eclipse to work with a new project..............................40
How to create a new project...........................................................................................40
How to create a new class..............................................................................................40
How to work with Java source code and files................................................................42
How to use the code completion feature........................................................................44
How to detect and correct syntax errors.........................................................................46
How to work with numbers...............................................................48
How to declare and initialize variables..........................................................................48
How to assign values to a variable.................................................................................50
How to code arithmetic expressions...............................................................................52
How to work with strings..................................................................54
How to declare and initialize String variables...............................................................54
How to join strings.........................................................................................................54
How to include special characters in strings..................................................................56
The Code Tester application.............................................................58
The user interface...........................................................................................................58
The CodeTesterApp class...............................................................................................58
vi Expanded contents

Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods

How to work with classes, objects, and methods..........................64
How to import classes....................................................................................................64
How to create an object from a class..............................................................................66
How to call a method from an object.............................................................................66
How to call a method from a class.................................................................................66
How to view the documentation for the Java API..........................................................68
How to work with the console..........................................................70
How to use the Scanner class to get input......................................................................70
How to convert strings to numbers.................................................................................72
A class that reads input from the console.......................................................................74
How to convert numbers to formatted strings................................................................76
A class that prints formatted numbers to the console....................................................78
How to code simple control statements..........................................80
How to compare numbers..............................................................................................80
How to compare strings.................................................................................................80
How to code a while loop...............................................................................................82
How to code an if/else statement...................................................................................84
The Line Item application..................................................................86
The user interface...........................................................................................................86
The code.........................................................................................................................88
The Future Value application............................................................90
The user interface...........................................................................................................90
The code.........................................................................................................................92

Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods

An introduction to classes................................................................98
How encapsulation works..............................................................................................98
The relationship between a class and its objects..........................................................100
How to work with a class that defines an object..........................102
The Product class.........................................................................................................102
How to code instance variables....................................................................................104
How to code constructors.............................................................................................106
How to code methods...................................................................................................108
How to create an object from a class............................................................................110
How to call the methods of an object...........................................................................112
How to work with static fields and methods................................. 114
The ProductDB class....................................................................................................114
How to code and call static fields and methods...........................................................116
When to use static fields and methods.........................................................................116
The Product Viewer application..................................................... 118
The user interface.........................................................................................................118
The ProductApp class..................................................................................................118
More skills for working with classes and methods...................... 120
Reference types compared to primitive types..............................................................120
How to overload methods.............................................................................................122
How to use the this keyword........................................................................................124
The Product class with overloading.............................................................................126
 Expanded contents vii

Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application

How to use the three-tier architecture........................................... 132
How the three-tier architecture works..........................................................................132
How to work with packages.........................................................................................134
How to use Eclipse to work with packages..................................................................136
The Line Item application................................................................ 138
The user interface.........................................................................................................138
The class diagram.........................................................................................................138
The LineItem class.......................................................................................................140
The LineItemApp class................................................................................................142

Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application

Basic skills for testing and debugging.......................................... 148
Typical test phases........................................................................................................148
The three types of errors..............................................................................................148
Common Java errors.....................................................................................................150
How to determine the cause of an error.......................................................................152
A simple way to trace code execution..........................................................................154
How to use Eclipse to debug an application................................. 156
How to set and remove breakpoints.............................................................................156
How to step through code............................................................................................158
How to inspect variables..............................................................................................158
How to inspect the stack trace......................................................................................160

Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators
Basic skills for working with data..................................................168
The eight primitive data types......................................................................................168
How to declare and initialize variables........................................................................170
How to declare and initialize constants........................................................................172
How to code arithmetic expressions............................................. 174
How to use the binary operators...................................................................................174
How to use the unary operators....................................................................................176
How to use the compound assignment operators.........................................................178
How to work with the order of precedence..................................................................180
How to work with casting............................................................................................182
How to use Java classes to work with numbers..........................184
How to use the Math class...........................................................................................184
How to use the BigDecimal class.................................................................................186
How to fix rounding errors...........................................................................................188
The Invoice application...................................................................190
The user interface.........................................................................................................190
The code.......................................................................................................................190

Chapter 8 How to code control statements

How to code Boolean expressions................................................198
How to compare primitive data types...........................................................................198
How to use the logical operators..................................................................................200
viii Expanded contents

How to code if/else and switch statements..................................202

How to code if/else statements.....................................................................................202
How to code switch statements....................................................................................206
A new if/else statement for the Invoice application.....................................................210
How to code loops........................................................................... 212
How to code while loops..............................................................................................212
How to code do-while loops........................................................................................214
How to code for loops..................................................................................................216
How to code break and continue statements................................................................218
How to code try/catch statements.................................................220
How exceptions work...................................................................................................220
How to catch exceptions..............................................................................................222
The Future Value application..........................................................224
The user interface.........................................................................................................224
The code.......................................................................................................................224

Chapter 9 How to work with strings

How to work with the String class..................................................234
How to create strings....................................................................................................234
How to join strings.......................................................................................................234
How to append data to a string.....................................................................................234
How to compare strings...............................................................................................236
How to work with string indexes.................................................................................238
How to modify strings..................................................................................................240
How to work with the StringBuilder class.....................................242
How to create a StringBuilder object...........................................................................242
How to append data to a string.....................................................................................242
How to modify strings..................................................................................................244
The Product Lister application.......................................................246
The user interface.........................................................................................................246
The StringUtil class......................................................................................................246
The Main class.............................................................................................................248

Chapter 10 How to work with arrays

Essential skills for working with arrays........................................254
How to create an array.................................................................................................254
How to assign values to the elements of an array........................................................256
How to use for loops with arrays.................................................................................258
How to use enhanced for loops with arrays.................................................................260
How to work with two-dimensional arrays..................................................................262
How to use the Arrays class...........................................................264
How to fill an array......................................................................................................264
How to sort an array.....................................................................................................264
How to search an array.................................................................................................264
How to create a reference to an array...........................................................................264
How to copy an array...................................................................................................266
How to compare two arrays.........................................................................................266
The Month Selector application.....................................................268
The user interface.........................................................................................................268
The Main class.............................................................................................................268
 Expanded contents ix

Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance
An introduction to inheritance.......................................................276
How inheritance works.................................................................................................276
How the Object class works.........................................................................................278
Basic skills for working with inheritance......................................280
How to create a superclass...........................................................................................280
How to create a subclass..............................................................................................282
How polymorphism works...........................................................................................284
The Product application..................................................................286
The console..................................................................................................................286
The Product, Book, and Software classes....................................................................288
The ProductDB class....................................................................................................288
The ProductApp class..................................................................................................292
More skills for working with inheritance.......................................294
How to cast objects......................................................................................................294
How to compare objects...............................................................................................296
How to work with the abstract and final keywords......................298
How to work with the abstract keyword......................................................................298
How to work with the final keyword............................................................................300

Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces

An introduction to interfaces..........................................................308
A simple interface........................................................................................................308
Interfaces compared to abstract classes........................................................................310
Basic skills for working with interfaces........................................ 312
How to code an interface..............................................................................................312
How to implement an interface....................................................................................314
How to inherit a class and implement an interface......................................................316
How to use an interface as a parameter........................................................................318
How to use inheritance with interfaces........................................................................320
New features for working with interfaces.....................................322
How to work with default methods..............................................................................322
How to work with static methods.................................................................................324
The Product Viewer application.....................................................326
The console..................................................................................................................326
The ProductReader interface........................................................................................326
The ProductDB class....................................................................................................326
The ProductApp class..................................................................................................328

Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations,

and documentation
How to work with inner classes......................................................334
An introduction to GUI programming.........................................................................334
How to code an inner class...........................................................................................336
How to code an anonymous class................................................................................338
x Expanded contents

How to work with enumerations.....................................................340

How to declare an enumeration....................................................................................340
How to use an enumeration..........................................................................................340
How to enhance an enumeration..................................................................................342
How to work with static imports..................................................................................342
How to document a class................................................................344
How to add javadoc comments to a class.....................................................................344
How to use HTML and javadoc tags in javadoc comments.........................................346
How to use Eclipse to generate documentation...........................................................348
How to view the documentation...................................................................................348

Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas
An introduction to Java collections ..............................................358
A comparison of arrays and collections.......................................................................358
An overview of the Java collection framework............................................................360
An introduction to generics..........................................................................................362
How to use the ArrayList class.......................................................364
How to create an array list............................................................................................364
How to add and get elements.......................................................................................366
How to replace, remove, and search for elements........................................................368
How to store primitive types in an array list................................................................370
The Invoice application...................................................................372
The user interface.........................................................................................................372
The Invoice class..........................................................................................................374
The InvoiceApp class...................................................................................................376
How to work with lambda expressions..........................................378
An introduction to lambdas..........................................................................................378
A method that doesn’t use a lambda expression..........................................................380
A method that uses a lambda expressions....................................................................382
How to use the Predicate interface...............................................................................384

Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times

An introduction to date/time APIs.................................................390
The date/time API prior to Java 8.................................................................................390
The date/time API for Java 8 and later.........................................................................390
How to use the new date/time API.................................................392
How to create date and time objects.............................................................................392
How to get date and time parts.....................................................................................394
How to compare dates and times.................................................................................396
How to adjust date/time objects...................................................................................398
How to add or subtract a period of time.......................................................................400
How to format dates and times.....................................................................................402
An Invoice class that includes an invoice date.............................................................404

Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions

An introduction to exceptions........................................................ 410
The exception hierarchy...............................................................................................410
How exceptions are propagated...................................................................................412
 Expanded contents xi

How to work with exceptions.......................................................... 414

How to use the try statement........................................................................................414
How to use the try-with-resources statement...............................................................416
How to use the methods of an exception......................................................................418
How to use a multi-catch block....................................................................................420
How to use the throws clause.......................................................................................422
How to use the throw statement...................................................................................424
How to work with custom exception classes................................426
How to create your own exception class......................................................................426
How to use exception chaining....................................................................................428

Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O

An introduction to directories and files........................................434
A package for working with directories and files........................................................434
Code examples that work with directories and files.....................................................436
An introduction to file input and output........................................438
How files and streams work.........................................................................................438
A file I/O example........................................................................................................440
How to work with I/O exceptions................................................................................442
How to work with text files..............................................................444
How to connect a character output stream to a file......................................................444
How to write to a text file.............................................................................................446
How to connect a character input stream to a file........................................................448
How to read from a text file.........................................................................................450
A class that works with a text file................................................................................452
The Product Manager application..................................................456
The console..................................................................................................................456
The Main class.............................................................................................................456

Chapter 18 How to work with threads

An introduction to threads..............................................................464
How threads work........................................................................................................464
Typical uses for threads................................................................................................464
Classes and interfaces for working with threads..........................................................466
The life cycle of a thread..............................................................................................468
Two ways to create threads............................................................470
Constructors and methods of the Thread class.............................................................470
How to extend the Thread class...................................................................................472
How to implement the Runnable interface...................................................................474
How to synchronize threads...........................................................476
How to use synchronized methods...............................................................................476
When to use synchronized methods.............................................................................476

Section 5 Real-world skills

Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database
How a relational database is organized........................................484
How a table is organized..............................................................................................484
How the tables in a database are related......................................................................486
How the columns in a table are defined.......................................................................488
xii Expanded contents

An introduction to MySQL..............................................................490
What MySQL provides................................................................................................490
Ways to interact with MySQL......................................................................................492
How to open a database connection.............................................................................494
How to enter and execute a SQL statement.................................................................494
A SQL script that creates a database............................................496
How to drop, create, and select a database...................................................................496
How to create a table and insert data............................................................................496
How to create a user and grant privileges....................................................................496
The SQL statements for data manipulation..................................498
How to select data from a table....................................................................................498
How to insert, update, and delete rows........................................................................500

Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases

How to work with JDBC...................................................................506
An introduction to database drivers.............................................................................506
How to connect to a database.......................................................................................508
How to return a result set and move the cursor through it...........................................510
How to get data from a result set.................................................................................512
How to insert, update, and delete data.........................................................................514
How to work with prepared statements........................................................................516
Two classes for working with databases...................................... 518
The DBUtil class..........................................................................................................518
The ProductDB class....................................................................................................520
Code that uses the ProductDB class.............................................................................526

Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1)

An introduction to GUI programming............................................532
A summary of GUI toolkits..........................................................................................532
The inheritance hierarchy for Swing components.......................................................534
How to create a GUI that handles events......................................536
How to display a frame................................................................................................536
How to add a panel to a frame......................................................................................538
How to add buttons to a panel......................................................................................538
How to handle a button event.......................................................................................540
How to work with layout managers................................................542
A summary of layout managers...................................................................................542
How to use the FlowLayout manager..........................................................................544
How to use the BorderLayout manager........................................................................546
How to work with tables..................................................................548
How to create a model for a table................................................................................548
The ProductTableModel class......................................................................................550
How to create a table....................................................................................................554
How to get the selected row or rows............................................................................554
How to add scrollbars to a table...................................................................................556
How to work with built-in dialog boxes.........................................558
How to display a message............................................................................................558
How to confirm an operation........................................................................................560
The Product Manager frame...........................................................564
The user interface.........................................................................................................564
The ProductManagerFrame class.................................................................................566
 Expanded contents xiii

Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2)

How to work with labels and text fields......................................... 574
How to work with labels..............................................................................................574
How to work with text fields........................................................................................576
How to use the GridBagLayout manager......................................578
An introduction to the GridBagLayout manager.........................................................578
How to lay out components in a grid...........................................................................580
How to add padding.....................................................................................................582
How to avoid a common pitfall....................................................................................584
How to code a data entry form.......................................................586
How to create a custom dialog.....................................................................................586
How to pass data between a dialog and its parent........................................................588
The Product form.............................................................................590
The user interface.........................................................................................................590
The ProductForm class.................................................................................................592
Two methods that use the ProductForm class..............................................................600
How to use threads with Swing......................................................602
A common problem......................................................................................................602
How to solve the problem............................................................................................602

Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book

How to install the JDK.................................................................................................608
How to install Eclipse..................................................................................................610
How to install the source code for this book................................................................612
How to install MySQL and MySQL Workbench.........................................................614
How to create the database for this book.....................................................................616
How to restore the database for this book....................................................................616

Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to install the JDK.................................................................................................620
How to install Eclipse..................................................................................................622
How to install the source code for this book................................................................624
How to install the MySQL Community Server............................................................626
How to install MySQL Workbench..............................................................................628
How to create the databases for this book....................................................................630
How to restore the databases........................................................................................630
How to update the password for the root user..............................................................632
 Introduction xv

Introduction
Murach’s Beginning Java is especially designed for beginning programmers
and programmers with limited experience who want to learn Java at a
professional level. Because Java is a language that’s especially difficult for
beginners, we knew we needed to do something different to make this the
best beginning book on the market. That’s why this book isn’t like any of the
competing books.
Even better, this isn’t just a beginning book. By the time you finish this
book, you’ll have all the skills that you need for moving on to Java web
programming or Android programming. You’ll also know the basics for building
desktop applications that get their data from MySQL databases.

What this book does

Section 1 of this book presents a six-chapter Java course that gets you off to
a great start. This section works for complete beginners as well as experienced
programmers because it lets you set your own pace. If you’re a beginner, you’ll
move slowly and do all the exercises. If you have some experience, you’ll move
more quickly and do the exercises that you choose.
From the start, you’ll be using the Eclipse IDE because that will help you
learn faster. Then, by chapter 3, you’ll be developing applications that use
classes from the Java API. By chapter 4, you’ll be developing object-oriented
applications that use your own classes. By chapter 5, you’ll be using the 3-tier
architecture to structure your object-oriented applications like a professional.
And by chapter 6, you’ll be using the best practices for testing and debugging
your applications.
Once you’ve mastered the skills of section 1, the hard work is done. Then,
you can add to your skills by reading the chapters in sections 2, 3, and 4. When
you finish those sections, you’ll have all the Java skills that you need to get
started with web or mobile programming.
But that’s not all! The four chapters in section 5 present real-world skills that
you can use to develop desktop applications. To start, these chapters show you
how to create a MySQL database for an application and how to write the Java
code that works with the data in this database. Then, these chapters show how to
develop a graphical user interface (GUI) for the application.
xvi Introduction

Why you’ll learn faster and better

When we started writing this book, we knew we had to take a new
instructional approach if we wanted to teach you everything you need to know in
a way that’s faster and better than the existing approaches. Here are some of the
unique features of this book:
•• Unlike many Java books, this book shows you how to use an IDE for
developing Java applications. That’s how Java programming is done in the
real world, and that by itself will help you learn faster.
•• Unlike many Java books, all of the examples in this book are drawn from
real-world applications. This is especially apparent in the object-oriented
chapters, where most competing books resort to unrealistic examples that
are difficult to apply to real-world applications.
•• Unlike many Java books, this one focuses on the Java features that you will
use every day. As a result, it doesn’t waste your time by presenting Java
features that you probably won’t ever need.
•• Like all of our books, this book uses our unique paired-pages format where
each topic is presented in a two-page spread, with code examples, diagrams,
and screen captures on the right page and the text on the left page. This
helps you learn more while reading less and makes this book the ideal
reference after you’ve used it for learning.
•• Like all of our books, the exercises at the end of each chapter give you
a chance to apply what you’ve just learned. They guide you through the
development of applications, challenge you to apply what you’ve learned in
new ways, and provide the hands-on experience that builds your confidence.

What software you need

Java SE 8 is the current version of Java and the one that this book shows
how to use. However, since all versions of Java are backwards compatible, the
code and skills presented in this book will work with later versions too. Besides
that, this book clearly identifies when Java introduced its most recent features.
That way, you can avoid these features if you want your code to work with older
versions of Java.
As you can tell from its title, this book shows you how to use the Eclipse
IDE to code, test, and debug applications. We chose Eclipse because we think
it’s a great IDE for beginners and because it will help you learn faster. It’s also
easy to use, free, and runs on all operating systems.
If you want to use NetBeans instead, please note that we have a NetBeans
version of this book called Murach’s Beginning Java with NetBeans. The only
difference between that book and this one is the IDE.
 Introduction xvii

How our downloadable files can help you learn

If you go to our website at www.murach.com, you can download all the files
that you need for getting the most from this book. These files include:
•• all of the applications in this book
•• the starting code for the chapter exercises
•• the solutions to the chapter exercises
These files let you test, review, and copy the code. In addition, if you have any
problems with the exercises, the solutions are there to help you over the learning
blocks, which is an essential part of the learning process. For more information
on downloading and installing these files, please see appendix A (Windows) or
appendix B (Mac OS X).

Support materials for trainers and instructors

If you’re a corporate trainer or a college instructor who would like to use this
book for a course, we offer an Instructor’s CD that includes: (1) a complete set
of PowerPoint slides that you can use to review and reinforce the content of the
book; (2) instructional objectives that describe the skills a student should have
upon completion of each chapter; (3) test banks that measure mastery of those
skills; (4) extra exercises and projects that prove mastery; and (5) solutions to the
extra exercises and projects.
To learn more about this Instructor’s CD and to find out how to get it, please
go to our website at www.murach.com. Then, if you’re an instructor, click on the
Instructors tab at the top of the page. If you’re a trainer, click on the Trainers link
in the navigation bar. Or, if you prefer, call Kelly at 1-800-221-5528 or send her
an email at [email protected].

Companion books
When you finish this book, you’ll have all of the Java skills that you need
for web or mobile programming with Java. Then, if you want to move on to web
programming, Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP will show you how to use Java
servlets and JavaServer Pages to develop professional web applications. Or, if
you want to move on to Android programming, Murach’s Android Programming
will get you started with that.
Another Murach book that you should be aware of is Murach’s Java
Programming. This book has been one of the best-selling Java books since its
first edition in 2001, but it isn’t a beginning book. As a result, it is organized
differently, moves faster, goes into greater depth, and presents some additional
subjects, particularly on GUI programming and handling data. In general,
though, you shouldn’t need this book if you have Murach’s Beginning Java.
xviii Introduction

Let us know how this book works for you

When we started this book, our goals were (1) to teach you all the skills
you need to move on to web or mobile programming with Java, (2) to teach you
these skills as quickly and easily as possible, and (3) to show you some of the
professional skills that are needed to develop a desktop application. Now, we
hope that we’ve succeeded.
If you have any comments about this book, we would appreciate hearing
from you at [email protected]. We thank you for buying this book.
We hope you enjoy reading it. And we wish you great success with your Java
programming.

Joel Murach, Author Mike Murach

[email protected] Publisher
Section 1

Get started right

This section gets you started quickly with Java programming. First,
chapter 1 introduces you to some concepts and terms that apply to Java
development. In addition, it shows you how to use the Eclipse IDE to
import and run existing projects.
After that, chapter 2 shows you how to use Eclipse to start writing
Java code. Chapter 3 shows how to develop two procedural applications
by using classes and methods that are available from the Java API. Chapter
4 shows how to convert a procedural application to an object-oriented
application by creating your own classes and methods. Chapter 5 shows
how to structure an object-oriented application. And chapter 6 shows how
to thoroughly test and debug this application. When you complete these
chapters, you’ll be able to write, test, and debug simple object-oriented
applications of your own.
 1
An introduction
to Java programming
This chapter starts by presenting some background information about Java.
This information isn’t essential to developing Java applications, so you
can skim it if you want. However, it does show how Java works and how it
compares to other languages.
This chapter finishes by showing how to use the Eclipse IDE to work with
an existing project. This gives you some hands-on experience using Eclipse to
work with projects such as the projects for this book that you can download
from our website.

An overview of Java................................................................4
Java timeline.....................................................................................................4
Java editions......................................................................................................4
How Java compares to C++ and C#.................................................................6
Types of Java applications.....................................................8
Two types of desktop applications....................................................................8
Two types of web applications........................................................................10
Mobile apps.....................................................................................................12
An introduction to Java development.................................14
The code for a console application.................................................................14
How Java compiles and interprets code.........................................................16
Introduction to IDEs for Java development....................................................18
An introduction to Eclipse....................................................20
How to select a workspace..............................................................................20
How to import a project into a workspace......................................................22
How to open a file in the code editor............................................................. 24
How to compile and run a project..................................................................26
How to enter input for a console application..................................................26
How to work with two or more projects.........................................................28
How to remove a project from a workspace...................................................28
Perspective............................................................................30
4 Section 1 Get started right

An overview of Java
In 1996, Sun Microsystems released a new programming language called
Java. Today, Java is owned by Oracle and is one of the most widely used
programming languages in the world.

Java timeline
Figure 1-1 starts by describing all major releases of Java starting with
version 1.0 and ending with version 1.8. Throughout Java’s history, the terms
Java Development Kit (JDK) and Software Development Kit (SDK) have been
used to describe the Java toolkit. In this book, we’ll use the term JDK since it’s
the most current and commonly used term.
In addition, different numbering schemes have been used to indicate the
version of Java. For example, Java SE 8 or Java 1.8 both refer to the eighth
major version of Java. Similarly, Java SE 7 and Java 1.7 both refer to the seventh
major version of Java. The documentation for the Java API uses the 1.x style
of numbering. As a result, you should be familiar with it. However, it’s also
common to only use a single number such as Java 6.
This book shows how to use Java 8. However, Java is backwards compatible,
so it should also work for future versions of Java. In addition, most of the skills
described in this book have been a part of Java since its earliest versions. As a
result, those skills should work with earlier versions of Java.

Java editions
This figure also describes the three most common editions of Java. To start,
there is the Standard Edition, which is known as Java SE. It’s designed for
general purpose use on desktop computers and servers, and it’s the edition that
you’ll learn how to work with in this book. For example, you can use Java SE to
create a desktop application like the one presented at the end of chapter 22.
The Enterprise Edition is known as Java EE. It’s designed to develop distrib-
uted applications that run on an intranet or the Internet. You can use Java EE to
create web applications.
The Micro Edition is known as Java ME. It’s designed to run on devices that
have limited resources such as mobile devices, TV set-top boxes, printers, smart
cards, hotel room key cards, and so on.
With some older versions of Java, Java SE was known as J2SE (Java 2
Platform, Standard Edition). Similarly, Java EE was known as J2EE (Java 2
Platform, Enterprise Edition). If you are searching for information about Java on
the Internet, you may come across these terms. However, they aren’t commonly
used anymore.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 5

Java timeline
Year Month Event
1996 January JDK 1.0 released.
1997 February JDK 1.1 released.
1998 December SDK 1.2 released.
1999 August Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) released.
December Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) released.
2000 May J2SE with SDK 1.3.
2002 February J2SE with SDK 1.4.
2004 September J2SE 5.0 with JDK 1.5.
2006 December Java SE 6 with JDK 1.6.
2010 April Oracle buys Sun.
2011 July Java SE 7 with JDK 1.7.
2014 March Java SE 8 with JDK 1.8.

Java editions
Platform Description
Java SE (Standard Edition) For general purpose use on desktop compu-
ters and servers. Some early versions were
called J2SE (Java 2 Platform, Standard
Edition).
Java EE (Enterprise Edition) For developing distributed applications that
run on an intranet or the Internet. Some early
versions were called J2EE (Java 2 Platform,
Enterprise Edition).
Java ME (Micro Edition) For devices with limited resources such as
mobile devices, TV set-top boxes, printers,
and smart cards.

Description
•• The Java Development Kit (JDK) includes a compiler, a runtime environment, and
other tools that you can use to develop Java applications. Some early versions were
called the Software Development Kit (SDK).

Figure 1-1 Java timeline and editions

6 Section 1 Get started right

How Java compares to C++ and C#

Figure 1-2 compares Java to C++ and C#. As you can see, Java has some
similarities and some differences with these languages.
When Sun’s developers created Java, they tried to keep the syntax for Java
similar to the syntax for C++. That way, it would be easy for C++ programmers
to learn Java. In addition, they designed Java so its applications can be run on
any computer platform without needing to be compiled for each platform. In
contrast, C++ needs to be compiled for each platform.
Java was also designed to automatically handle many operations involving
the allocation and de-allocation of memory. This is a key reason why it’s easier
to develop programs and write bug-free code with Java than with C++.
To provide these features, early versions of Java sacrificed some speed (or
performance) when compared to C++. However, improvements in later versions
of Java have greatly improved Java’s speed. Now, Java runs faster than C++ in
some contexts, and its performance is adequate in most contexts.
When Microsoft’s developers created C#, they used many of the best ideas
of Java. Like Java, C# uses a syntax that’s similar to C++. In addition, C#
automatically handles memory operations.
C# can run on any platform that has a runtime environment for it. However,
Windows is the only operating system that fully supports runtime environment
for C#. As a result, C# is primarily used for developing applications that only
need to run on Windows.
Java runs faster than C# in most contexts. However, the performance of C#
is adequate in most contexts.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 7

Operating systems that support Java

•• Windows
•• Mac OS X
•• Linux
•• Most versions of UNIX
•• Most other modern operating systems

A note about Android

•• The Android operating system doesn’t support Java in the same way as most
operating systems. However, you can use most features of Java 6 and 7 to write the
code for Android apps.

Java compared to C++

Feature Description
Syntax Java syntax is similar to C++ syntax.
Platforms Compiled Java code can run on any platform that has a Java
runtime environment. C++ code must be compiled once for
each type of system that it is going to be run on.
Speed C++ runs faster than Java in some contexts, but Java runs
faster in other contexts.
Memory Java handles most memory operations automatically, but C++
programmers must write code that manages memory.

Java compared to C#
Feature Description
Syntax Java syntax is similar to C# syntax.
Platforms Like Java, compiled C# code can run on any platform that has
a runtime environment for it.
Speed Java runs faster than C# in most contexts.
Memory Like Java, C# handles most memory operations automatically.

Figure 1-2 Java compared to C++ and C#

8 Section 1 Get started right

Types of Java applications

You can use Java to write almost any type of application (also known as an
app or a program). In this book, you’ll learn how to develop desktop applica-
tions. However, you can also use Java to develop web applications and mobile
apps.

Two types of desktop applications

Figure 1-3 shows two types of desktop applications that you can create with
Java. This type of application runs directly on your computer.
The easiest type of desktop application to create is known as a console appli-
cation. This type of application runs in the console, or command prompt, that’s
available from your operating system. The console provides an easy way to get
input from the user and to display output to the user. In this figure, for example,
the user has entered three values in the console application, and the application
has performed a calculation and displayed the result. When you’re learning Java,
it’s common to work with console applications until you have a solid under-
standing of the Java language.
Once you have a solid understanding of the Java language, you can create a
desktop application that uses a graphical user interface (GUI). In this figure, for
example, the GUI application performs the same tasks as the console applica-
tion. In other words, it gets the same input from the user, performs the same
calculation, and displays the same result. However, the GUI application is more
user-friendly and intuitive.
Since developing the GUI for an application requires some significant Java
coding skills, this book doesn’t present a GUI application until the last two
chapters of this book. Until then, this book uses console applications to teach the
basics of Java.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 9

A console application

A GUI application

Description
•• A console application uses the console to interact with the user.
•• A GUI application uses a graphical user interface to interact with the user.

Figure 1-3 Two types of desktop applications

10 Section 1 Get started right

Two types of web applications

Figure 1-4 shows two types of web applications that you can develop with
Java. In the early days of Java, which were also the early days of the Internet,
one of the most exciting features of Java was that you could use it to create a
special type of web-based application known as an applet like the one shown in
this figure. This applet works like the GUI application presented in the previous
figure. However, unlike that GUI application, an applet could be stored in an
HTML page and run inside a Java-enabled browser. As a result, it was once
possible to distribute applets via the Internet or an intranet.
In recent years, with tightening security restrictions, fewer and fewer
browsers support applets, even if you install the plug-in that was designed to
allow applets to run in browsers. That’s why the applet in this figure is shown in
the Applet Viewer, which comes as part of the JDK, instead of being shown in a
web browser. Due to these security restrictions, applets are effectively obsolete.
They are still included as part of Java SE for backwards compatibility, but they
aren’t used much anymore, and we don’t cover them in this book.
In addition, since applets run within a browser on the client, they were never
an ideal way to work with resources that run on the server, such as enterprise
databases. A better way to provide access to enterprise databases is to use Java
EE to create web applications that run on the server. These applications are often
based on servlets.
A servlet is a special type of Java application that runs on the server and can
be called by a client, which is usually a web browser. This is also illustrated in
this figure. Here, you can see that the servlet works like the applet. However, the
servlet runs on the server, not the client.
To start, the web browser on the client sends a request to the servlet that’s
running on the server. This request includes the user input. When the servlet
receives this request, it performs the calculation and returns the result to the
browser, typically in the form of an HTML page.
In this figure, the servlet doesn’t access a database. However, it’s common
for servlets to work with a database. For example, suppose a browser requests a
servlet that displays all unprocessed invoices that are stored in a database. Then,
when the servlet is executed, it reads data from the database, formats that data
within an HTML page, and returns the HTML page to the browser.
When you create a servlet-based application like the one shown here, all
the processing takes place on the server and only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
is returned to the browser. That means that anyone with an Internet or intranet
connection, a web browser, and adequate security clearance can access and run a
servlet-based application.
To make it easy to store the results of a servlet within an HTML page, the
Java EE specification provides for JavaServer Pages (JSPs). As a result, it’s
common to use JSPs with servlets. Although servlets and JSPs aren’t presented
in this book, they are present in a companion book, Murach’s Java Servlets and
JSP. For more information about this book, please visit our website at
www.murach.com.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 11

An applet

A servlet

Description
•• An applet is a type of Java application that runs within a web browser.
•• In the past, it was possible to run applets in most web browsers. Today, fewer and
fewer web browsers support applets. As a result, they are effectively obsolete.
•• A servlet is a type of Java application that runs on a web server.
•• A servlet accepts requests from clients and returns responses to them. Typically, the
clients are web browsers.

Figure 1-4 Two types of web applications

12 Section 1 Get started right

Mobile apps
You can also use Java to develop mobile apps, which are applications that
run on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. In particular, Java is
commonly used to write the code for apps that run on Android devices. For
example, figure 1-5 shows a mobile app that was developed with Java. This app
performs the same task as the applications presented in the previous figures.
An app works much like a traditional application. However, the user inter-
face has to be modified so that it’s appropriate for a mobile device. In this figure,
for example, the user interface has been modified to work with a touch-screen
device that has a small screen and no keyboard. As a result, the user can use the
keypad that’s displayed onscreen to enter numbers and can press the Done button
on this keypad to perform the calculation.
The Android operating system includes its own virtual machine that supports
a subset of Java, including most features of Java 6 and 7. As a result, if you use
Java to develop Android apps, you can’t use all of the features of Java, especially
the newest ones. That’s because the Android virtual machine is not a Java virtual
machine. In other words, the Android virtual machine can’t run compiled Java
code, and a Java virtual machine can’t run compiled Android code. Still, you can
use most features of Java to write code for Android apps, and it’s easy enough to
compile that code so the Android virtual machine can run it.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 13

A mobile app

Description
•• A mobile app uses a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet to interface with
the user.
•• The Android operating system supports a subset of Java, including most features of
Java 6 and 7.

Figure 1-5 Mobile apps

14 Section 1 Get started right

An introduction to Java development

At this point, you’re ready to see the source code for an application. You’re
ready to learn how Java compiles and interprets this code. And you’re ready to
be introduced to some of the IDEs that you can use to develop this type of code.

The code for a console application

When you develop a Java application, you start by entering and editing the
source code. To give you an idea of how the source code for a Java application
works, figure 1-6 presents the code for the console version of the Future Value
application shown in figure 1-3.
If you have experience with other programming languages, you may be able
to understand much of this code already. If not, don’t worry! You’ll learn how all
of this code works in the next few chapters. For now, here’s a brief explanation
of this code.
Most of the code for this application is stored in a package named murach.fv
that corresponds with the murach/fv folder. Within this package, there is a class
named Main that corresponds with a file named Main.java. This class begins
with an opening brace ({) and ends with a closing brace (}).
Within this class, the code defines one method named main. This method
also begins with an opening brace ({) and ends with a closing brace (}). These
braces are indented to clearly show that they are contained within the class.
This is a special type of method known as the main method for the applica-
tion. The code within this method is executed automatically when you run the
application. In this case, the code prompts the user for input, gets input from
the user, converts the input to appropriate data types, calculates the future value
based on the user input, and displays the results to the user.
To do that, this code uses two while loops. Each loop begins with an opening
brace ({) and ends with a closing brace (}). The code within these braces is also
indented. This shows that the first loop is coded within the main method and the
second loop is coded within the first loop.
The first while loop allows the user to continue making calculations by
entering “y” or to exit by entering “n”. The second while loop is executed once
for each month and contains the statements that calculate the future value. To
do that, these statements add the monthly investment and the monthly interest
amount to the current future value.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 15

The code for a console application

package murach.fv;

import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// displayLine a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Future Value Calculator");
System.out.println();

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {

// get input from user

System.out.print("Enter monthly investment: ");
double monthlyInvestment = Double.parseDouble(sc.nextLine());

System.out.print("Enter yearly interest rate: ");

double yearlyInterestRate = Double.parseDouble(sc.nextLine());

System.out.print("Enter number of years: ");

int years = Integer.parseInt(sc.nextLine());

// convert yearly values to monthly values

double monthlyInterestRate = yearlyInterestRate / 12 / 100;
int months = years * 12;

// calculate the future value

double futureValue = 0;
int i = 1;
while (i <= months) {
futureValue = futureValue + monthlyInvestment;
double monthlyInterestAmount =
futureValue * monthlyInterestRate;
futureValue = futureValue + monthlyInterestAmount;
i = i + 1;
}

// format and display the result

System.out.println("Future value: " +
NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance().format(futureValue));
System.out.println();

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}
sc.close();
System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 1-6 The code for a console application

16 Section 1 Get started right

How Java compiles and interprets code

Once the source code has been written, you use the Java compiler to compile
the source code into a format known as Java bytecodes as shown in figure 1-7.
At this point, the bytecodes can be run on any platform that has a Java runtime
environment (JRE) installed on it. A JRE includes all of the software needed
to run bytecodes. Among other things, this includes an implementation of a
Java virtual machine (JVM). This JVM includes a Java interpreter to translate
the Java bytecodes into native code that can be understood by the underlying
operating system.
Most modern implementations of the JVM have replaced the Java interpreter
with a just-in-time compiler (JIT compiler). A JIT compiler is similar to an
interpreter in some ways, but it actually compiles the most used parts of the Java
bytecodes into native code and stores this code in a cache. This improves perfor-
mance significantly.
Since JREs are available for all major operating systems, you can run Java
on most platforms. This is what gives Java applications their platform indepen-
dence. In contrast, C++ requires a specific compiler for each platform.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 17

How Java compiles and interprets code

Description
•• When you develop a Java application, you typically use a code editor to work with
the source code for the application. Files that contain source code have the .java
extension.
•• The Java compiler translates Java source code into a platform-independent
format known as Java bytecodes. Files that contain Java bytecodes have the .class
extension.
•• A Java virtual machine (JVM) includes a Java interpreter that executes Java
bytecodes. Most modern implementations of the JVM have replaced the Java
interpreter with a just-in-time compiler (JIT compiler). A JIT compiler is similar to
an interpreter in some ways, but it improves performance significantly.
•• A Java runtime environment (JRE) has all of the components necessary to run
bytecodes including a JVM. Since JREs are available for most operating systems,
Java bytecodes can be run on most operating systems.

Figure 1-7 How Java compiles and interprets code

18 Section 1 Get started right

Introduction to IDEs for Java development

To develop Java applications, you typically use an Integrated Development
Environment (IDE). Although you can use a simple text editor with command-
line tools, an IDE provides features that can make developing Java applications
considerably easier. Figure 1-8 describes some of the features of the most
popular IDEs.
All of the IDEs listed in this figure are either free or have a free edition.
That makes them particularly attractive to students as well as programmers who
are learning on their own. Most of these IDEs also run on all modern operating
systems.
The first two IDEs listed in this figure, Eclipse and NetBeans, are two of the
most popular Java IDEs. Both of these IDEs provide all of the features listed in
this figure. For example, both of these IDEs help you complete your code and
notify you of potential compile-time errors. They both automatically compile
your code before you run it. And they both include a debugger that lets you
perform standard debugging functions like setting breakpoints, stepping through
code, and viewing the values of variables.
The third IDE listed in this figure, IntelliJ IDEA, isn’t as popular as Eclipse
and NetBeans. However, we have included it here to give you an idea of the
range of IDE choices that are available for Java. In addition, other Java IDEs are
available that aren’t included here.
The fourth IDE listed in this figure, Android Studio, is designed for devel-
oping Android apps. It was developed by Google and IntelliJ, and version 1.0
was released in December 2014.
This book shows how to use Eclipse because we think it’s a great IDE.
However, we’ve also published a NetBeans version of this book because we
think it’s a great IDE too.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 19

Popular Java IDEs

IDE Description
Eclipse A free, open-source IDE that runs on most modern operating
systems. Eclipse is commonly used for developing all types
of Java applications including Android apps.
NetBeans A free, open-source IDE that runs on most modern operating
systems. NetBeans is commonly used for most types of Java
applications, but not for Android apps.
IntelliJ IDEA The Community Edition of this IDE is a free, open-source
IDE that runs on most modern operating systems.
Android Studio An IDE specifically designed for Android development
that’s based on IntelliJ IDEA and backed by Google.

Features provided by most IDEs

•• A code editor with code completion and error detection.
•• Automatic compilation of classes when you run the application.
•• A debugger that lets you set breakpoints, step through code, and view the values of
active variables.

Description
•• To develop Java applications, you typically use an Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) like those listed above. All of these IDEs are either free or have
free editions.

Figure 1-8 Introduction to Java IDEs

20 Section 1 Get started right

An introduction to Eclipse
In Eclipse, a project is a folder that contains all the folders and files for an
application. The easiest way to get started with Eclipse is to import an existing
project. For example, you can import the projects for any of the applications
presented in this book after you download them from our website as described in
the appendixes.

How to select a workspace

When you start Eclipse for the first time, it displays a dialog box like the
one shown in figure 1-9 that allows you to select the workspace. A workspace is
a folder that stores information about how to configure Eclipse including which
projects to display. In this figure, the dialog box selects a workspace that you can
use with this book. However, you can use any workspace you want, including the
default workspace that’s selected the first time you start Eclipse.
After you select a workspace, Eclipse may display a Welcome page. If so,
you can click the Workbench icon to go to a workbench like the one shown in
figure 1-11. This is where you work on code.
Once you select a workspace, you can view all of the projects avail-
able from that workspace as described in the next few figures. If you want to
switch to a different workspace, you can select the FileSwitch Workspace
command. Then, you can use the dialog box shown in this figure to select the
new workspace. This restarts Eclipse, selects the new workspace, and displays its
projects.
Once you have selected a workspace, it appears in the Workspace menu
that’s available from the dialog box shown in this figure. This makes it easy to
switch between workspaces.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 21

The dialog box for selecting a workspace

Description
•• In Eclipse, a project contains the folders and files for a Java application.
•• When you start Eclipse, you typically select the workspace you want to use. A
workspace stores information about how to configure Eclipse including which
projects to display.
•• When Eclipse is running, you can switch to a different workspace by selecting
the FileSwitch Workspace command. This restarts Eclipse and selects the new
workspace.
•• Once you have selected a workspace, it appears in the Workspace menu. This
makes it easy to switch between workspaces.
•• After you select a workspace, Eclipse may display a Welcome page. If so, you can
click the Workbench icon to go to the workbench, which is where you work on
code.

Figure 1-9 How to select a workspace

22 Section 1 Get started right

How to import a project into a workspace

When you select a workspace for the first time, it doesn’t display any
projects. To change that, you can import an existing project into the workspace
as shown in figure 1-10. All of the projects for this book are located within this
folder:
murach/java_eclipse
In this figure, I’ve selected the folder that contains the project named
ch01_FutureValueConsole. As a result, that’s the only project that’s shown in the
Projects section of the Import Projects dialog.
If there are multiple projects in the directory you select, all of the projects
are displayed in the Projects section of this dialog. Then, you can import the
ones you want by selecting them. For example, if you select the book_apps
folder, the Projects section displays all projects in that folder. Then, you can
select the ones you want to import.
When you import projects, it’s possible to copy the project into to the
existing workspace. However, for the purposes of this book, you don’t need to do
that.
It’s also possible to import other types of projects. For example, it’s possible
to import projects that are stored in archive files. However, for the purposes of
this book, the only types of projects you need to import are existing projects as
shown in this figure.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 23

The dialog boxes for importing a project

How to import a project

•• Select the FileImport command from the menu system.
•• In the first dialog box, select the GeneralExisting Projects into Workspace option
and click on the Next button.
•• In the second dialog box, click the Browse button and navigate to the folder that
contains the project you want to import. This should display the project in the
Projects pane and select it.
•• Click the Finish button to import the selected project or projects.

How to import all projects in the book_apps folder

•• To import all projects in the book_apps folder, navigate to the book_apps in step 3.
This should select all projects in the book_apps folder.

Figure 1-10 How to import a project into a workspace

24 Section 1 Get started right

How to open a file in the code editor

Figure 1-11 shows a workspace that contains a project for a Java application.
In this example, the project is named ch01_FutureValueConsole.
The Package Explorer shows that the folder for the project contains a
subfolder named src. This folder contains the source code for the applica-
tion. The second icon that looks like a stack of books is called a library, and
it contains the libraries of code that your application uses. In this case, the
application uses just the default libraries for Java 8, as indicated by the JRE
System Library [JavaSE-1.8] label. However, you can add more libraries later if
necessary.
Within the src folder, the source files can be organized into packages. In
this figure, the project contains a single package named murach.fv. When you
develop small applications like the one shown here, one package is usually
acceptable. For larger applications, though, you’ll want to use two or more
packages as described later in this book.
The application shown here consists of a single source code file named
Main.java. In this figure, this file is open in the code editor. In the next chapter,
you’ll learn more about working with this code editor. For now, all you need
to know is that you can open a source code file in the code editor by double-
clicking on it in the Package Explorer.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 25

The Package Explorer and the code editor

How to navigate through the Package Explorer

•• The Package Explorer displays the projects, folders, files, and libraries that make
up an Eclipse workspace.
•• To expand or collapse the nodes in the Package Explorer, click on the arrow signs
to the left of its folders and files.
•• The src (source) folder typically contains one or more packages, which are folders
that store the .java files that contain the code for your application.
•• If it isn’t visible, you can display the Package Explorer by selecting the
WindowShow ViewPackage Explorer command.

How to open a file in the code editor

•• You can use the code editor to edit the code in a .java file.
•• To open a .java file in the code editor, use the Package Explorer to expand the src
folder, expand the package that contains the file, and double-click on the .java file.

Figure 1-11 How to open a file in the code editor

26 Section 1 Get started right

How to compile and run a project

Figure 1-12 shows how to compile and run a project. An easy way to run
a project is to press Ctrl+F11. Eclipse automatically compiles your project, so
there’s no need to compile it before running it.
If you want to remove all of the compiled files and force Eclipse to rebuild
the entire project, you can use the Clean command as shown in the figure. This
sometimes helps to get a project to work correctly after you have copied, moved,
or renamed some of its files.

How to enter input for a console application

When you run a console application in Eclipse, any data that’s written to the
console is displayed in the Console window. In addition, the Console window
can accept input.
In this figure, for example, the application started by displaying a welcome
message. Then, it prompted the user to enter a monthly investment. At this
prompt, the user typed “100” and pressed Enter. After that, the application
prompted the user to enter a yearly interest rate and a number of years. At both
of these prompts, the user typed “3” and pressed Enter. Then, the application
performed the calculation, and displayed the result. After that, the application
asked the user if he or she wanted to continue. At this point, the application is
still running, and the user can enter “y” to perform another calculation or “n” to
end the application.
When you’re learning Java, it’s common to create applications that use the
console to display output and get input. Because of that, the first four sections of
this book teach you Java using console applications. Then, section 5 of this book
teaches you how to create a graphical user interface.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 27

A project that uses the Console window for input and output

How to compile and run a project

•• To run the current project, press Ctrl+F11 or click the Run button in the toolbar.
•• Eclipse automatically compiles your projects. As a result, you usually don’t need to
compile a project before you run it.
•• To delete all compiled files for a project and compile them again, select the project
in the Package Explorer. Then, select the ProjectClean command.

How to work with the Console window

•• When you run an application that prints data to the console, that data is displayed in
the Console window.
•• When you run an application that requests input from the console, the Console
window pauses to accept the input. Then, you can click in the Console window,
type the input, and press the Enter key.
•• The Console window can also display messages and errors when you run an
application.

Figure 1-12 How to compile and run a project

28 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with two or more projects

Up to this point, this chapter has shown a workspace that contains a single
project. However, Eclipse lets you import multiple projects into a workspace.
Figure 1-13 presents the skills for working with a workspace that contains
two or more projects. When you import multiple projects, all of the imported
projects appear in the Package Explorer. Then, when you open any of the files
for a project, they appear in separate tabs in the main window. After you open
a file, you can run the project for that file by pressing Ctrl+F11 or clicking on
the Run button in the toolbar. Or, if you want to run a different project, you can
select the project in the Package Explorer and press Ctrl+F11 or click on the Run
button.

How to remove a project from a workspace

To remove a project from the current workspace, you can right-click on the
project in the Project Explorer and select the Delete command from the context
menu. This displays a confirmation dialog that asks if you really want to delete
the project from the workspace.
By default, the project is only deleted from the current workspace, but the
folder and files for the project remain on disk. This allows you to import it again
later if you want. However, if you want to delete the project from disk, you can
select the “Delete project contents” checkbox from the confirmation dialog. This
removes the project from the workspace and deletes all of its folders and files.
This book often instructs you to right-click because that’s common in
Windows. However, on Mac OS X, right-clicking is not enabled by default. If
you want, you can enable right-clicking by editing the system preferences for
your mouse. Or, if you prefer, you can hold down the Control key and click
instead of right-clicking.
Similarly, this book presents keystrokes that work for Windows. However,
with Mac OS X, you may need to modify some of these keystrokes by holding
down the Command or Function (Fn) keys. In general, the Mac OS X keys are
clearly marked in the menus. As a result, you can look them up if necessary.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 29

Eclipse with two projects in the workspace

Description
•• Eclipse lets you import and work with two or more projects at the same time.

How to change the current project

•• When you open a file for a project, Eclipse opens the file in a tab in the main
window and makes the project associated with that file the current project.
•• To change the current project, click on the project in the Package Explorer window.

How to remove a project from the workspace

•• To remove a project from the workspace, right-click on the project in the Package
Explorer, select the Delete command, make sure the “Delete project contents”
check box is not selected, and click the OK button.
•• To remove a project from the workspace and delete its folders and files, right-click
on the project in the Package Explorer, select the Delete item, select the “Delete
project contents” check box, and click the OK button.

Mac OS X notes
•• To enable right-clicking, you can edit the system preferences for the mouse.
•• To use the Windows keys shown in this book, you may need to hold down the
Command or Function (Fn) keys to modify those keys.

Figure 1-13 How to work with two or more projects

30 Section 1 Get started right

Perspective
In this chapter, you learned some background information about Java. In
addition, you learned how to use Eclipse to import, compile, and run existing
projects. With that as background, you’re ready to start learning how to write
Java code and create new projects.

Summary
•• You can use the Java Development Kit (JDK) to develop Java applications.
•• The Standard Edition (SE) of Java is called Java SE.
•• You can use Java SE to create desktop applications that run on your
computer.
•• A desktop application can use a graphical user interface (GUI) or a console
to display output and get user input. Applications that use a console to
interact with the user are known as console applications.
•• You can use the Enterprise Edition of Java, which is known as Java EE, to
create server-side applications using servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSPs).
•• The Java compiler translates source code into a platform-independent format
known as Java bytecodes.
•• A Java runtime environment (JRE) includes all of the software needed to run
bytecodes.
•• A JRE includes an implementation of a Java virtual machine (JVM).
•• A JVM includes a Java interpreter to translate the Java bytecodes into native
code that can be understood by the underlying operating system.
•• Most modern JVMs have replaced the Java interpreter with a just-in-time
compiler (JIT compiler). A JIT compiler is similar to an interpreter in some
ways, but it improves performance significantly.
•• An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) can make working with Java
easier by providing code completion, error detection, automatic compilation,
and a debugger.
•• In Eclipse, a project is a folder that contains all of the folders and files that
make up an application.
•• In Eclipse, a workspace can hold one or more projects.
•• If an application prints text to the console, Eclipse displays the text in the
Console window. Eclipse also allows you to enter input into the Console
window.
 Chapter 1 An introduction to Java programming 31

Before you do the exercises for this chapter

Before you do any of the exercises in this book, you need to install Eclipse and
the JDK. In addition, you need to install the source code for this book from our
website (www.murach.com). See appendix A (PC) or B (Mac) for details.

Exercise 1-1 Open and run two projects

This exercise guides you through the process of using Eclipse to open and run
two applications.

Open and run the console version of the Future Value application
1. Start Eclipse. When you are prompted for a workspace, navigate to the
murach/java_eclipse folder on your hard disk and select it.
2. Import the project named ch01_FutureValueConsole into the workspace.
3. Expand the murach.fv package.
4. Open the Main.java file in the code editor and review its code to get an idea of
how this console application works.
5. Press Ctrl+F11 to run the application.
6. Click in the Console window to make it active and enter values for monthly
investment, yearly interest rate, and years when you’re prompted for them.
Then, when you’re asked if you want to continue, enter “n” to exit the appli-
cation.
Open and run the GUI version of the Future Value application
7. Import the project named ch01_FutureValueGUI into the workspace.
8. Expand the murach.fv package.
9. Open the .java files in the code editor and review their code. This should give
you an idea of what it takes to develop a simple GUI application. For now,
don’t worry if you don’t understand this code! You’ll learn how to write code
like this at the end of this book.
10. Click the Run button in the toolbar to run the application.
11. Enter values in the first three text boxes, click the Calculate button, and view
the result of the calculation. Then, click the Exit button to exit the application.
Set the main project and run the applications again
12. Select the ch01_FutureValueConsole project in the Projects window. Then,
press Ctrl+F11 to run this application.
13. Select the ch01_FutureValueGUI project in the Projects window. Then, click
the Run button to run this application.
14. Exit Eclipse.
 2
How to start writing Java
code
The quickest and best way to learn Java programming is to do Java program-
ming. That’s why this chapter shows you how to start writing Java code. When
you finish this chapter, you should be able to write a simple application that
performs a calculation and prints the result of the calculation to the console.

Basic coding skills................................................................34

How to code a class.........................................................................................34
How to code a main method...........................................................................34
How to code statements..................................................................................36
How to code comments..................................................................................36
How to print output to the console.................................................................38
How to use Eclipse to work with a new project..................40
How to create a new project.......................................................................... 40
How to create a new class.............................................................................. 40
How to work with Java source code and files.................................................42
How to use the code completion feature....................................................... 44
How to detect and correct syntax errors........................................................ 46
How to work with numbers...................................................48
How to declare and initialize variables..........................................................48
How to assign values to a variable.................................................................50
How to code arithmetic expressions...............................................................52
How to work with strings......................................................54
How to declare and initialize String variables...............................................54
How to join strings..........................................................................................54
How to include special characters in strings..................................................56
The Code Tester application................................................58
The user interface...........................................................................................58
The CodeTesterApp class................................................................................58
Perspective............................................................................60
34 Section 1 Get started right

Basic coding skills

This chapter starts by introducing some basic coding skills. In particular, it
shows how to code a class, a main method, statements, and comments.

How to code a class

Figure 2-1 shows how to write the starting code for a class, which is where
you store Java code. To start, you typically code a package statement. This state-
ment specifies the package for the class, which corresponds with the subfolder
that stores the class. In this figure, for example, the package specifies a package
of murach.test. This package corresponds with the murach/test subfolder of the
application folder. Storing your classes in packages isn’t required. However, it’s
highly recommended. When an application contains many classes, packages help
organize the classes and prevent naming conflicts.
After coding the package statement, you declare a class by coding a class
declaration. Typically, a class declaration begins with the public keyword, which
means that other classes can access it. This keyword is an access modifier that
controls the scope of a class.
After the public keyword, you code the class keyword followed by the name
of the class. Here, it’s a common coding convention to start the class name and
every word within that name with a capital letter. In addition, it’s a common
convention to use letters and digits only. In this figure, for example, the class
declaration specifies a class named CodeTesterApp.
The filename for the class is the same as the class name with .java added as
the extension. For example, the CodeTesterApp class is stored in a file named
CodeTesterApp.java.
After the class name, you code a left brace ({) that identifies the start of the
class and a right brace (}) that identifies the end of the class. Typically, you code
the right brace at the same indentation level as the class declaration. This clearly
shows where the class ends, and it helps to prevent missing braces.

How to code a main method

Within the braces of a class, you can code one or more methods. Here, each
method contains code that performs an action. In this figure, the class only
contains one method, the main method. Java automatically executes this method
when it runs the class that contains it. All Java applications contain at least one
main method that starts the application.
To code a main method, you begin by coding a main method declaration
within the class declaration. Later in this book, you’ll learn more about the
keywords used by this declaration. For now, all you need to know about the main
method declaration is that you can code it exactly as shown in this figure.
The code within a pair of matching braces is called a block of code. In this
figure, for example, there are two blocks of code: (1) the block for the class and
(2) the block for the main method.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 35

A class that has a main method

package murach.test; package statement

public class CodeTesterApp { class declaration

public static void main(String[] args) { main method declaration

} end of main method

} end of class

The folder and filename for this class

murach/test/CodeTesterApp.java

The guidelines for naming a class

•• Start the name with a capital letter.
•• Start every word within a class name with an initial cap.
•• Use letters and digits only.

Description
•• A class stores Java code. Each class starts with a class declaration.
•• A package is a folder that contains one or more classes. They are useful for
organizing multiple classes. Most classes start with a package statement that identi-
fies the folder that contains the class.
•• A method is a block of code that performs a task. A class can contain one or more
methods.
•• A class can contain one main method. This method is often the starting point for an
application. You can execute this method by running the class.
•• Opening and closing braces identify the start and end of classes and methods. The
code within the braces can be referred to as a block of code.
•• The public keyword is an access modifier that allows a class or method to be used
by other code.
•• The file name for a class is the same as the class name with .java as the extension.

Figure 2-1 How to create a class that has a main method

36 Section 1 Get started right

How to code statements

A statement performs a task and ends with a semicolon. In figure 2-2, for
example, the main method contains three statements. The first statement prints
a welcome message to the console, the second prints a blank line, and the third
prints a message that says, “Bye.”.
When you code a statement, you can start it anywhere in a line, and you can
continue it from one line to another. However, to make your code easier to read,
you should use indentation and spacing to align statements as shown throughout
this book.

How to code comments

When you write code, you can use comments to document what the applica-
tion does and what specific blocks and lines of code do. Since the Java compiler
ignores comments, you can include them anywhere in your code without
degrading the performance of your code.
A single-line comment typically describes one or more lines of code. This
type of comment starts with two slashes (//) that tell the compiler to ignore all
characters until the end of the current line. This figure uses single-line comments
to identify the structure of this code: the package statement, the class declaration
and end, and the main method declaration and end. In addition, it uses a single-
line comment to describe the statement that prints a blank line to the console.
Since these comments are coded on the same line as code, they are sometimes
referred to as end-of-line comments.
However, you can also code a single-line comment on its own line. In this
figure, for example, the comment that describes the statement that prints the
welcome message is coded on its own line.
A block comment is typically used to document information that applies to a
block of code. For example, a block comment might include the author’s name,
the code’s completion date, the purpose of the code, the files used by the code,
and so on. In this figure, the code begins with a block comment that includes the
author’s name and the purpose of the code.
Although many programmers sprinkle their code with comments, that
shouldn’t be necessary if you write code that’s easy to read and understand.
Instead, you should use comments only to clarify code that’s difficult to under-
stand. In this figure, for example, an experienced Java programmer wouldn’t
need any of the single-line comments.
One problem with comments is that they may not accurately represent what
the code does. This often happens when a programmer changes the code, but
doesn’t change the comments that go along with it. Then, it’s even harder to
understand the code because the comments are misleading. So if you change the
code, be sure to change the comments too.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 37

A class that includes statements and comments

/*
* Author: J. Murach
* Purpose: This application displays some text on the console.
It can be used as a starting point for testing code.
*/
package murach.test; // package statement

public class CodeTesterApp { // start CodeTesterApp class

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

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Code Tester");
System.out.println(); // print a blank line
System.out.println("Bye!");
} // end main method
} // end CodeTesterApp class

Description
•• A statement performs a task and ends with a semicolon.
•• You can start a statement at any point in a line and continue the statement from one
line to the next. To make your code easier to read, you should use indentation and
extra spaces to align statements and parts of statements.
•• A comment typically documents what the code does. Well-written comments can be
helpful to the programmer who writes the code and to other programmers who need
to review or maintain the code later.
•• To code a single-line comment, type // followed by the comment. You can code a
single-line comment on a line by itself or after a statement. A comment that’s coded
after a statement is sometimes called an end-of-line comment.
•• To code a block comment, type /* at the start of the block and */ at the end. You can
also code asterisks to identify the lines in the block, but that isn’t necessary.

Figure 2-2 How to code statements and comments

38 Section 1 Get started right

How to print output to the console

Most applications require some type of user interaction. For example, they
usually need to display output to the user and get input from the user. The easiest
way to do that is to use a command-line interface known as the console to
interact with the user. To get started, figure 2-3 shows how to display output to
the user by printing it to the console.
When you use the console, its appearance may differ slightly depending
on the operating system. However, the application should work the same. Also,
most IDEs provide an easy way to work with the console as you’re developing
and testing console applications.
To print output to the console, you can use the println and print methods of
the System.out object. Both the println and print methods accept an argument
that specifies the data that’s printed to the console. To code an argument, you
code a set of parentheses after the name of the method. Then, you code the
argument within these parentheses. In this figure, the first println method prints a
string of characters to the console. To identify this string of characters, the code
places double quotation marks around the text.
This code doesn’t pass an argument to the second println statement. As a
result, it just prints a blank line to the console. However, the third println method
prints a string of characters to the console, just like the first println method.
The print and println methods work similarly. The main difference between
the two is that the println method starts a new line after it displays the data, and
the print method doesn’t.
The example in this figure shows a complete class that uses the println
method to display data on the console. By now, you shouldn’t have much trouble
understanding how this code works.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 39

Two methods of the System.out object

Method Description
println(data) Prints the data argument to the console
followed by a new line character.
print(data) Prints the data argument to the console.

A class that prints output to the console

package murach.test;

public class CodeTesterApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Code Tester");
System.out.println();

// display a goodbye message

System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

The output displayed on the console

Welcome to the Code Tester

Bye

Description
•• Although the appearance of a console may differ from one system to another, you
can always use the println and print methods of the System.out object to print data
to the console.

Figure 2-3 How to print output to the console

40 Section 1 Get started right

How to use Eclipse

to work with a new project
Now that you understand how to code a class that prints data to the console,
you’re ready to learn how to use Eclipse to create a project that contains such a
class. Then, you can use Eclipse to enter the code for this class.

How to create a new project

Figure 2-4 shows how to create a new project for a Java application. To do
that, you can use the first dialog box shown in this figure to specify a name for
your project. In this case, I named the project example_project.
After entering the name for the project, you can click the Finish button
to create the project. This creates the new project in the current workspace. If
you’ve set your workspace to the workspace used by the applications in this
book the current workspace should be:
/murach/java_eclipse
In addition, this creates a folder for the project and all of the support files for
the project, including a src folder where you can store the source code for your
project.

How to create a new class

After you create a new project, you need to add one or more classes to it. To
create a new class, navigate to the new project in the Package Explorer and open
the New Java Class dialog box as shown in figure 2-4.
You can use this dialog box to enter a name for the class. This name should
start with a capital letter. In this case, I named the class Test.
You can also use this dialog box to enter a name for the package. When you
pick the name for a package, you should pick a name that helps to avoid naming
conflicts with other classes. In addition, you should pick a name that helps you
organize your classes in a logical way. Here, I used “murach” as the first part
of the name because it’s the name of our company, and it’s unlikely that anyone
else would use that name. Then, I used “test” as the second part of the name
because I intend to use this package to store a class that’s used for testing.
To make sure that the name of a package is unique, one common naming
scheme is to start package names with the company’s Internet domain in reverse.
For example, a company with a domain of murach.com could start its package
names with com.murach.
If you want to generate a main method for the class, you can select the
appropriate check box. In this case, I selected the first check box to generate a
main method for the class.
When you click the Finish button, Eclipse creates the file for the class and
generates some starting code for the class. If necessary, it also creates the folder
for the package.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 41

The dialog boxes for creating a new project and class

How to create a new project

•• To create a new project, select the FileNewJava Project command. Then, enter
a name for the project in the resulting dialog box and click the Finish button.

How to create a new class

•• To create a new class, right-click on the project in the Package Explorer, and select
the NewClass command. Then, respond to the resulting dialog box.
•• To specify a name for the class, enter the name of the class in the Name text box.
•• To specify a package, enter a name for the package in the Package text box.
•• To add a main method to the class, select the appropriate checkbox.

Figure 2-4 How to create a new project and class

42 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with Java source code and files

When you create a class, Eclipse typically opens the class in a new code
editor window as shown in figure 2-5. To make it easier to for you to recognize
the Java syntax, the code editor uses different colors for different language
elements. In addition, Eclipse provides standard File and Edit menus and
keystroke shortcuts that let you save and edit the source code. For example, you
can press Ctrl+S to save your source code, and you can use standard commands
to cut, copy, and paste code.
When Eclipse creates a new class, it automatically generates some code for
you. In this figure, for example, Eclipse generated the code that specifies the
package, declares the class, and declares the main method. Although you can
delete or modify the class and method declarations, you don’t usually want to do
that.
If the source code you want to work with isn’t displayed in a code editor
window, you can use the Package Explorer window to navigate to the .java file.
Then, you can double-click on it to open it in a code editor window.
You can also use the Package Explorer to rename or delete a .java file. To
do that, just right-click on the file and select the appropriate command. If you
rename a file, Eclipse automatically changes both the name of the .java file and
the name of the class. Since the name of the .java file must match the name of
the class, this is usually what you want.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 43

The code editor with the starting source code for a project

Description
•• To open a .java file in the code editor, double-click on it in the Package Explorer
window. Then, you can use normal editing techniques to work with the source
code.
•• To collapse the code for a method or comment, click the minus sign (-) to its left.
Then, a plus sign (+) appears to the left of the method or comment, and you can
click the plus sign to display the code again.
•• To save the source code for a file, use the FileSave command (Ctrl+S) or click
the Save All Files button in the toolbar.
•• To rename a file, right-click on it, select the RefactorRename command, and
enter the new name in the resulting dialog box.
•• To delete a file, you can right-click on it, select the Delete command, and confirm
the deletion in the resulting dialog box.

Figure 2-5 How to work with Java source code and files
44 Section 1 Get started right

How to use the code completion feature

Figure 2-6 shows how to use the code completion feature. This feature
prevents you from making typing mistakes, and it allows you to discover what
fields and methods are available from various classes and objects. In this figure,
for example, I started to enter a statement that prints text to the console.
First, I entered “sys” and pressed Ctrl+Spacebar (both keys at the same
time). This displayed a list with the System class as the only option. Then, I
pressed the Enter key to automatically enter the rest of the class name.
Next, I typed a period. This displayed a list of fields and methods available
from the System class. Then, I used the arrow keys to select the field named out
and pressed the Enter key to automatically enter that field name.
Finally, I typed another period. This displayed a long list of method names.
Then, I typed “pr” to scroll down the list to the methods that start with “pr”, and
I used the arrow keys to select one of the println methods as shown in the figure.
At this point, I could press Enter to have Eclipse enter the method into the editor
for me.
When you use code completion, it automatically enters placeholders from
the arguments where they are needed. In this figure, for example, if I press the
Enter key, Eclipse would insert a placeholder for the argument and highlight the
argument. Then, I could replace it with the argument I want to use.
The code completion feature can also make it easy for you to enter values
for a string of text. If you type a quotation mark to identify a string, the code
completion feature automatically enters both opening and closing quotation
marks and places the cursor between the two. At this point, you can enter the
text.
If you experiment with the code completion feature, you’ll quickly see when
it helps you enter code more quickly and when it makes sense to enter the code
yourself. In addition, you’ll see that it helps you understand the kinds of fields
and methods that are available to the various classes and objects that you’re
working with. This will make more sense as you learn more about Java in the
next few chapters, but it’s extremely helpful to most programmers, especially to
those who are new to Java.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 45

The code editor with a code completion list

Description
•• You can use the code completion feature to help you enter the names of classes
and objects and select from the methods and fields that are available for a class or
object.
•• The first time you use code completion, Eclipse will prompt you to enable it in the
popup.
•• To activate the code completion feature for entering a class or object name, press
Ctrl+Spacebar after entering one or more letters of the class or object name. Then,
a list of all the classes and objects that start with those letters is displayed. Or, you
can simply wait a short period of time and the code completion window will open
automatically.
•• To activate the code completion feature for a method or field of a class or object,
enter a period after a class or object name. Then, a list of all the methods and fields
for that class or object is displayed.
•• To insert an item from a code completion list, use the arrow keys to select the item
and press the Enter key. If the item requires parentheses, they’re added automati-
cally. If the item requires one or more arguments, default values are added for those
arguments and the first argument is highlighted so you can enter its value. Then,
you can press the Tab key and enter the values for any remaining arguments.
•• If you enter the opening quote for a string of text, the code completion feature
automatically adds the closing quote and places the cursor between the two quotes
so you can enter the text.

Figure 2-6 How to use the code completion feature

46 Section 1 Get started right

How to detect and correct syntax errors

In Eclipse, a statement that won’t compile causes a syntax error. As you
enter text into the code editor, Eclipse displays syntax errors whenever it detects
them. In figure 2-7, for example, Eclipse displays an error that indicates that a
semicolon needs to be entered to complete the statement. This error is marked
with a red icon to the left of the statement. In addition, the statement that
contains the error is marked with a wavy red underline.
If you position the mouse cursor over the red error icon or over the wavy line
at the error itself, Eclipse displays a description of the error. In this figure, for
example, the description indicates that Eclipse expects a semicolon at the end of
the statement. As a result, you can fix the error by typing the semicolon.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 47

The code editor with an error displayed

Description
•• Eclipse often detects syntax errors as you enter code into the code editor.
•• When Eclipse detects a syntax error, it displays a red error icon to the left of the
statement in error and it places a red wavy line under the statement.
•• To get more information about a syntax error, you can position the mouse pointer
over the error icon or the wavy line under the statement.

Figure 2-7 How to detect and correct syntax errors

48 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with numbers

Most applications need to work with numbers. That’s why the next two
figures show you how to get started working with numbers. To start, these figures
show how to store numbers in variables.

How to declare and initialize variables

A variable stores a value that can change as your code executes. Before you
can use a variable, you must declare its data type and name. When you do that,
you often initialize the variable by assigning a value to it. Figure 2-8 shows how
to do that.
But first, this figure summarizes two of the eight primitive data types that are
available in Java. To start, you can use the int data type to store integers, which
are whole numbers that don’t contain decimal places. In addition, you can use
the double data type to store numbers that can contain decimal places. For now,
that’s all you need to know about primitive data types.
In chapter 7, you’ll learn about the other six primitive types. In addition,
you’ll learn more details about the range and precision of the int and double
types, including a common rounding error that often occurs if you use the double
type to work with financial calculations.
The first example shows how to declare and initialize a variable in two
statements. Here, the first statement declares a variable of the double type named
productPrice. Then, the second statement uses an equals sign (=) to assign
a value of 14.95 to this variable. Since this statement assigns a value to the
variable, it’s known as an assignment statement.
The second example shows how to declare and initialize a variable in one
statement. Here, the statement declares a double variable named productPrice
and uses the equals sign (=) to assign a value of 14.95 to it. This accomplishes
the same task as the first example.
When naming variables, it’s a common Java coding convention to begin the
variable with a lowercase letter and to capitalize the first letter in each subse-
quent word in the name as in productPrice or maxQuantity. This is commonly
referred to as camel notation.
When you create a name, you should try to make the name both meaningful
and easy to remember. To make a name meaningful, you should use as many
characters as you need, so it’s easy for other programmers to read and under-
stand your code. For instance, netPrice is more meaningful than nPrice, and
nPrice is more meaningful than np.
To make a name easy to remember, you should avoid abbreviations. If,
for example, you use nwCst as a name, you may have difficulty remembering
whether it was nCust, nwCust, or nwCst later on. If you code the name as
newCustomer, though, you won’t have any trouble remembering what it was.
Yes, you type more characters when you create names that are meaningful and
easy to remember, but that’s usually justified by the time you test, debug, and
maintain the application.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 49

Two of the primitive data types

Type Description
int Integers (whole numbers) that range from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.
double Double-precision floating-point numbers (decimal numbers).

How to declare and initialize a variable in two statements

Syntax
type variableName;
variableName = value;

Example
double productPrice; // declaration statement
productPrice = 14.95; // assignment statement

How to declare and initialize a variable in one statement

Syntax
type variableName = value;
Example
double productPrice = 14.95; // initialize a double variable

Naming recommendations for variables

•• Start variable names with a lowercase letter and capitalize the first letter in all
words after the first word.
•• Each variable name should be a noun or a noun preceded by one or more adjectives.
•• Try to use meaningful names that are easy to remember.

Java keywords
boolean if interface class true
char else package volatile false
byte final switch while throws
float private case return native
void protected break throw implements
short public default try import
double static for catch synchronized
int new continue finally const
long this do transient goto
abstract super extends instanceof null

Description
•• Java provides for eight primitive data types that you can use for storing values in
memory. The two most common are the int and double data types.
•• A variable stores a value that can change as an application executes.
•• To create a variable, you can start by declaring its data type and name. Then, you
can assign a value to the variable to initialize it. It’s common to initialize integer
variables to 0 and double variables to 0.0.
•• A keyword is a word that’s reserved by the Java language such as int and double. As
a result, you can’t use a keyword as the name for a variable.

Figure 2-8 How to declare and initialize variables

50 Section 1 Get started right

For some common variable names, programmers typically use just one or
two lowercase letters. For instance, they often use i as the name of an int variable
that’s used as a counter variable. This is acceptable in short blocks of code where
it’s easy to understand what the variable does.
When naming a variable, you can’t use a Java keyword as the name of the
variable. There are 50 keywords reserved by the Java language that are shown
in figure 2-8. To help you identify keywords in your code, most Java IDEs
display these keywords in a different color than the rest of the Java code. As you
progress through this book, you’ll learn how to use most of these keywords.

How to assign values to a variable

Figure 2-9 shows how to assign a value to a variable that has already been
declared. To start, the first code example declares and initializes two variables.
These variables are used by the other examples in this figure. The first variable
is named quantity and is initialized to an int value of 0. The second variable is
named maxQuantity and is initialized to an int value of 100.
The second example begins by changing the quantity variable by assigning
it a value of 10. Then, it changes the quantity variable again by assigning it the
value that’s stored in the maxQuantity variable. This shows that the value of a
variable can change. It shows that you can assign a literal value like 100 or 10 to
a variable. And it shows that you can assign another variable such as maxQuan-
tity to a variable.
The third example shows a common coding error that occurs if you attempt
to declare a variable again after it has already been declared. In that case, you’ll
get a syntax error. That’s because this statement unnecessarily declares the
type for the variable. To fix this, you can remove the type declaration from the
statement. In this figure, for example, you can remove the int keyword from the
beginning of the statement.
The fourth example shows another common coding error that occurs if
you use the wrong case to refer to a variable. This error occurs because Java
is case-sensitive. As a result, you need to be careful when you create and use
variable names. In this figure, for example, the first example names the variable
maxQuantity. As a result, the fourth example can’t refer to it as maxquantity.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 51

The syntax for an assignment statement

variableName = value;

Code that declares and initializes two variables

int quantity = 0; // quantity is 0
int maxQuantity = 100;

Code that assigns new values to the quantity variable

quantity = 10; // quantity is now 10
quantity = maxQuantity; // quantity is now 100

Code that attempts to declare a variable a second time

int quantity = 99; // ERROR: the quantity variable is already declared

Code that uses incorrect case to refer to a variable

maxquantity = 200; // ERROR: can't find variable due to incorrect case

Description
•• An assignment statement assigns a value to a variable that’s already declared. This
value can be a literal value, another variable, or an expression like the arithmetic
expressions shown in the next figure.
•• If you attempt to declare a variable a second time, it causes an error.
•• Java is a case-sensitive language. As a result, make sure to use the correct case
when referring to the names of variables.

Figure 2-9 How to assign values to a variable

52 Section 1 Get started right

How to code arithmetic expressions

To code simple arithmetic expressions, you can use the four arithmetic
operators summarized in figure 2-10 to work on operands, which are the primi-
tive values or variables that the operators work with. These operators work the
way you would expect them to with one exception. If you divide one integer by
another integer, any decimal places are truncated.
The first example shows how to calculate the total amount for a line item.
Here, the first two statements declare and initialize a double variable named
productPrice and an int variable named quantity. Then, the third statement
declares a double variable named total and assigns the result of an arithmetic
expression to that variable. This arithmetic expression uses the multiplication
operator (*) to multiply the productPrice variable by the quantity variable. Since
this expression mixes int and double variables, Java casts (converts) the int
variable to a double variable before it performs the calculation. Then, it returns
the result as a double value.
The second example shows how to calculate sales tax. Here, the third state-
ment uses the multiplication operator (*) to calculate the sales tax amount. Then,
the fourth example uses the addition operator (+) to add the sales tax amount to
the subtotal.
The third example shows how to calculate an average. Here, the third
statement includes an expression that uses the division operator (/) to divide the
double variable named sum by the int variable named count. As a result, Java
casts the int value to a double variable before performing the calculation and
returns a double value as the result of the expression.
The fourth example shows what happens if you divide one int value by
another int value. In that case, since all of the variables are of the int type, the
result of the calculation is 4. This makes sense as 2 goes into 9 four times with a
remainder of 1. However, if the data types for this example were changed from
the int type to the double type, the result would be 4.5. This makes sense as 4.5
goes into 9 twice.
The fifth example shows how to code an expression that uses multiple opera-
tors. Here, the third statement multiplies the length by 2, multiplies the width by
2, and adds the results together.
When you use more than one operator in an arithmetic expression, you
sometimes need to use parentheses to control the sequence of the operations.
In the fifth example, Java happens to perform the operations in the sequence
that you want. However, if necessary, you could use parentheses to control the
sequence of operations. Then, Java performs the operation in the innermost set
of parentheses first. For example, if you wanted to clarify the sequence or opera-
tions in this example, you could code the third statement like this:
double perimeter = (2 * width) + (2 * length);
This clearly shows that Java should perform the multiplication operations before
the addition operation.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 53

The basic operators that you can use in arithmetic expressions

Operator Name Description
+ Addition Adds two operands.
- Subtraction Subtracts the right operand from the left operand.
* Multiplication Multiplies the right operand and the left operand.
/ Division Divides the right operand into the left operand. If both
operands are integers, then the result is an integer.

Code that calculates a total amount

double productPrice = 9.99;
int quantity = 2;
double total = productPrice * quantity; // 19.98

Code that calculates sales tax

double subtotal = 250.00;
double taxPercent = .075; // 7.5%
double taxAmount = subtotal * taxPercent; // 18.75
double grandTotal = subtotal + taxAmount; // 268.75

Code that calculates an average

double sum = 206.75;
int count = 3;
double average = sum / count; // 68.91666666666667

Code that divides two int values

int miles = 9;
int hour = 2;
int milesPerHour = miles / hour; // 4

Code that uses multiple operators in one expression

double width = 4.25;
double length = 8.5;
double perimeter = 2 * width + 2 * length; // 25.5

Description
•• An arithmetic expression consists of one or more operands and arithmetic
operators.
•• When an expression mixes the use of int and double variables, Java automatically
casts the int types to double types. To retain the decimal places, the variable that
receives the result must be a double.
•• If you use multiple operators in one expression, you can use parentheses to specify
the sequence of operations. Then, Java performs the operations in the innermost set
of parentheses first, followed by the operations in the next set, and so on.

Figure 2-10 How to code arithmetic expressions

54 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with strings

Most applications need to work with text. That’s why the next two figures
show you how to get started with strings. A string is a sequence of characters
such as letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.

How to declare and initialize String variables

To declare a String variable, you use the syntax shown in figure 2-11.
Although this is much like the syntax for declaring an int or double variable, a
string is an object that’s created from the String class. When you declare a String
variable, you must capitalize the String keyword because it is the name of a
class, not a primitive data type.
When you create an object, you can think of the class as the template for
the object. That’s why the object can be called an instance of the class, and the
process of creating the object can be called instantiation. Whenever necessary,
you can create more than one object or instance from the class. For instance, you
often use several String objects in a single application.
When you declare a String object, you can assign a string literal to it by
enclosing the characters for the literal value within double quotes. You can
also assign an empty string to a string by coding a set of quotation marks with
nothing between them. Finally, you can use the null keyword to assign a null to
a String object. This indicates that the String variable doesn’t point to a String
object.

How to join strings

If you want to join two or more strings, you can use the + operator. For
instance, the second example joins a first name, a space, and a last name. This
is also known as concatenating a string. Then, you can assign that string to
a String variable like the name variable shown in the second example. When
concatenating strings, it’s common to mix string literals (the space) with String
variables (firstName and lastName) as shown in this example.
You can also join a string with a primitive data type as shown in the third
example. Here, the second statement appends a variable that’s defined with the
double type to a literal of the String type. When you use this technique, Java
automatically converts the double type to the String type.
When you code string literals, they mostly work as you would expect.
However, you can’t split a string literal over multiple lines like this:
String name = "Bob
Smith";
Instead, you have to close the string literal at the end of the first line and join a
second string literal on the second line like this:
String name = "Bob "
+ "Smith";
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 55

How to declare and initialize a String variable

Syntax
String variableName = value;

Examples
String message1 = "Invalid data entry.";
String message2 = ""; // an empty string
String message3 = null; // a null string

How to join strings

String firstName = "Bob"; // firstName is Bob
String lastName = "Smith"; // lastName is Smith
String name = firstName + " " + lastName; // name is Bob Smith

How to join a string and a number

double price = 14.95;
String message = "Price: " + price; // message is Price: 14.95

Description
•• A string can consist of one or more characters including letters, numbers, and
special characters like *, &, and #.
•• In Java, a string is actually a String object that’s created from the String class that’s
part of the Java API (Application Programming Interface). This API provides all
the classes that are included as part of the JDK.
•• Since a string is an object created from the String class, you start the declaration
for a string by coding String with a capital S. By contrast, you don’t use any capital
letters when declaring primitive types such as the int and double types.
•• To specify the value of a string, you can enclose text in double quotation marks.
This is known as a string literal.
•• To assign a null to a string, you can use the null keyword. This means that the
String variable doesn’t point to a String object that’s allocated in memory.
•• To assign an empty string to a String object, you can code a set of quotation marks
with nothing between them. This means that the value of the string is known but
that the string doesn’t contain any characters.
•• To join (or concatenate) a string with another string or a data type, use a plus sign
(+). Whenever possible, Java automatically converts the data type and joins it with
the string.

Figure 2-11 How to create and join strings

56 Section 1 Get started right

How to include special characters in strings

Figure 2-12 shows how to include special characters within a string. In
particular, this figure shows how to include backslashes, quotation marks, and
control characters such as new lines, tabs, and returns in a string. To do that, you
can use escape sequences, which are a sequence of characters that begin with a
backslash.
Some escape sequences let you insert special characters such as new line
characters. For example, if you code a backslash followed by the letter n,
the compiler includes a new line character in the string. The first example in
this figure shows how this works. If you omitted the backslash, of course, the
compiler would just include the letter n in the string.
The escape sequences for the tab and return characters work similarly.
The second example shows how this works. This example includes two tabs,
one return character, and one new line character in the string literal. In most
cases, the return character returns to the beginning of the current line without
advancing to the new line. As a result, in most cases, the return character is
followed by the new line character as shown in this example.
Other escape sequences let you include characters that are part of the Java
syntax. For example, it’s part of the Java syntax to code a string literal within
double quotes. As a result, if you attempt to code a double quote within a string
literal, the compiler thinks you are attempting to end the string literal, which
results in a syntax error like the one in the third example. To fix this error, you
can use an escape sequence as shown in the fourth example. This example
includes two double quotes within the string literal.
The escape sequence for a backslash works similarly. When you code a
backslash, the compiler thinks you are coding an escape sequence. As a result,
if you follow the backslash with a character that doesn’t complete a valid escape
sequence, it results in a syntax error like the one shown in the fifth example. To
fix this error, you need to use an escape sequence as shown in the sixth example.
This example includes two backslashes within the string literal.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 57

Common escape sequences

Sequence Character
\n New line
\t Tab
\r Return
\" Quotation mark
\\ Backslash

The new line character

"Code: JSP\nPrice: $49.50"

Displayed on the console

Code: JSP
Price: $49.50

The new line, return, and tab characters

"Code:\tJSP\r\nPrice:\t$49.50"

Displayed on the console

Code: JSP
Price: $49.50

A syntax error due to quotation marks

"Type "x" to exit" // syntax error – ')' expected

Quotation marks
"Type \"x\" to exit"

Displayed on the console

Type "x" to exit

A syntax error due to backslashes

"C:\java\files" // syntax error - illegal escape character

Backslashes
"C:\\java\\files"

Displayed on the console

C:\java\files

Description
•• Within a string, you can use escape sequences to include certain types of special
characters such as new lines and tabs. You can also use escape sequences to include
characters that are part of the Java syntax such as quotation marks and backslashes.

Figure 2-12 How to include special characters in strings

58 Section 1 Get started right

The Code Tester application

This chapter finishes by presenting the Code Tester application. You can
modify this application to get some hands-on practice declaring variables,
making calculations, and displaying the results of those calculations on the
console.

The user interface

Figure 2-13 shows the console for this application. To start, it displays a
weclome message. Then, it displays the values of four variables. Finally, it
displays a goodbye message.

The CodeTesterApp class

This figure also presents the code for the Code Tester application. All of this
code is stored in the CodeTesterApp class. If you read this chapter, you should
already understand most of this code.
Within the main method, the first statement uses the println method to print
a message to the console that says, “Welcome to the Code Tester”. Then, the
second statement prints a blank line to the console.
After these first two statements, this code declares and initializes three
variables: one String variable, one double variable, and one int variable. Then, it
performs a calculation and assigns the result to a fourth variable. Next, it builds
a string that includes the data for these four variables. To do that, this string uses
string literals to label and align the data. In addition, this string uses the new line
escape sequence (\n) to start a new line after each variable.
After this code builds the string, it prints this string to the console. Then, it
prints a message to the console that says, “Bye.”
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 59

The console
Welcome to the Code Tester

Code: java
Price: 49.5
Quantity: 2
Total: 99.0

Bye!

The CodeTesterApp class

package murach.test;

public class CodeTesterApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Code Tester");
System.out.println();

// hard code three values

String productCode = "java";
double price = 49.50;
int quantity = 2;

// perform a calculation
double total = price * quantity;

// display the output

String message =
"Code: " + productCode + "\n" +
"Price: " + price + "\n" +
"Quantity: " + quantity + "\n" +
"Total: " + total + "\n";
System.out.println(message);

// display a goodbye message

System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 2-13 The Code Tester application

60 Section 1 Get started right

Perspective
The goal of this chapter is to get you started with Java programming. Now,
if you understand how the Code Tester application works, you can get some
hands-on experience coding variables and arithmetic expressions of your own.
However, this application doesn’t get input from the user or format the output
that’s displayed to the user. To do that, you can use some of the classes that are
available from the Java API as described in the next chapter.
Also, keep in mind that this chapter is just an introduction to Java program-
ming. In chapter 7, you’ll learn more about working with primitive data types,
including how to work with the other six primitive data types. And in chapter 9,
you’ll learn more about working with strings.

Summary
•• A class stores Java code. A package is a folder that can store one or more
Java classes. Packages are used to organize classes.
•• A class can contain one or more methods. A method is a block of code that
performs a task.
•• A main method is a special type of method that’s executed when you run the
class that contains it.
•• A statement performs a task and ends with a semicolon.
•• Comments typically document what code does.
•• You can use the Eclipse code editor to enter and edit code. As you enter
code, you can use the code completion feature to help you enter the names of
classes and objects and select from fields and methods.
•• Java provides for eight primitive data types. Two of the most common are
the int and double types.
•• Variables store data that changes as an application runs. An assignment
statement can assign a value to a variable.
•• A string can consist of one or more characters including letters, numbers,
and special characters. You can use the plus sign to join a string with another
string or primitive type.
•• You can use escape sequences to include special characters in strings.
 Chapter 2 How to start writing Java code 61

Exercise 2-1 Experiment with the Code Tester

application
In this exercise, you can experiment with the Code Tester application that’s
presented at the end of this chapter.

Test the application

1. Start the Eclipse IDE and open the project named ch02_ex1_CodeTester. This
project should be listed in the Package Explorer if your workspace is set to
this book’s workspace.
2. Expand the murach.test package, open the file named CodeTesterApp.java,
and review the code for this file.
3. Run this application. It should work as described at the end of this chapter.
Initialize and print more variables
4. Within the main method, initialize String variables for your first and last
name. Then, print these String variables to the console in this format:

Name: Lastname, Firstname

5. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.

6. Add an assignment statement that changes the value of the variable for the
first name.
7. Run the application again to make sure this changes the first name that’s
printed to the console.
Work with arithmetic expressions
8. Declare and initialize a double variable that stores a sum and an int variable
that stores a count.
9. Calculate an average by dividing the sum variable by the count variable. Then,
assign the result of the calculation to the average variable and print it to the
console. When you’re done, the console should look like this:

Sum: 301.75
Count: 6
Average: 50.291666666666664

10. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.

11. Add an assignment statement that changes the value for the sum variable.
12. Run the application again to make sure it changes the data that’s printed to the
console for the sum and average.
62 Section 1 Get started right

Calculate tax and grand total

13. Modify the starting code as described in the following steps so it includes a
product description, tax, and grand total. When you’re done modifying this
code, it should print this data to the console:

Code: android
Description: Murach's Android Programming
Price: 57.5
Quantity: 2
Total: 115.0
Tax Percent: 7.5
Tax Amount: 8.625
Grand Total: 123.625

14. Declare and initialize a String variable for the product description.
15. Declare and initialize a double variable for the tax percent. For now, you can
assign a value of .075, which is 7.5%.
16. Declare and initialize a double variable for the tax amount. Then, calculate the
amount by multiplying the total by the tax percent and assign the result to this
variable.
17. Declare and initialize a double variable for the grand total. Then, calculate the
grand total by adding the total and tax amounts and assign the result to this
variable.
18. Modify the string that displays the data so the application prints it to the
console as shown above. To get the tax percent to display correctly, you can
multiply it by 100.
19. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
Continue to test and experiment!
20. Add code to test any Java features described in this chapter.
21. Experiment with any Eclipse features described in this chapter.
 3
How to use classes
and methods
This chapter shows you how to write a complete Java application that gets input
from a user, makes a calculation, formats the output, and displays it to the user.
This teaches you how to use some of the classes and methods that are available
from the Java API. When you finish this chapter, you should be able to write
comparable applications of your own.

How to work with classes, objects, and methods.............64

How to import classes.................................................................................... 64
How to create an object from a class............................................................. 66
How to call a method from an object............................................................ 66
How to call a method from a class................................................................ 66
How to view the documentation for the Java API..........................................68
How to work with the console..............................................70
How to use the Scanner class to get input......................................................70
How to convert strings to numbers.................................................................72
A class that reads input from the console.......................................................74
How to convert numbers to formatted strings................................................76
A class that prints formatted numbers to the console....................................78
How to code simple control statements.............................80
How to compare numbers...............................................................................80
How to compare strings..................................................................................80
How to code a while loop...............................................................................82
How to code an if/else statement................................................................... 84
The Line Item application.....................................................86
The user interface...........................................................................................86
The code..........................................................................................................88
The Future Value application...............................................90
The user interface.......................................................................................... 90
The code..........................................................................................................92
Perspective............................................................................94
64 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with classes, objects,

and methods
In the previous chapter, you learned how to create String objects from the
String class in the Java API. As you develop Java applications, though, you need
to use dozens of different Java classes. To do that, you need to know how to
create objects from Java classes, how to call Java methods, and how to import
Java classes.

How to import classes

The Java SE API stores related classes in packages. Figure 3-1 begins by
summarizing three commonly used packages. The java.lang package contains the
classes (such as the String class) that are fundamental to the Java language. As a
result, this package is automatically available to all Java code.
However, if you want to use a class from a package other than java.lang,
you can include an import statement for that class at the beginning of the current
class. If you don’t, you can still use the class, but you have to qualify it with the
name of the package that contains it each time you refer to it. Since that can lead
to a lot of unnecessary typing, most programmers code import statements for the
classes they use.
When you code an import statement, you can import a single class by
specifying the class name, or you can import all of the classes in the package by
typing an asterisk (*) in place of the class name. In this figure, for example, the
first import statement imports the Scanner class that’s in the java.util package.
On the other hand, the second import statement imports all of the classes in the
java.util package including the Scanner class. However, this only imports all
classes in the java.util package, not any classes from other packages that begin
with java.util such as java.util.regex.
Although it requires less code to import all of the classes in a package at
once, importing one class at a time provides a couple benefits. First, it clearly
identifies the classes that your code uses, which can be helpful to other program-
mers who review your code. Second, it helps avoid ambiguous references to
classes. For example, the Date class exists in both the java.util and java.sql
packages. As a result, if you import all classes from both packages and attempt
to use the Date class, the compiler doesn’t know which Date class you want to
use.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 65

Common packages
Package name Description
java.lang Classes that are fundamental to the Java language, including classes
that work with primitive data types and strings.
java.util Utility classes, including those for getting input from the console.
java.text Classes that handle text, including those that format numbers and dates.

Common classes
java.lang.String
java.lang.Integer
java.lang.Double
java.util.Scanner
java.text.NumberFormat

The syntax of the import statement

For a single class
import packagename.ClassName;

For all classes in the package

import packagename.*;

How to import the Scanner class

For the Scanner class only
import java.util.Scanner;

For all classes in the java.util package

import java.util.*;

Code that uses the Scanner class

If it has been imported
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

If it has not been imported

java.util.Scanner sc = new java.util.Scanner(System.in);

Description
•• The API for the Java SE provides a large library of classes that are organized into
packages.
•• All classes stored in the java.lang package are automatically available to all Java
code.
•• To use classes that aren’t in the java.lang package, you can code an import state-
ment. To import one class, specify the package name followed by the class name.
To import all classes in a package, specify the package name followed by an
asterisk (*).

Figure 3-1 How to import classes

66 Section 1 Get started right

How to create an object from a class

To use a Java class, you typically start by creating an object from a Java
class. As the syntax in figure 3-2 shows, you do that by coding the new keyword,
and the name of the Java class followed by a set of parentheses. These paren-
theses call the constructor of the class, which is a special block of code that
creates the object from the class and initializes it. Within the parentheses, you
code any arguments that are required by the constructor. In most cases, you
assign the object that’s created by the constructor to a variable. That way, you
can use it later.
In the first example, the code assigns the Scanner object that’s created to
a Scanner variable named sc. Here, the constructor for this object requires one
argument, the System.in object. This object represents console input and is
created by Java automatically. As a result, you can use this object to get console
input. Although this constructor requires only one argument, some constructors
require zero arguments and some require two or more arguments. You’ll learn
more about how this works as you go through this book.
When you create an object, you can think of the class as the template for
the object. That’s why the object can be called an instance of the class, and the
process of creating the object can be called instantiation. Whenever necessary,
you can create multiple objects from a class. For instance, you often use multiple
String objects in a single block of code even though there is only one String
class.

How to call a method from an object

Once you create an object from a class, you can call the methods of the
object. A method is a block of code that performs an action. In addition, a
method typically returns a value or object that you can assign to a variable.
To call a method from an object, you code the object name, a dot (.), and the
method name followed by a set of parentheses. Within the parentheses, you code
the arguments that are required by the method.
In the second example, the statement calls the nextLine method of the
Scanner object named sc to get the current line of text from the console. This
method doesn’t require an argument. As a result, it’s followed by an empty set of
parentheses. This method returns a String object, and this example assigns it to
the String variable named line.

How to call a method from a class

Besides the regular methods that you can call from an object, some classes
provide static methods. Static methods are similar to regular methods, but you
can call them directly from the class without creating an object from the class.
In the third example, the statement calls the static parseDouble method of
the Double class. This method requires one argument. As a result, this example
specifies the argument within the parentheses that come after the method name.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 67

How to create an object from a class

Syntax
new ClassName(arguments);

Example
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in); // creates a Scanner object named sc

How to call a method from an object

Syntax
objectName.methodName(arguments)

Example
String line = sc.nextLine(); // get a String object from the console

How to call a static method from a class

Syntax
ClassName.methodName(arguments)

Example
double price = Double.parseDouble(line); // convert a String to a double

Description
•• When you create an object from a Java class, you are creating an instance of the
class. Then, you can use the methods of the class by calling them from the object.
•• Some Java classes contain static methods. You can call these methods directly from
the class without creating an object.
•• When you create an object from a class, the constructor may require one or more
arguments. These arguments must have the required data types. If there are multiple
arguments, you must code them in the correct sequence, and you must separate each
argument with a comma.
•• When you call a method from an object or a class, the method may require one or
more arguments. Here again, these arguments must have the required data types. If
there are multiple arguments, you must code them in the correct sequence, and you
must separate each argument with a comma.
•• When you call a method from an object or a class, the method may return a primitive
value or an object. If you want to use this data, you can assign the primitive value or
object to a variable.

Figure 3-2 How to work with classes, objects, and methods

68 Section 1 Get started right

Here, the argument is the String variable named line created in the second
example. This method returns a double value, and this example assigns it to the
double variable named price.
As you read this book, you’ll learn how to use dozens of classes and
methods. For now, though, you just need to focus on the syntax for creating an
object from a class, for calling a method from an object, and for calling a static
method from a class.

How to view the documentation for the Java API

One of the most difficult aspects of using Java is learning how to use the
classes and methods that your applications require. To do that, you frequently
need to study the API documentation that comes with Java.
Figure 3-3 summarizes some of the basic techniques for navigating through
the API documentation. This figure shows the start of the documentation for the
Scanner class, which goes on for many pages. To display the documentation for
a class, you can click the package name in the upper left frame. Then, you can
click the class name in the lower left frame.
If you scroll through the documentation for the Scanner class, you’ll get an
idea of the amount of the documentation that’s available. After a few pages of
descriptive information, you come to a summary of the eight constructors for
the class. After that, you come to a summary of dozens of methods of the class.
That’s followed by more detail about the constructors, which is followed by
more detail about the methods.
For a beginning programmer, this is too much information. That’s why one
of the goals of this book is to introduce you to a subset of classes and methods
that you’ll use in most of the applications that you develop. Once you’ve learned
how to use those classes and methods, the API documentation should make
more sense to you, and you should be able to use that documentation to research
classes and methods that aren’t presented in this book.
However, it’s never too early to start using the documentation. So, feel free
to use the documentation to learn more about the classes and methods presented
in this book. After you learn how to use the Scanner class, for example, use the
API documentation to learn more about that class.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 69

The documentation for the Scanner class

Description
•• The Java SE API contains thousands of classes and methods that can help you do
most of the tasks that your applications require.
•• You can use a browser to view the Java SE API on the Internet by going to this
address:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api
•• You can select the name of the package in the top left frame to display information
about the package and the classes it contains. Then, you can select a class in the
lower left frame to display the documentation for that class in the right frame.
•• Once you display the documentation for a class, you can scroll through it or click a
link to get more information.

Figure 3-3 How to use the API documentation to research Java classes
70 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with the console

Most applications need to interact with the user. For example, they usually
need to display output to the user and get input from the user. The easiest way to
do that is to use a command-line interface known as the console. That’s why the
next few figures show how to use the console.
Once you learn Java, though, it’s common to use a graphical user interface
(GUI) to interact with the user. However, coding a GUI requires a solid under-
standing of Java. As a result, this book doesn’t show how to code a GUI until the
last two chapters.
When you create console applications, the appearance of the console may
differ slightly depending on the operating system. However, the application
should work the same. Also, most IDEs provide an easy way to work with the
console as you’re developing and testing console applications.

How to use the Scanner class to get input

Figure 3-4 shows how to use the Scanner class to read input from the
console. To start, the first example shows how to create a Scanner object named
sc. This works as described in figure 3-2. Then, the next three examples use this
object to get input from the user.
In the second example, the first statement uses the print method of the
System.out object to prompt the user to enter a product code. After the user
presses the Enter key, the second statement uses the nextLine method to read the
line of text that the user entered. Then, this statement assigns the String object
that’s returned for the line of text to the String variable named productCode.
The third and fourth examples use the print method to prompt the user to
enter numeric data. For example, the third example prompts the user to enter
a quantity, and the fourth example prompts the user to enter a price. However,
since the nextLine method returns a String object, this code stores the data
entered by the user in String objects named quantityLine and priceLine. In the
next figure, you’ll learn how to convert these String objects into int and double
values.
The fifth example closes the scanner. To do that, this code calls the close
method of the Scanner object. In general, it’s considered a best practice to close
the scanner when you are finished with it.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 71

The Scanner class

java.util.Scanner

How to create a Scanner object

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

Two methods of the Scanner object

Method Description
nextLine() Returns all text on the current line as a String object.
close() Closes the Scanner object.

How to get a String object for a product code

System.out.print("Enter product code: ");
String productCode = sc.nextLine();

How to get a String object for a quantity

System.out.print("Enter quantity: ");
String quantityLine = sc.nextLine();

How to get a String object for a price

System.out.print("Enter price: ");
String priceLine = sc.nextLine();

How to close the scanner

sc.close();

Description
•• To create a Scanner object that gets input from the console, specify System.in in the
parentheses.
•• When the nextLine method of the Scanner class runs, the application waits for the
user to enter text with the keyboard. To complete the entry, the user presses the
Enter key.
•• Since the Scanner class is not in the java.lang package, you typically include an
import statement whenever you use this class.

Figure 3-4 How to get input from the console

72 Section 1 Get started right

How to convert strings to numbers

When you get input from a user, you typically get a String object that
contains the text that the user entered. In some applications, you may want
to convert that text to a number. Then, you can use that number in arithmetic
calculations. For example, you may want to convert the quantityLine variable
from the previous figure to an int value. Similarly, you may want to convert
the priceLine variable to a double value. Then, you can use these variables in
arithmetic calculations.
Figure 3-5 shows how to use the Integer and Double classes to convert
strings to numbers. To do that, you can use static methods that are available from
these classes. In the first example, for instance, you can use the static parseInt
method of the Integer class to convert a String object to an int value. The second
example works similarly to the first. However, it uses the static parseDouble
method of the Double class to convert the String variable named priceLine to a
double value named price.
But what happens if the string contains a non-numeric value like “ten” that
can’t be parsed to an int or double type? In that case, the parseInt or parseDouble
method causes a runtime error known as an exception. Using Java terminology,
you can say that the method throws an exception. In chapter 8, you’ll learn how
to catch the exceptions that are thrown by these methods.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 73

The Integer class

java.lang.Integer

A static method of the Integer class

Method Description
parseInt(stringName) Attempts to convert the String object that’s supplied
as an argument to an int type. If successful, it returns
the int value. If unsuccessful, it throws an exception.

The Double class

java.lang.Double

A static method of the Double class

Method Description
parseDouble(stringName) Attempts to convert the String object that’s
supplied as an argument to a double type. If
successful, it returns the double value. If unsuc-
cessful, it throws an exception.

How to convert a String object to an int value

int quantity = Integer.parseInt(quantityLine);

How to convert a String object to a double value

double price = Double.parseDouble(priceLine);

Description
•• The Integer and Double classes provide static methods that you can use for
converting values from a String object to an int or double value.
•• If the parseInt and parseDouble methods can’t successfully parse the string, they
will cause an error to occur. In Java terminology, this is known as throwing an
exception. Later in this book, you’ll learn how to handle exceptions by catching
them.

Figure 3-5 How to convert strings to numbers

74 Section 1 Get started right

A class that reads input from the console

Figure 3-6 puts the last few figures into context by presenting all of the skills
together in a single class named LineItemApp. This class reads input from the
console and displays output to the console.
To start, this class imports the Scanner class. This makes it easy to refer to
the Scanner class within the LineItemApp class.
Within the main method, the first statement creates a Scanner object named
sc. The second statement prompts the user to enter a price. The third statement
gets the text entered by the user and stores it in a String object named priceLine.
The fourth statement converts the String object named priceLine to a double
value named price. And the fifth statement prints a label and the value of the
price variable to the console.
After this class, the second example shows the two statements from the
LineItemApp class that get the double value named price. Then, the third
example shows how to get the double value named price in a single statement.
To do that, you supply the call to the nextLine method as the argument for the
parseDouble method. When you use this approach, you don’t have to provide
a name for the variable for the String object. This is helpful because it can be
difficult to provide meaningful names for multiple variables that are related.
The first console shows what happens if the user enters 49.50. In this case,
the second line doesn’t include the zero that the user entered. That’s because this
zero is no longer needed when the String object is converted to a double value.
The second console shows what happens if the user enters 123.45. Here, all
of the digits are needed. As a result, none of them are lost when the String object
is converted to a double value.
The third console shows what happens when the user enters a non-numeric
value such as “ten”. Here, the parseDouble method throws an exception and Java
prints data about the exception to the console.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 75

A class that reads an entry from the console

package murach.lineitem;

import java.util.Scanner; // import the Scanner class

public class LineItemApp {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// create a Scanner object named sc from the Scanner class

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

// prompt the user to enter a price

System.out.print("Enter price: ");

// get the text entered by the user

String priceLine = sc.nextLine();

// convert the String object to a double value

double price = Double.parseDouble(priceLine);

// display the price

System.out.println("Price: " + price);
}
}

How to get a double value from the user with two statements
String priceLine = sc.nextLine();
double price = Double.parseDouble(priceLine);

How to get a double value from the user with one statement
double price = Double.parseDouble(sc.nextLine());

The console if the user enters 49.50

Enter price: 49.50
Price: 49.5

The console if the user enters 123.45

Enter price: 123.45
Price: 123.45

The console if the user enters “ten”

Enter price: ten
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NumberFormatException: For
input string: "ten"
at sun.misc.FloatingDecimal.readJavaFormatString(
FloatingDecimal.java:2043)
at sun.misc.FloatingDecimal.parseDouble(
FloatingDecimal.java:110)
at java.lang.Double.parseDouble(Double.java:538)
at murach.lineitem.LineItemApp.main(LineItemApp.java:17)

Figure 3-6 A class that reads an entry from the console

76 Section 1 Get started right

How to convert numbers to formatted strings

When you use numeric values in your code, you often need to format them.
For example, you may want to apply a standard currency format to a double
value. To do that, you need to add a dollar sign and commas. In addition, you
only need to display two decimal places. Similarly, you may want to display a
double value in a standard percent format. To do that, you need to add a percent
sign and move the decimal point two digits to the right.
To do this type of formatting, you typically use the NumberFormat class
that’s summarized in figure 3-7 to convert numeric types back to String objects.
Since the NumberFormat class is part of the java.text package, you usually want
to include an import statement for this class before you begin working with it.
Once you import this class, you can call one of its static methods to return a
NumberFormat object. For instance, the first example calls the static
getCurrencyInstance method directly from the NumberFormat class.
Once you use a static method to return a NumberFormat object, you can
call regular methods from that object. For instance, the second example calls
the regular format method from the NumberFormat object named currency. This
returns a String object that consists of a dollar sign plus the value of the price
variable with two decimal places. In this format, negative numbers are enclosed
in parentheses.
This example also shows how you can use a single statement to create a
NumberFormat object and use its format method. To do that, you call the format
method directly from the getCurrencyInstance method. Since this code calls one
method directly from another, it’s known as method chaining. This accomplishes
the same task as the previous code. However, it doesn’t create a variable for the
NumberFormat object that you can use later in your code. This can be inefficient
if your code creates a large number of NumberFormat objects. As a result, you
typically use code like this when you only need to format one number.
The third example shows how to format numbers with the percent format.
The main difference between the second and third examples is that you use the
getPercentInstance method to create a NumberFormat object that has the default
percent format. Then, you can use the format method of this object to format a
number as a percent. In this format, negative numbers have a leading minus sign.
The fourth example shows how to format numbers without applying
currency or percent formatting. This example shows how you can add commas
to separate thousands without adding a currency or percent symbol. In addition,
it shows how to set the number of decimal places for a NumberFormat
object. To do that, you call the setMaximumFractionDigits method from the
NumberFormat object and specify the number of decimal places. This example
changes the number of decimal places from the default of three decimal places
to just one decimal place. In this format, negative numbers also have a leading
minus sign.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 77

The NumberFormat class

java.text.NumberFormat

Three static methods of the NumberFormat class

Method Returns a NumberFormat object that …
getCurrencyInstance() Has the default currency format ($99,999.99).
getPercentInstance() Has the default percent format (99%).
getNumberInstance() Has the default number format (99,999.999).

How to create a NumberFormat object

NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();

Three methods of a NumberFormat object

Method Description
format(anyNumberType) Returns a String object that has the format
specified by the NumberFormat object.
setMinimumFractionDigits(int) Sets the minimum number of decimal places.
setMaximumFractionDigits(int) Sets the maximum number of decimal places.

How to format a number as currency

double price = 49.5;

Without method chaining

NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
String priceFormatted = currency.format(price); // $49.50

With method chaining

String priceFormatted = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance().format(price);

How to format a number as a percent

double discountPercent = .2;
NumberFormat percent = NumberFormat.getPercentInstance();
String discountPercentFormatted = percent.format(discountPercent); // 20%

How to format a number with one decimal place

double miles = 15341.253;
NumberFormat number = NumberFormat.getNumberInstance();
number.setMaximumFractionDigits(1);
String milesFormatted = number.format(miles); // 15,341.3

Description
•• When you use the format method, the result is automatically rounded by using
a rounding technique called half-even. This means that the number is rounded
up if the preceding digit is odd, but the extra decimal places are truncated if the
preceding digit is even.
•• Since the NumberFormat class is in the java.text package, you typically include an
import statement when you use this class.

Figure 3-7 How to format numbers

78 Section 1 Get started right

The examples in figure 3-7 use the default currency, percent, and number
formats for the United States. If you want to use the default format for the
current locale, you can modify the method that gets the NumberFormat object by
passing it this argument:
Locale.getDefault()
For example, you can call the getCurrencyInstance method like this:
NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(Locale.getDefault());
Then, the NumberFormat object that’s created uses the currency format for the
current locale. For example, if you’re in Europe, it uses the symbol for the Euro
instead of the symbol for the U.S. dollar.

A class that prints formatted numbers

to the console
Figure 3-8 puts the last figure into context by showing a class that performs
a calculation, formats the numbers used in the calculation, and prints those
formatted numbers to the console. To start, the first shaded statement imports the
NumberFormat class since it’s stored in the java.text package. This makes it easy
to refer to the NumberFormat class within the LineItemApp class.
Within the main method, the second shaded statement creates a
NumberFormat object named currency. The third shaded statement formats the
double variable named price and stores the result in a String variable named
priceFormatted. The fourth shaded statement formats the double variable named
total and stores the result in a String variable named totalFormatted. And the
remaining code prints the formatted numbers to the console.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 79

A class that prints formatted output to the console

package murach.lineitem;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class LineItemApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Line Item Calculator");
System.out.println();

// hard code three values

String productCode = "java";
double price = 49.50;
int quantity = 2;

// perform a calculation
double total = price * quantity;

// apply currency formatting

NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
String priceFormatted = currency.format(price);
String totalFormatted = currency.format(total);

// display the output

String message =
"Code: " + productCode + "\n" +
"Price: " + priceFormatted + "\n" +
"Quantity: " + quantity + "\n" +
"Total: " + totalFormatted + "\n";
System.out.println(message);

// display a goodbye message

System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

The console
Welcome to the Line Item Calculator

Code: java
Price: $49.50
Quantity: 2
Total: $99.00

Bye!

Description
•• Although the appearance of a console may differ from one system to another, you
can always use the print and println methods to print data to the console.

Figure 3-8 A class that prints formatted numbers to the console

80 Section 1 Get started right

How to code simple control statements

As you write applications, you need to determine when to perform certain
operations and how long to continue repetitive operations. To do that, you code
control statements like the while loops and if/else statements that you’ll learn
about in a moment. But first, you need to learn how to compare numbers and
strings.

How to compare numbers

Figure 3-9 shows how to code Boolean expressions that use relational
operators to compare int and double data types. This type of expression evalu-
ates to either true or false, and the operands in the expression can be either
variables or literals.
In the first group of examples, the first expression evaluates to true if the
variable named months is equal to a literal value of 3. The second expression is
true if the variable named years is not equal to a literal value of zero. The third
expression is true if the variable named discountPercent is greater than a literal
value of 2.3. The fourth expression is true if the variable named i is less than the
variable named months. The fifth example is true if the variable named subtotal
is greater than or equal to 500. And the sixth example is true if the variable
named quantity is less than or equal to the variable named reorderPoint.
Although you shouldn’t have any trouble coding simple expressions like
these, you must remember to code two equals signs instead of a single equals
sign for the equality comparison. That’s because a single equals sign is used
for assignment statements. As a result, if you code a Boolean expression with a
single equals sign, your code won’t compile as shown in the second example.
When you compare numeric values, you usually compare values of the
same data type. However, if you compare different types of numeric values, Java
automatically casts the less precise numeric type to the more precise type. For
example, if you compare an int type to a double type, Java casts the int type to
the double type before it makes the comparison.

How to compare strings

Unlike many programming languages, you can’t use the equals sign (=) or
two equals signs (==) to test two strings for equality. Instead, you must use the
equals or equalsIgnoreCase methods of the String class. Both of these methods
require an argument that provides the String object that you want to compare
with the current String object.
For instance, in the third group of examples, the first expression evaluates to
true if the String variable named choice is equal to “y”. The second expression
evaluates to true if the String variable named choice is equal to “y” or “Y”. The
third expression evaluates to true if the String variable named lastName is not
equal to “Jones”. The fourth expression evaluates to true if the String variable
named code is equal to the String variable named productCode.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 81

Relational operators
Operator Name Description
== Equality Returns a true value if both operands are equal.
!= Inequality Returns a true value if left and right operands are not equal.
> Greater Than Returns a true value if left operand is greater than right
operand.
< Less Than Returns a true value if left operand is less than the right
operand.
>= Greater Than Or Equal Returns a true value if left operand is greater than or equal
to right operand.
<= Less Than Or Equal Returns a true value if left operand is less than or equal to
right operand.

Code that uses relational operators

months == 3 // equal to a numeric literal
years != 0 // not equal to a numeric literal
discountPercent > 2.3 // greater than a numeric literal
i < months // less than a numeric variable
subtotal >= 500 // greater than or equal to a numeric literal
quantity <= reorderPoint // less than or equal to a numeric variable

A common error when testing numbers for equality

months = 3 // this does not test for equality!

Two methods of the String class

Method Description
equals(String) Compares the value of the String object with a String argument
and returns a true value if they are equal or a false value if they
are not equal. This method makes a case-sensitive comparison.
equalsIgnoreCase(String) Works like the equals method but is not case-sensitive.

Code that uses the methods of the String class

choice.equals("y") // equal to a string literal
choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y") // equal to a string literal
(!lastName.equals("Jones")) // not equal to a string literal
code.equalsIgnoreCase(productCode) // equal to another String variable

Two common errors when testing strings for equality

choice = "y" // this does not test for equality!
choice == "y" // this does not test for equality!

Description
•• A Boolean expression is an expression that evaluates to either true or false.
•• You can use the relational operators to compare two numeric operands and return a
Boolean value that is either true or false.
•• To test two strings for equality, you must call one of the methods of the String
class. The equality operator (==) does not test two strings for equality.

Figure 3-9 How to compare numbers and strings

82 Section 1 Get started right

How to code a while loop

Figure 3-10 shows how to code a while loop. This is one way that Java
implements a control structure known as the iteration structure. This structure
lets you repeat a block of statements.
When a while loop is executed, Java executes the statements within the
braces of the loop while the Boolean expression at the beginning of the statement
is true. In other words, the loop ends when the expression becomes false. As a
result, if the expression is false when the statement starts, Java never executes
any of the statements within the loop.
In the first example, the Boolean expression for the while loop uses the
equalsIgnoreCase method to check whether the String variable named choice is
equal to “y” or “Y”. If so, the statements within this loop do some processing.
Then, the statements within the loop prompt the user to enter a “y” to continue
or an “n” to exit. As a result, if the user enters “y” or “Y”, the loop executes
again. Otherwise, the loop ends.
The braces of the loop define a block of code. As a result, any variables that
are defined within this block of code have block scope. In other words, these
variables can’t be accessed outside the loop. That’s why the String variable
named choice is defined before the loop. That way, it can be accessed by the
loop’s Boolean expression and by the statements coded within the loop.
The second example shows how to code a loop that prints the numbers 1
through 4 to the console. Here, a counter variable (or just counter) named i is
initialized to 1 before the loop starts. Within the loop, the first statement prints
the counter variable to the console. Then, the second statement adds 1 to the
counter variable. When the value of the counter variable becomes 5, the Boolean
expression for the while loop is no longer true. As a result, the loop ends. When
coding loops, it’s common to use a counter variable, and it’s common to use a
single letter like i as the name of a counter variable.
If you don’t code a loop correctly, the loop might never end. For instance, if
you forget to code the statement that adds 1 to the counter variable in the second
example, the loop never ends because the counter never gets to 5. This is known
as an infinite loop. Then, you have to cancel the application so you can debug
your code. In Eclipse, you can do that by clicking on the Terminate button that’s
available from the Console window when a console application is running.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 83

The syntax of the while loop

while (booleanExpression) {
statements
}

A loop that continues while choice is “y” or “Y”

String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {

// get input from the user, process it, and display output here

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}

A loop that prints 1 through 4 to the console

int i = 1;
while (i < 5) {
System.out.println("Loop " + i);
i = i + 1;
}

The console
Loop 1
Loop 2
Loop 3
Loop 4

Description
•• A while loop executes the block of statements within its braces as long as the
Boolean expression is true. When the expression becomes false, the while loop
skips its block of statements so execution continues with the next statement in
sequence.
•• Any variables that are declared in the block of statements for a while loop have
block scope. As a result, you can only access them within that block.
•• If the Boolean expression in a while loop never becomes false, the loop never
ends. Then, the application goes into an infinite loop. In Eclipse, you can cancel an
infinite loop by clicking on the Terminate button in the Console window.

Figure 3-10 How to code a while loop

84 Section 1 Get started right

How to code an if/else statement

Figure 3-11 shows how to use the if/else statement (or just if statement) to
control the logic of your applications. This statement is the Java implementation
of a control structure known as the selection structure because it lets you select
different actions based on the results of a Boolean expression.
The syntax summary shows that you can code an if statement with just an if
clause, you can code it with one or more else if clauses, and you can code it with
a final else clause. Here, the ellipsis (…) means that the preceding element (in
this case the else if clause) can be repeated as many times as it is needed. And
the brackets [ ] mean that the element is optional.
When an if/else statement is executed, Java begins by evaluating the Boolean
expression in the if clause. If it’s true, Java executes the statements within this
clause and skips the rest of the if/else statement. If it’s false, Java evaluates the
first else if clause (if there is one). Then, if its Boolean expression is true, Java
executes the statements within this else if clause and skips the rest of the if/else
statement. Otherwise, Java evaluates the next else if clause.
This continues with any remaining else if clauses. Finally, if none of the
clauses contains a Boolean expression that evaluates to true, Java executes the
statements in the else clause (if there is one). However, if none of the Boolean
expressions are true and there is no else clause, Java doesn’t execute any
statements.
If you want to code two or more statements within a clause, you must use
braces to identify the block of code for the clause as shown in the first three
examples. Then, if you declare a variable within a block, that variable has block
scope, which means that it can only be accessed within that block. That’s why
the price variable used in these examples is declared before the if statement. That
way, it can be accessed by any clause in the if/else statement.
If a clause only contains one statement, you aren’t required to enclose that
statement in braces. However, it’s generally considered a good practice to always
use braces for the clauses of an if/else statement for two reasons. First, the braces
clearly identify the start and end of the clause. Second, the braces make it easy to
add additional statements to the clause later.
The examples in this figure set the price variable depending on the value
that’s stored in a String variable named productCode. For example, the third
example sets the price to 57.50 if the productCode variable is equal to “java”.
It sets the price to 57.50 if the productCode variable is equal to “jsp”. It sets
the price to 54.50 if the productCode variable is equal to “mysql”. And it sets
the price to 49.50 if the productCode variable isn’t equal to “java”, “jsp”, or
“mysql”.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 85

The syntax of the if/else statement

if (booleanExpression) {statements}
[else if (booleanExpression) {statements}] ...
[else {statements}]

Examples of if/else statements

Without an else if or else clause
double price = 49.50;
if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")) {
price = 57.50;
}

With an else clause

double price;
if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")) {
price = 57.50;
} else {
price = 49.50;
}

With two else if clauses and an else clause

double price;
if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")) {
price = 57.50;
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("jsp")) {
price = 57.50;
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("mysql")) {
price = 54.50;
} else {
price = 49.50;
}

Description
•• An if/else statement, or just if statement, always contains an if clause. In addition, it
can contain one or more else if clauses, and a final else clause.
•• Any variables that are declared within a block for an if/else clause have block
scope. As a result, they can only be accessed within that block.
•• If a clause requires just one statement, you don’t have to enclose the statement in
braces. However, it’s generally considered a good practice to always include braces.
That way, if you decide to add more statements to a clause later, you won’t acciden-
tally introduce a bug.

Figure 3-11 How to code if/else statements

86 Section 1 Get started right

The Line Item application

To put the skills in this chapter into the context of an application, the next
two figures present the Line Item application. If you understand the code
presented in this chapter, you should be able to write comparable Java applica-
tions of your own.

The user interface

Figure 3-12 shows the console for the Line Item application. This applica-
tion starts by displaying a welcome message on the console. Then, it prompts the
user to enter a product code and a quantity. Next, it displays the data for the line
item. To get that data, the application retrieves the price based on the product
code entered by the user, and it calculates the total by multiplying the price and
quantity.
After displaying the data for the line item, the application prompts the user
to enter a “y” to continue or an “n” to exit. If the user enters a “y” or “Y”, he or
she can enter another line item. If the user enters “n” or any other character, the
application ends and displays an exit message.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 87

The console after two calculations

Welcome to the Line Item Calculator

Enter product code: java

Enter quantity: 2

LINE ITEM
Code: java
Price: $57.50
Quantity: 2
Total: $115.00

Continue? (y/n): y

Enter product code: jsp

Enter quantity: 1

LINE ITEM
Code: jsp
Price: $57.50
Quantity: 1
Total: $57.50

Continue? (y/n): n

Bye!

Description
•• When the application starts, the user can enter a product code that identifies a
product and the quantity for that product. The application determines the product
price based on the product code. Then, it calculates the total amount for the line
item and displays the line item.
•• After calculating the total for the invoice, the user can enter “y” or “Y” at the
prompt to continue. Or, the user can enter “n” or any other character to end the
application.

Figure 3-12 The user interface for the LineItem application

88 Section 1 Get started right

The code
Figure 3-13 shows the code for the Line Item application. Although this
application is simple, it gets input from the user, performs a calculation that uses
this input, and displays the result of the calculation.
This code begins with a package statement that declares that it is stored in
the murach.lineitem package. As a result, this code is stored in the
murach/lineitem subfolder of the application folder.
The two import statements import the NumberFormat and Scanner classes.
As a result, the rest of this code can use these classes without having to prefix
the class name with the package name.
The class declaration specifies a name of LineItemApp. As a result, this code
is stored in a file named LineItemApp.java.
The main method is coded within the braces of the LineItemApp class. This
method is executed when you run the LineItemApp class.
The main method begins by printing a welcome message to the console.
Then, it creates a Scanner object named sc. Although this object could be created
within the while loop, that would mean that the object would be recreated each
time through the loop, which would be inefficient.
Before the while loop, the code declares a String variable named choice and
initializes it to “y”. Then, the loop checks whether the choice variable is equal
to “y”. If so, it starts by getting the product code from the user and storing it
in a String variable named productCode. Then, it gets a quantity from the user,
converts it from a String object to an int value, and stores it in a variable named
quantity.
After getting this data, an if/else statement sets the double variable named
price based on the value of product code. If, for example, the productCode is
equal to “java”, the price is set to 57.50.
When the if/else statement is finished, this code calculates the line item total
by multiplying the price and quantity. Then, it stores the result of that calculation
in a double variable named total.
After this calculation, this code uses the NumberFormat class to apply
currency formatting to the price and total variables. In addition, it creates a
String variable named message that contains string literals, variables, and escape
sequences for new line characters. Then, it prints that string to the console.
After printing this data to the console, this code displays a message that asks
the user if he or she wants to continue. If the user enters “y” or “Y”, the loop is
repeated. Otherwise, the application ends.
If you’re new to programming, you can learn a lot by writing simple
applications like the Line Item application. This gives you a chance to become
comfortable with getting input, performing calculations, and displaying output.
In addition, it gives you a chance to get comfortable with control statements such
as while loops and if/else statements.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 89

The code for the LineItem application

package murach.lineitem;

import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class LineItemApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

System.out.println("Welcome to the Line Item Calculator");
System.out.println();

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
// get input from user
System.out.print("Enter product code: ");
String productCode = sc.nextLine();

System.out.print("Enter quantity: ");

int quantity = Integer.parseInt(sc.nextLine());

// set product price based on product code

double price;
if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")) {
price = 57.50;
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("jsp")) {
price = 57.50;
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("mysql")) {
price = 54.50;
} else {
price = 0;
}

// calculate total
double total = price * quantity;

// format and display output

NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
String priceFormatted = currency.format(price);
String totalFormatted = currency.format(total);
String message = "\nLINE ITEM\n" +
"Code: " + productCode + "\n" +
"Price: " + priceFormatted + "\n" +
"Quantity: " + quantity + "\n" +
"Total: " + totalFormatted + "\n";
System.out.println(message);

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.next();
System.out.println();
}
sc.close();
System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 3-13 The code for the LineItem application

90 Section 1 Get started right

The Future Value application

This chapter finishes by presenting another application, the Future Value
application. This application is similar in some ways to the Line Item applica-
tion. However, it uses a loop to calculate the future value of a monthly invest-
ment that’s made over a series of years.

The user interface

Figure 3-14 shows the console for this application. Here, the user starts by
entering the monthly investment, the yearly interest rate, and the number of
years for the investment. Then, the application calculates and displays the future
value, and it prompts the user to see if he or she wants to continue. At that point,
the user can enter a “y” to continue or an “n” to exit.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 91

The console after two calculations

Welcome to the Future Value Calculator

Enter monthly investment: 100

Enter yearly interest rate: 3
Enter number of years: 3
Future value: $3,771.46

Continue? (y/n): y

Enter monthly investment: 120

Enter yearly interest rate: 3
Enter number of years: 3
Future value: $4,525.75

Continue? (y/n): n

Bye!

Description
•• When the application starts, the user can enter a monthly investment, yearly interest
rate, and number of years. Then, it calculates the future value of the investment at
the end of the specified number of years and displays that value to the user.
•• After calculating the future value, the user can enter “y” or “Y” at the prompt to
continue. Or, the user can enter “n” or any other character to end the application.

Figure 3-14 The user interface for the Future Value application
92 Section 1 Get started right

The code
Figure 3-15 shows the code for this application. This code uses a while loop
to determine when the application ends. Within this loop, the code gets the three
entries from the user. Then, it converts these entries to the same time unit, which
is months. To do that, it multiplies the number of years by 12 and divides the
yearly interest rate by 12. In addition, it divides the yearly interest rate by 100 so
it calculates the interest correctly.
Once those variables are prepared, a second while loop calculates the future
value. This loop executes one time for each month. Within this loop, the first
statement adds the monthly investment to the future value. The second statement
calculates the amount of monthly interest. The third statement adds the monthly
interest to the future value. And the fourth statement increments the counter
variable.
When this loop finishes, the code displays the result. To do that, it uses the
NumberFormat class to apply currency formatting to the future value. Then, it
asks whether the user wants to continue.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 93

The code for the Future Value application

package murach.fv;

import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Future Value Calculator");
System.out.println();

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {

// get input from user

System.out.print("Enter monthly investment: ");
double monthlyInvestment = Double.parseDouble(sc.nextLine());

System.out.print("Enter yearly interest rate: ");

double yearlyInterestRate = Double.parseDouble(sc.nextLine());

System.out.print("Enter number of years: ");

int years = Integer.parseInt(sc.nextLine());

// convert yearly values to monthly values

double monthlyInterestRate = yearlyInterestRate / 12 / 100;
int months = years * 12;

// calculate the future value

double futureValue = 0;
int i = 1;
while (i <= months) {
futureValue = futureValue + monthlyInvestment;
double monthlyInterestAmount =
futureValue * monthlyInterestRate;
futureValue = futureValue + monthlyInterestAmount;
i = i + 1;
}

// format and display the result

System.out.println("Future value: " +
NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance().format(futureValue));
System.out.println();

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}
sc.close();
System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 3-15 The code for the Future Value application

94 Section 1 Get started right

Perspective
The goal of this chapter has been to show you how to create a console
application that uses classes and methods from the Java API to get input from
the user and display output to the user. Now, if you understand how the Line
Item and Future Value applications work, you’ve come a long way. However,
these applications don’t use objects in a professional way. That’s why the next
two chapters show you how to convert the Line Item application into an
object-oriented application that uses objects in a professional way.
Also, keep in mind that this chapter is just an introduction to Java program-
ming. As a result, you’ll learn more details about writing Java code as you
progress through this book. For example, you’ll learn more about coding
control statements in chapter 8.

Summary
•• You call a method from an object and you call a static method from a class.
A method may require one or more arguments.
•• Before you use a class from the Java SE API that isn’t in the java.lang
package, you typically code an import statement for the class.
•• When you use a constructor to create an object from a Java class, you are
creating an instance of the class.
•• You can use the static methods of the Integer and Double classes to convert
strings to int and double values.
•• You can use the NumberFormat class to apply standard currency, percent,
and number formats to any of the primitive numeric types.
•• You can code a while loop that executes a block of statements repeatedly
when its Boolean expression returns a true value and skips that block of
statements when its Boolean expression returns a false value.
•• You can code an if statement to control the logic of an application based on
the true or false values of Boolean expressions.
 Chapter 3 How to use classes and methods 95

Exercise 3-1 Modify the Line Item application

In this exercise, you can test and modify the Line Item application presented at
the end of this chapter.

Test the application

1. Start the Eclipse IDE and import the project named ch03_ex1_LineItem. This
project should be in this folder:
C:\murach\java_eclipse\ex_starts
2. Open the file named LineItemApp.java. Then, review the code for this file.
3. Run this application and test it with valid product codes like “java” and valid
quantities like 2, 10, and 1000 that make it easy to see whether or not the
calculations are correct.
4. Run the application again and test it with an invalid quantity value like “two”.
This should cause the application to crash. Study the error message and
determine which line of source code was running when the error occurred.
5. Run the application again and enter “x” when the application asks you
whether you want to continue. What happens and why?
Modify the application
6. Modify the if/else statement so it sets a description for the product. Then,
modify the code that displays the data for the line item so it includes the
description. When you’re done, the application should look like this:

Welcome to the Line Item Calculator

Enter product code: java

Enter quantity: 2

LINE ITEM
Code: java
Description: Murach's Java Programming
Price: $57.50
Quantity: 2
Total: $115.00

Continue? (y/n):

7. Modify the if/else statement so it includes another product code named

“android”. Make up a description and price that correspond with this code.
8. Modify the code that displays the data for the line item so that it doesn’t
declare the priceFormatted and totalFormatted variables. To do that, replace
these variables with a call to the format method of the NumberFormat object
named currency. This should cut two lines of code.
96 Section 1 Get started right

Exercise 3-2 Create the Area and Perimeter

application
In this exercise, you can create a new application that calculates the area and
perimeter of a rectangle. When you’re done, a test run should look something
like this:

Welcome to the Area and Perimeter Calculator

Enter length: 100

Enter width: 200
Area: 20,000.000
Perimeter: 600.000

Continue? (y/n): y

Enter length: 8.25

Enter width: 4.30
Area: 35.475
Perimeter: 25.100

Continue? (y/n): n

Bye!

1. Create a project named ch03_ex2_AreaAndPerimeter. Then, create a class

named Main that contains the main method.
2. Write the code that displays the welcome and the exit message. Then, run the
application to make sure this works.
3. Write the code that prompts the user for the length and width of a rectangle
and converts these entries to double values.
4. Write the code that calculates and displays the area and perimeter. The
formulas for calculating area and perimeter are:
area = width * length
perimeter = 2 * width + 2 * length
Run the application and test it with valid data. This application should
perform one calculation and end.
5. Write the while loop that allows the user to perform multiple calculations. The
end of this loop should ask the user if he or she wants to continue. Then, run
this application and test it with valid data to make sure it works correctly.
 4
How to code your own
classes and methods
In the previous chapter, you learned how to code two procedural applications.
However, most professional Java applications are object-oriented. That’s why
this chapter shows how to develop an object-oriented application. To do that,
it starts by showing how to create and use classes that define objects. Then, it
shows how to create and use classes that contain static fields and methods.

An introduction to classes...................................................98
How encapsulation works...............................................................................98
The relationship between a class and its objects..........................................100
How to work with a class that defines an object..............102
The Product class..........................................................................................102
How to code instance variables....................................................................104
How to code constructors.............................................................................106
How to code methods...................................................................................108
How to create an object from a class............................................................ 110
How to call the methods of an object...........................................................112
How to work with static fields and methods.................... 114
The ProductDB class.................................................................................... 114
How to code and call static fields and methods........................................... 116
When to use static fields and methods......................................................... 116
The Product Viewer application......................................... 118
The user interface......................................................................................... 118
The ProductApp class................................................................................... 118
More skills for working with classes and methods.........120
Reference types compared to primitive types..............................................120
How to overload methods.............................................................................122
How to use the this keyword........................................................................124
The Product class with overloading..............................................................126
Perspective..........................................................................128
98 Section 1 Get started right

An introduction to classes
The first two figures in this chapter introduce you to some concepts that
apply to classes. That includes how encapsulation works and how a class relates
to its objects.

How encapsulation works

Figure 4-1 shows a class diagram for a class named Product. This diagram
uses Unified Modeling Language (UML), a modeling language that is the
industry standard for working with all object-oriented programming languages
including Java.
In this class diagram, the class contains three fields and seven methods. Here,
the minus sign (-) identifies private fields and methods that are available only
within the current class, and the plus sign (+) identifies public fields and methods
that are available to other classes.
In this case, all of the methods are public, and all of the fields are private.
As a result, other classes can’t access the fields directly. However, the methods
make the data stored by the fields available to other classes. For instance, the
getCode method returns the data that’s stored in the code field, and the setCode
method assigns new data to the code field.
This illustrates the concept of encapsulation, a fundamental concept of
object-oriented programming. This means that the programmer can hide, or
encapsulate, some fields and methods of a class, while exposing others. Since the
fields (or data) of a class are typically encapsulated within a class, encapsulation
is sometimes referred to as data hiding.
Encapsulation lets you change the code for a method within a class without
affecting any code that uses the method. For instance, you can change the code
for the getPrice method without changing any code in other classes that use that
method. This is possible because the code in other classes can’t directly access
the price field. The result is that encapsulation makes it easier for you to modify
or improve the methods of a class later.
If a method accepts arguments, it must include parameters that define the
data types for its arguments. In a class diagram, the diagram specifies the data
types for the parameters within the parentheses of the method. After these paren-
theses, a class diagram includes a colon followed by the data type that’s returned
by the method.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 99

A class diagram for the Product class

Description
•• The fields of a class store the data of a class.
•• The methods of a class define the tasks that a class can perform. Often, these
methods provide a way to work with the fields of a class.
•• Encapsulation is one of the fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming.
This means that the class controls which of its fields and methods can be accessed
by other classes. As a result, the fields in the class can be hidden from other classes,
and the methods in a class can be modified or improved without changing the way
that other classes use them.

UML diagramming notes

•• UML (Unified Modeling Language) is the industry standard used to describe the
classes and objects of an object-oriented application.
•• A UML class diagram describes the fields and methods of one or more classes.
•• The minus sign (-) marks the fields and methods that are private. This means that
other classes can’t access them.
•• The plus sign (+) marks the fields and methods that are public. This means that
other classes can access them.
•• For each field, the diagram gives the name of the field, followed by a colon,
followed by the data type.
•• For each method, the diagram gives the name of the method, followed by a set
of parentheses. If a method accepts arguments, it must define parameters that
correspond with the arguments. To do that, the diagram lists the data type of each
parameter in the parentheses. After the parentheses, the diagram includes a colon,
followed by the data type that’s returned by the method.

Figure 4-1 How encapsulation works

100 Section 1 Get started right

The relationship between a class and its objects

Figure 4-2 uses UML diagrams to show the relationship between a class and
its objects. In this figure, one class diagram and two object diagrams show how
objects are created from a class. Here, the diagrams show only the fields, not the
methods, of the class and its objects. In this case, two objects named product1
and product2 are created from the Product class. Within these objects, each field
contains some data.
Once an instance of a class is created, it has an identity and a state. An
object’s identity is its address in internal memory, which is always unique. An
object’s state refers to its data. For example, the state of the first Product object is
different than the state of the second Product object because these objects store
different data. As an application executes, the state of an object may change.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 101

The relationship between a class and its objects

Description
•• A class can be thought of as a template from which objects are made.
•• Once an instance of a class is created, it has an identity (a unique address) and a
state (the data that it stores). As an application runs, an object’s state may change.

Figure 4-2 The relationship between a class and its objects

102 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with a class

that defines an object
Now that you’ve learned some of the basic concepts that apply to classes,
you’re ready to learn the basic skills for creating classes. To start, the next few
figures show how to create a class named Product that you can use to store data
about a product.

The Product class

Figure 4-3 presents the code for the Product class. This code implements the
fields and methods of the class diagram in figure 4-1. If you don’t understand
this code now, don’t worry! The next few figures explain this code in detail.
The package statement defines the package for the class. In this figure, this
statement defines a package of murach.product. As a result, this class must be
stored in the murach/product subfolder of the root folder for the application.
The import statement imports the NumberFormat class of the java.text
package. This makes it easy for the Product class to use the NumberFormat class.
Within the class, the first three statements declare the fields of the class. The
fields are the variables or constants that are available to the class and its objects.
In this example, all three fields define instance variables, which store the data
for the code, description, and price variables that apply to each Product object.
However, you can also code constants that are available to a class and its objects.
For more information about working with constants, please see chapter 7.
After the instance variables, this class declares the constructor of the Product
class. This constructor creates an instance of the Product class and initializes its
instance variables to the specified values.
After the constructor, this class defines seven methods. In this class, the
methods provide access to the data stored in the three instance variables. For
each instance variable, a get method returns the data that’s stored in the instance
variable, and a set method assigns a new data to the instance variable. Of these
methods, the getPriceFormatted method is the only method that does any work
beyond getting or setting the data of the instance variable. This method applies
the standard currency format to the price variable and returns the resulting string.
Although the Product class includes both a get and a set method for each
field, you don’t always have to code both of these methods for a field. In
particular, it’s common to code just a get method for a field so that its data can
be retrieved but not changed.
The private and public keywords determine which members of a class are
available to other classes. Here, all of the instance variables of the Product class
have been declared as private. As a result, these members are only available
within that class. On the other hand, the constructor and the methods have been
declared as public. As a result, these members are available to all classes.
Now that you’ve seen the code for the Product class, you might want to
consider how it uses encapsulation. To start, the three fields are hidden from
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 103

The Product class

package murach.product;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class Product {

// the instance variables

private String code;
private String description;
private double price;

// the constructor
public Product() {
code = "";
description = "";
price = 0;
}

// the set and get methods for the code variable

public void setCode(String code) {
this.code = code;
}

public String getCode() {

return code;
}

// the set and get methods for the description variable

public void setDescription(String description) {
this.description = description;
}

public String getDescription() {

return description;
}

// the set and get methods for the price variable

public void setPrice(double price) {
this.price = price;
}

public double getPrice() {

return price;
}

// a custom get method for the price variable

public String getPriceFormatted() {
NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
String priceFormatted = currency.format(price);
return priceFormatted;
}
}

Figure 4-3 The Product class

104 Section 1 Get started right

other classes because they’re declared with the private keyword. In addition, all
of the code contained within the constructor and methods is hidden.
Because of that, you can change any of the code within the constructors and
methods of this class without having to change the way other classes call these
constructors and methods. For example, if you want to modify the
getPriceFormatted method so it uses the current locale when it formats the price,
you can modify the code within this method so it does that. However, when you
change the data that’s returned by a method like this, it’s possible that the code
that calls this method won’t work correctly after this change. As a result, you
should take care when modifying a method that’s used by other classes.

How to code instance variables

Figure 4-4 shows how to code the instance variables that define the data
that’s stored in the objects that are created from a class. When you declare an
instance variable, you typically use an access modifier to control its accessibility.
If you use the private keyword, the instance variable can’t be directly accessed
by other classes. In other words, it can only be directly accessed from within the
current class. In contrast, if you use the public keyword, the instance variable
can be directly accessed by other classes.
This figure shows four examples of declaring an instance variable. The
first example declares a variable of the double type. The second one declares a
variable of the int type. The third one declares a variable of the String type. And
the last one declares a variable of the Product type, which is the class that you’re
learning how to code right now.
Although instance variables work like regular variables, you must declare
them within the body of the class, but not within methods or constructors. That
way, they’ll be available throughout the entire class. In this book, all of the
examples declare instance variables at the beginning of the class. However,
when you review code from other sources, you may find code that declares the
instance variables at the end of the class or at other locations within the class. In
this figure, for example, the code declares an instance variable named test at the
end of the class, after the getPriceFormatted method.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 105

The syntax for declaring instance variables

public|private primitiveType|ClassName variableName;

Examples
private double price;
private int quantity;
private String code;
private Product product;

Where you can declare instance variables

public class Product {
// typical to code instance variables here
private String code;
private String description;
private double price;

//the constructor and methods of the class

public Product(){}
public void setCode(String code){}
public String getCode(){ return code; }
public void setDescription(String description){}
public String getDescription(){ return description; }
public void setPrice(double price){}
public double getPrice(){ return price; }
public String getPriceFormatted(){ return priceFormatted; }

// possible to code instance variables here

private int test;
}

Description
•• A field of a class defines the data that’s available to the entire class. A field can be
an instance variable or a constant. To learn how to work with constants, see
chapter 7.
•• An instance variable stores data that’s available to the entire object. In other words,
an instance variable stores data that’s available to an instance of a class.
•• An instance variable may be a primitive data type, an object created from a Java
class such as the String class, or an object created from a user-defined class such as
the Product class.
•• Typically, instance variables are declared with the private keyword. This helps to
prevent other classes from directly accessing instance variables.
•• You can declare the instance variables for a class anywhere outside the constructors
and methods of the class.

Figure 4-4 How to code instance variables

106 Section 1 Get started right

How to code constructors

Figure 4-5 shows how to code a constructor for a class. When you code one,
it’s a good coding practice to initialize all of the instance variables of the class as
shown in the examples. You can also include any additional statements that you
want to execute within the constructor.
When you code a constructor, you typically use the public access modifier.
In addition, you must use the same name, including capitalization, as the name
of the class. Then, if you don’t want to accept arguments, you code an empty set
of parentheses as shown in the first example. On the other hand, if you want to
accept arguments, you code the parameters for the constructor as shown in the
next two examples. When you code the parameters for a constructor, you must
code a data type and a name for each parameter. For the data type, you can code
a primitive data type or the class name for any class that defines an object.
The second example shows a constructor with three parameters. Here, the
first parameter is a String object named code, the second parameter is a String
object named description, and the third parameter is a double type named
price. Then, the three statements within the constructor use these parameters to
initialize the three instance variables of the class.
In this example, the names of the parameters are the same as the names of
the instance variables. As a result, the constructor must distinguish between the
two. To do that, it uses the keyword named this to refer to the instance variables
of the current object.
The third example works the same as the second example. However, it
doesn’t need to use the this keyword because the parameter names aren’t the
same as the names of the instance variables. In addition, the parameter names are
more descriptive since they indicate that the code, description, and price are for a
product. As a result, this code might be slightly easier for other programmers to
read and understand than the code in the second example.
When you code a constructor, the number of parameters and the data type
for each parameter form the signature of the constructor. You can code more than
one constructor per class as long as each constructor has a unique signature. For
example, the first two constructors shown in this figure have different signatures.
As a result, they can both be coded within the Product class. This is known as
overloading a constructor.
If you don’t code a constructor, the compiler automatically creates a
default constructor that doesn’t accept any parameters. However, if you code
a constructor that accepts parameters, the compiler doesn’t create this default
constructor. In that case, if you need a default constructor, you need to code it
yourself.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 107

The syntax for coding constructors

public|private ClassName([parameterList]) {
// the statements of the constructor
}

A default constructor that explicitly initializes three instance variables

public Product() {
code = "";
description = "";
price = 0.0;
}

A constructor with three parameters

public Product(String code, String description, double price) {
this.code = code;
this.description = description;
this.price = price;
}

Another way to code the constructor shown above

public Product(String productCode, String productDescription,
double productPrice) {
code = productCode;
description = productDescription;
price = productPrice;
}

Description
•• A constructor can be used to create, or construct, an object from a class.
•• The constructor must use the same name and capitalization as the name of the class.
•• To code a constructor that has parameters, code a data type and name for each
parameter within the parentheses that follow the class name.
•• The name of a constructor combined with the parameter list forms the signature
of the constructor. Although you can code multiple constructors for a class, each
constructor must have a unique signature. This is known as overloading a constructor.
•• You can use the keyword named this to refer to an instance variable of the current
object. This is required if an instance variable has the same name as a parameter of
the constructor. Otherwise, it’s optional.
•• If you don’t explicitly initialize an instance variable, Java automatically initial-
izes it for you by setting numeric variables to zero, boolean variables to false, and
variables for objects to null.

Default constructor rules

•• A default constructor has zero parameters.
•• If you don’t code any constructors in your class, the Java compiler automatically
creates a default constructor for your class.
•• If you code a constructor that has parameters, and you don’t code a default constructor,
the Java compiler doesn’t automatically create a default constructor for your class.

Figure 4-5 How to code constructors

108 Section 1 Get started right

How to code methods

Figure 4-6 shows how to code the methods of a class. To start, you code an
access modifier. Most of the time, you can use the public keyword to declare the
method so it can be used by other classes. However, you can also use the private
keyword to hide the method from other classes.
After the access modifier, you code the return type for the method. This
specifies the data type that the method returns. After the return type, you code
the name of the method followed by a set of parentheses. Within the parentheses,
you code the parameter list for the method. Last, you code the opening and
closing braces that contain the statements of the method.
Since a method name should describe the action that the method performs,
it’s a common coding practice to start each method name with a verb. For
example, methods that set the data of an instance variable usually begin with
set. Conversely, methods that get the data of an instance variable usually begin
with get. These types of methods are typically referred to as accessors because
they let you access the data that’s stored in the instance variables. Methods
that perform other types of tasks also begin with verbs such as print, read, and
format.
The first example shows how to code a method that doesn’t accept any
parameters or return any data. To do that, it uses the void keyword for the return
type and it ends with a set of empty parentheses. When this method is called, it
prints the instance variables of the Product object to the console, separating each
instance variable with a pipe character (|).
The next three examples show how to code methods that return data. To do
that, these methods specify a return type, and they include a return statement to
return the appropriate data. When coding a method like this, you must make sure
that the return type that you specify matches the type of the data that you return.
Otherwise, your code won’t compile.
In the fourth example, the getPriceFormatted method uses a NumberFormat
object to apply standard currency formatting to the double variable named price.
This converts the double variable to a String object. Then, the return statement
returns the String object to the calling method.
The fifth and sixth examples show two possible ways to code a set method.
In the fifth example, the method accepts a parameter that has the same name as
the instance variable. As a result, the assignment statement within this method
uses the this keyword to identify the instance variable. In the sixth example, the
parameter has a different name than the instance variable. As a result, the assign-
ment statement doesn’t need to use the this keyword.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 109

The syntax for coding a method

public|private returnType methodName([parameterList]) {
// the statements of the method
}

A method that doesn’t accept parameters or return data

public void printToConsole() {
System.out.println(code + "|" + description + "|" + price);
}

A get method that returns a string

public String getCode() {
return code;
}

A get method that returns a double value

public double getPrice() {
return price;
}

A custom get method

public String getPriceFormatted() {
NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
String priceFormatted = currency.format(price);
return priceFormatted;
}

A set method
public void setCode(String code) {
this.code = code;
}

Another way to code a set method

public void setCode(String productCode) {
code = productCode;
}

Description
•• To allow other classes to access a method, use the public keyword. To prevent other
classes from accessing a method, use the private keyword.
•• When you name a method, you should start each name with a verb. It’s a Java
standard to use the verb set for methods that set the values of instance variables and
to use the verb get for methods that return the values of instance variables. These
methods are typically referred to as set and get accessors.
•• To code a method that doesn’t return data, use the void keyword for the return type.
•• To code a method that returns data, code a return type in the method declaration.
Then, code a return statement in the body of the method to return the data.
•• To code a method that has a parameter, code the data type and name of the param-
eter between the parentheses of the method.

Figure 4-6 How to code methods

110 Section 1 Get started right

How to create an object from a class

Figure 4-7 shows how to create an object with one or two statements. Most
of the time, you can use one statement to create an object. However, in some
situations, you need to use two statements to create an object.
When you use two statements to create an object, the first statement declares
the class and the name of the variable. However, the object isn’t created until
the second statement is executed. This statement uses the new keyword to call
the constructor for the object. This creates the object by initializing its instance
variables, and it stores the object in memory. Then, the assignment operator (=)
assigns a reference to this object to the variable. That’s why objects are known as
reference types.
When you send arguments to the constructor of a class, you must make
sure that the constructor can accept the arguments. To do that, you must send
the correct number of arguments, in the correct sequence, and with compatible
data types. When a class contains more than one constructor, Java executes the
constructor that matches the arguments.
The two-statement example in this figure creates a new Product object
without passing any arguments to the constructor of the Product class. The first
one-statement example accomplishes the same task. Then, the second
one-statement example shows how to send three arguments to the constructor. Of
course, this assumes that the Product class has a constructor with three param-
eters that are compatible with these three arguments.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 111

How to create an object in two statements

Syntax
ClassName variableName;
variableName = new ClassName(argumentList);

No arguments
Product product;
product = new Product();

How to create an object in one statement

Syntax
ClassName variableName = new ClassName(argumentList);

No arguments
Product product = new Product();

Three arguments
Product product = new Product("java", "Murach's Java Programming", 57.50);

Description
•• To create an object, you use the new keyword to create a new instance of a class.
Each time the new keyword creates an object, Java calls the constructor for the
object, which initializes the instance variables for the object and stores the object in
memory.
•• After you create an object, you assign it to a variable. When you do, a reference
to the object is stored in the variable. Then, you can use the variable to refer to the
object. As a result, objects are known as reference types.
•• The variable for a reference type stores a reference to an object.
•• To send arguments to the constructor, code the arguments between the paren-
theses that follow the class name. To send more than one argument, separate the
arguments with commas.
•• When you send arguments to the constructor, the arguments must be in the
sequence called for by the constructor and they must have data types that are
compatible with the data types of the parameters for the constructor.

Figure 4-7 How to create an object

112 Section 1 Get started right

How to call the methods of an object

In the last chapter, you learned how to call methods from objects created
from some of the classes in the Java API such as the String, Scanner, and
NumberFormat classes. Figure 4-8 shows that the same skills apply to calling
methods from your own classes such as the Product class. In short, you type
the object name, followed by the dot operator, followed by the method name,
followed by a set of parentheses. Then, if the method requires arguments, you
code the argument list between the parentheses, separating multiple arguments
with commas.
The first two examples show two ways to call methods that don’t return any
data. The first example doesn’t send an argument, but the second example sends
a String variable named productCode. However, this argument could also be a
String literal such as “java”. Either way, when you call a method that accepts
arguments, you need to send the correct number of arguments, and the data
types of those arguments must be compatible with the data types specified in the
parameter list of the method.
The third and fourth examples show how to call a method that returns data
and how to assign that data to a variable. In the third example, the getPrice
method returns a double value, and the code assigns that value to a double
variable named price. In the fourth example, the getPriceFormatted method
returns a String object, and the code assigns that object to a String variable
named priceFormatted.
The fifth example shows how to call a method within an expression. Here,
the expression includes a call to the getCode method. This returns a String
object. Then, the code joins that String object with two String literals, and
assigns the result to another String object named message.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 113

The syntax for calling a method

objectName.methodName(argumentList)

A statement that sends no arguments and returns nothing

product.printToConsole();

A statement that sends one argument and returns nothing

product.setCode(productCode);

A statement that sends no arguments and returns a double value

double price = product.getPrice();

A statement that sends no argument and returns a String object

String priceFormatted = product.getPriceFormatted();

A statement that calls a method within an expression

String message = "Code: " + product.getCode() + "\n";

Description
 To call a method that doesn’t accept arguments, type an empty set of parentheses
after the method name.
 To call a method that accepts arguments, enter the arguments between the
parentheses that follow the method name. Here, the data type of each argument
must be compatible with the data type that’s specified by the method’s parameters.
 To code more than one argument, separate the arguments with commas.
 If a method returns data, you can code an assignment statement to assign the data
that’s returned to a variable. Here, the data type of the variable must be compatible
with the return type of the method.

Figure 4-8 How to call the methods of an object

114 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with static fields

and methods
In the last chapter, you learned how to call static methods from some of the
classes in the Java API such as the Integer and Double classes. Now, you’ll learn
how to code and call static fields and methods.

The ProductDB class

Figure 4-9 presents a class named ProductDB. This class consists of a single
static method named getProduct that returns a Product object based on the
product code parameter.
To start, the package statement indicates that the ProductDB class is stored
in the package named murach.product, which corresponds with the folder named
murach/product. Since this is the same package as the Product class described
earlier in this chapter, the ProductDB class can access the Product class without
importing it.
The getProduct method accepts a String parameter for the product code,
and it returns a Product object that matches the product code parameter. In
addition, the declaration for this method includes the static keyword. As a result,
the getProduct method is a static method that you can call directly from the
ProductDB class.
Within the getProduct method, the code starts by creating a Product object.
This causes the code and description fields to be set to empty strings and the
price to be set to zero.
After this code creates the Product object, it sets the product’s code to the
productCode parameter of the method. To do that, it uses the setCode method
of the Product object. Then, the getProduct method uses an if/else statement
to set a description and price for the product that correspond with the code for
the product. To do that, the clauses of the if/else statement use the setDescrip-
tion and setPrice methods of the Product object. However, if the product code
doesn’t match any of the specified products, the else clause sets the description
to “Unknown” and it leaves the price at its default value of zero. Finally, this
method returns the Product object.
Because this class doesn’t get the data for a product from a database, it
isn’t realistic. However, it does simulate the processing that’s done by a class
that retrieves product data from a database. To keep things simple, the early
chapters of this book use this class as a way to get product data. Then, in section
5, this book shows how to code a ProductDB class that gets product data from a
database.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 115

The ProductDB class

package murach.product;

public class ProductDB {

public static Product getProduct(String productCode) { // static method

// create the Product object

Product product = new Product();

// fill the Product object with data

product.setCode(productCode);
if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")) {
product.setDescription("Murach's Java Programming");
product.setPrice(57.50);
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("jsp")) {
product.setDescription("Murach's Java Servlets and JSP");
product.setPrice(57.50);
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("mysql")) {
product.setDescription("Murach's MySQL");
product.setPrice(54.50);
} else {
product.setDescription("Unknown");
}
return product;
}
}

Description
•• You can use the static keyword to identify a method as a static method.
•• A more realistic ProductDB class would get the data for the Product object from a
database.

Figure 4-9 The ProductDB class

116 Section 1 Get started right

How to code and call static fields and methods

As you learned earlier in this chapter, instance variables and regular methods
belong to an object that’s created from a class. In contrast, static fields and static
methods belong to the class itself. As a result, they’re sometimes called class
fields and class methods. To code static fields and static methods, you can use the
static keyword as shown in figure 4-10.
In this figure, all of the static fields are static variables. However, you can
also define static constants. For more information about working with constants,
please see chapter 7.
The first example shows how to code a class that contains two static fields
and a static method. To start, this class declares two static fields. The first static
field is a private field for a Scanner object named sc. As a result, no other class
can access it. The second static field is a public field for a String object named
message. As a result, other classes can access it.
After the static fields, this class defines a static method named getString.
This method accepts a prompt parameter and returns a String object. Within
this method, the first statement prints the prompt parameter to the console. The
second statement calls the nextLine method of the static Scanner object to get
the line of text that’s entered by the user. And the third statement returns that line
of text to the calling code.
This example shows that the static variable for the Scanner object is available
to the static methods of the class such as the getString method. However, if any
instance variables were declared in this class, they would not be available to the
static getString method.
The second example shows how to call the static method defined in the first
example. This works much like calling a regular method. However, you start by
coding the name of the class instead of the name of the variable for the object. In
this example, the code supplies an argument that specifies a string literal for the
prompt parameter.
Typically, the static fields of a class are declared with private access. As
a result, they are only available to static methods within the current class.
However, it’s possible to declare a static field with public access. That way, other
classes can access and use the field. In this figure, for example, the third example
shows how to set and get the data that’s stored in the static variable named
message. To do that, you can refer to this variable by coding the class name,
followed by the dot operator, followed by the name of the variable.

When to use static fields and methods

Now that you know how to code static fields and methods, you may wonder
when to use them and when to use regular fields and methods. In general, if you
need to perform a single task like a calculation, you can use a static method.
Then, the method performs the task and returns the data you need. However, if
you need to create an object that stores data, you need to use instance variables
and regular methods to define and process the data that’s stored in the object.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 117

How to code static methods and fields

package murach.product;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Console {

private static Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

public static String message;

public static String getString(String prompt) {

System.out.print(prompt);
String s = sc.nextLine();
return s;
}
}

How to call static methods

Syntax
ClassName.methodName(argumentList)

A static method of the Console class

String productCode = Console.getString("Enter the product code: ");

How to call static fields

Syntax
ClassName.fieldName

A static field of the Console class

Console.message = "This is a test."; // set the field
String message = Console.message; // get the field

Description
•• You can use the static keyword to code static methods and static fields. Since static
methods and static fields belong to the class, not to an object created from the class,
they are sometimes called class methods and class fields.
•• There are two types of fields: variables and constants. To learn how to code
constants, see chapter 7.
•• When you code a static method, you can only use static fields and fields that are
defined in the method. In other words, you can’t use instance variables in a static
method.
•• To call a static method, type the name of the class, followed by the dot operator,
followed by the name of the static method, followed by a set of parentheses. If the
method requires arguments, code the arguments within the parentheses, separating
multiple arguments with commas.
•• To call a static field, type the name of the class, followed by the dot operator,
followed by the name of the static field.

Figure 4-10 How to code and call static methods and fields
118 Section 1 Get started right

The Product Viewer application

Figure 4-11 presents an object-oriented application that lets you view the
data for the product with the specified code. This application uses the Product
and ProductDB classes shown earlier in this chapter.

The user interface

This figure starts by showing the console for the Product Viewer application.
When this application starts, it displays a welcome message. Then, it prompts
the user to enter a product code. Next, it displays the data for the product that
matches the product code entered by the user. Finally, it displays a prompt that
allows the user to continue or exit the application.

The ProductApp class

This figure also shows the code for the ProductApp class. This class contains
the main method that gets input and displays output to the user.
To start, the package statement specifies the package for the class. In this
figure, this statement defines a package of murach.product. This is the same
package as the Product and ProductDB classes shown earlier in this chapter. As
a result, the ProductApp class can easily refer to the Product and ProductDB
classes without needing to import them.
After the package statement, the import statement imports the Scanner class
of the java.util package. As a result, it’s easy to refer to this class in the rest of
the ProductApp class.
Within the main method of this class, the first two statements display a
welcome message. Then, the third statement declares a Scanner object named sc
and creates a new Scanner object that this class uses to get input from the user.
Next, the fourth statement declares a String object named choice and sets it to a
string literal of “y”.
The while loop begins by checking whether the choice variable is equal to
“y” or “Y”. If so, it executes the loop. Within the while loop, the first two state-
ments get the product code from the user. Then, this code calls the getProduct
method of the ProductDB class to get a Product object that corresponds to the
product code.
After getting the Product object, this application creates a String object
named message that stores the data that’s displayed. To get this data, this code
uses the get methods of the Product object. Then, this code displays the data for
the Product object.
After displaying the data, this code checks whether the user wants to
continue. If the user enters “y” or “Y”, this code executes the while loop again.
Otherwise, this code exits the while loop. This closes the scanner, displays a
goodbye message, and exits the main method, which causes the application to
end.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 119

The console
Welcome to the Product Viewer

Enter product code: java

PRODUCT
Code: java
Description: Murach's Beginning Java
Price: $49.50

Continue? (y/n): n

Bye!

The ProductApp class

package murach.product;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class ProductApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Product Viewer");
System.out.println();

// create 1 or more line items

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
// get input from user
System.out.print("Enter product code: ");
String productCode = sc.nextLine();

// get the Product object

Product product = ProductDB.getProduct(productCode);

// display the output

String message = "\nPRODUCT\n" +
"Code: " + product.getCode() + "\n" +
"Description: " + product.getDescription() + "\n" +
"Price: " + product.getPriceFormatted() + "\n";
System.out.println(message);

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}
sc.close();
System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 4-11 The Product Viewer application

120 Section 1 Get started right

More skills for working with classes

and methods
If you understand the Product Viewer application, you understand the basic
concepts and skills for coding classes and methods. Now, this chapter finishes by
presenting some additional concepts and skills that you may need when you’re
working with classes and methods.

Reference types compared to primitive types

By now, you should know that a class such as the Product class defines a
reference type. In addition, you should know that reference types such as the
Product type work differently than primitive types such as the double and int
types. That’s because a primitive type stores a value. However, a reference type
refers to an object. Figure 4-12 summarizes a few important differences between
reference types and primitive types.
The first example shows how assignment statements work. With primitive
types, the assignment statement makes a copy of the double value. As a result,
the third statement changes the double value that’s stored in the variable named
p2, but not the double value that’s stored in the variable named p1.
With reference types, the assignment statement does not store a copy of
the object. Instead, it causes both variables to refer to the same Product object.
As a result, when the third statement uses the variable named p2 to change the
double value that’s stored in that Product object, this change is also reflected in
the variable named p1. That’s because both variables refer to the same Product
object. As a result, if you have multiple variables that refer to the same object,
you need to be careful about changing its data.
The second example shows how the parameters of a method work. This
example uses a method named increasePrice that increases the price by 10%.
With a primitive type, the price parameter stores a copy of the double value.
Then, the first statement increases the price parameter by 10%. However, this
doesn’t change the price in the calling code. As a result, the second statement
returns the price to the calling code so it can access the new price.
With a reference type, the product parameter refers to the same Product
object as the calling code. As a result, this method doesn’t need to return the
Product object to the calling code. Instead, its second statement can set the new
price in the Product object. This changes the price in the calling code.
The third example shows the code that calls the methods in the second
example. With a primitive type, the code that calls the increasePrice method
assigns the return value to the variable named price to change it. With a refer-
ence type, the code just calls the increasePrice method. This increases the price
that’s stored in the product variable in this example.
Most of the time, you can write your code without thinking too much about
the differences between reference types and primitive types. Occasionally,
though, you do need to be aware of these differences. When you do, you can
refer back to this figure to refresh your memory.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 121

How assignment statements work

For primitive types
double p1 = 54.50;
double p2 = p1; // p1 and p2 store copies of 54.50
p2 = 57.50; // only changes p2

For reference types

Product p1 = new Product("mysql", "Murach's MySQL", 54.50);
Product p2 = p1; // p1 and p2 refer to the same object
p2.setPrice(57.50); // changes p1 and p2

How parameters work

For primitive types
public static double increasePrice(double price) {
// the price parameter is a copy of the double value
price = price * 1.1; // does not change price in calling code
return price; // returns changed price to calling code
}

For reference types

public static void increasePrice(Product product) {
// the product parameter refers to the Product object
double price = product.getPrice() * 1.1;
product.setPrice(price); // changes price in calling code
}

How method calls work

For primitive types
double price = 54.50;
price = increasePrice(price); // assignment necessary

For reference types

Product product = new Product();
product.setPrice(54.50);
increasePrice(product); // assignment not necessary

Description
•• A variable for a primitive type always stores its own copy of the primitive value. As
a result, changing the value for one primitive type variable doesn’t change the value
of any other primitive type variables.
•• A variable for a reference type stores a reference to the object. This allows multiple
reference type variables to refer to the same object. As a result, changing the data
for one object also changes the data for any other variables that refer to that object.
•• When you code a method that has a primitive type parameter, the parameter gets its
own copy of the value that’s passed to the method. As a result, if the method changes
the value of the parameter, that change doesn’t affect any variables outside the method.
•• When you code a method that has a reference type parameter, the parameter
refers to the object that’s passed to the method. As a result, if the method uses the
parameter to change the data in the object, these changes are reflected by any other
variables outside the method that refer to the same object.

Figure 4-12 Reference types compared to primitive types

122 Section 1 Get started right

How to overload methods

Figure 4-13 shows how to overload a method, which is similar to
overloading a constructor. When you overload a method, you code two or more
methods with the same name, but with unique combinations of parameters.
Here, the number of parameters and the data types of those parameters form the
signature of the method, and each method signature must be unique.
For a method signature to be unique, the method must have a different
number of parameters than the other methods with the same name. Or, at least
one of the parameters must have a different data type. Here, the names of the
parameters aren’t part of the signature. Similarly, the return type isn’t part of the
signature. As a result, using different parameter names or return types doesn’t
make the signatures unique.
Overloading allows you to provide more than one way to invoke a given
method. This can make the method more flexible and useful. For example, this
figure shows three signatures of a printToConsole method that can be added to
the Product class presented in this chapter. Each signature provides functionality
that might be useful to another programmer.
The first signature accepts a String parameter named separator that’s used to
separate the code, price, and description of a Product object. Then, it prints the
resulting string to the console.
The second signature doesn’t accept any parameters. Instead, it separates
the code, price, and description with the pipe character (|). In other words,
it provides a default separator for the first signature. To do that, it calls the
first printToConsole method and passes the pipe character to it. Note that this
code doesn’t qualilfy this method call with an object name since both of these
methods are coded in the same class.
You could also code the statement for the second method like this:
System.out.println(code + "|" + description + "|" + price);
However, passing the pipe character the first printToConsole method reduces
code duplication and makes this code easier to maintain. For example, if the
code in the first signature was modified to include another instance variable, the
code in the second signature would still work correctly.
The third signature accepts two parameters: (1) a String object for the
separator and (2) a String object that provides a label that’s printed before the
product data. This method begins by printing the label specified by the second
parameter. Then, it calls the printToConsole method and passes the separator
parameter to it.
When you refer to an overloaded method, the number of arguments you
specify and their types determine which signature of the method is executed. The
three statements in this figure that call the printToConsole method show how this
works. The first statement doesn’t specify an argument. As a result, it executes
the second signature shown in this figure. The second statement specifies a single
String argument. As a result, it executes the first signature. And the third state-
ment specifies two String arguments. As a result, it executes the third signature.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 123

A signature that has one parameter

public void printToConsole(String separator) {
System.out.println(code + separator + description + separator + price);
}

A signature that doesn’t have any parameters

public void printToConsole() {
printToConsole("|"); // call the method in the first example
}

A signature that has two parameters

public void printToConsole(String separator, String label) {
System.out.print(label); // print label to console
printToConsole(separator); // call the method in the first example
}

Code that calls this method

Product p = new Product("java", "Murach's Java Programming", 57.50);

p.printToConsole(); // use the default separator

p.printToConsole("/"); // use a non-default separator
p.printToConsole("|", "Product: "); // include a label

The console
java|Murach's Java Programming|57.5
java/Murach's Java Programming/57.5
Product: java|Murach's Java Programming|57.5

Description
•• When you create two or more methods with the same name but with different
parameter lists, the methods are overloaded. It’s common to use overloaded
methods to provide two or more versions of a method that work with different data
types or that supply default values for omitted parameters.
•• The name of the method combined with the parameter list forms the signature
of the method. Although you can use the same name for multiple methods, each
method must have a unique signature.
•• Within a class, you can call one regular method from another regular method by
coding the method name and its arguments. In other words, you don’t need to prefix
the method name with the object name.

Figure 4-13 How to overload methods

124 Section 1 Get started right

How to use the this keyword

In figures 4-5 and 4-6, you saw how to use the this keyword to refer to an
instance variable from a constructor or a method. Now, figure 4-14 reviews
this skill. In addition, it shows how to use the this keyword to call another
constructor of the current class, to call methods of the current object, or to pass
the current object to another method.
The first example shows how to use the this keyword to refer to instance
variables. If the parameters of a constructor or method have the same names as
the instance variables of the class, you need to use the this keyword to explicitly
identify the instance variables. Of course, another approach would be to change
the parameter names so they aren’t the same as the instance variable names.
The second example shows how to call one constructor from another
constructor in the same class. In this example, the constructor uses the this
keyword to call the constructor in the first example that accepts three parameters,
and it passes three arguments to it. This is an easy way to overload a constructor
so it provides default data for missing parameters.
The third example shows how to call the getPrice method of the current
object. In this case, the this keyword isn’t necessary because it would be added
implicitly. However, it does make it clear that the getPrice method is a method of
the current object.
The fourth example shows how to use the this keyword to pass the current
object to a method. In this example, a method named printCurrentObject passes
the current object to the println method of the System.out object. If this
printCurrentObject method was added to the Product class shown in this chapter,
you could call this method from a Product object to print that object to the
console.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 125

How to refer to instance variables of the current object

Syntax
this.variableName

A constructor that refers to three instance variables

public Product(String code, String description, double price) {
this.code = code;
this.description = description;
this.price = price;
}

How to call a constructor of the current object

Syntax
this(argumentList);

A constructor that calls another constructor of the current object

public Product() {
this("", "", 0.0);
}

How to call a method of the current object

Syntax
this.methodName(argumentList)

A method that calls another method of the current object

public String getPriceFormatted() {
NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
String priceFormatted = currency.format(this.getPrice());
return priceFormatted;
}

How to pass the current object to a method

Syntax
methodName(this)

A method that passes the current object to another method

public void printCurrentObject() {
System.out.println(this);
}

Description
•• Java implicitly uses the this keyword for instance variables and methods. As a result,
you don’t need to explicitly code it unless a method parameter or a variable that’s
declared within a method has the same name as an instance variable. Then, you need
to use the this keyword to identify the instance variable.
•• If you use the this keyword to call one constructor from another constructor in the
same class, the statement that uses the this keyword must be the first statement in the
constructor.

Figure 4-14 How to use the this keyword

126 Section 1 Get started right

The Product class with overloading

To put the skills in the last two figures into context, figure 4-15 shows an
enhanced version of the Product class that was shown earlier in this chapter.
This Product class begins by coding two overloaded constructors. Since
these constructors were described in the previous figure, you shouldn’t have
much trouble understanding how they work. In short, these constructors are
overloaded, and the first constructor uses the this keyword to call the second
constructor and pass it some arguments.
After the constructors, this class contains all of the same get and set methods
as the Product class shown earlier in this chapter. However, to save space, these
methods aren’t shown again here.
Instead, this class only shows the three overloaded printToConsole methods.
Since these methods were described earlier in figure 4-14, you shouldn’t have
much trouble understanding how they work. In short, the first printToConsole
method calls the second one and passes it the pipe character as the separator. The
second printToConsole method prints the instance variables to the console using
the specified separator. And the third printToConsole method prints the specified
label before calling the second printToConsole method.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 127

The Product class with overloading

package murach.product;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class Product {

private String code;

private String description;
private double price;

public Product() {
this("", "", 0);
}

public Product(String code, String description, double price) {

this.code = code;
this.description = description;
this.price = price;
}

// all get and set methods are the same as the Product class
// shown earlier in this chapter

public void printToConsole() {

printToConsole("|");
}

public void printToConsole(String separator) {

System.out.println(code + separator + description + separator +
price);
}

public void printToConsole(String separator, String label) {

System.out.print(label);
printToConsole(separator);
}
}

Figure 4-15 The Product class with overloading

128 Section 1 Get started right

Perspective
At this point, you may be wondering why you should take the time to
create an object-oriented application like the one shown in this chapter. After
all, you could accomplish the same task with less code by coding a procedural
application like the one shown in chapter 3.
Although there are many advantages to the object-oriented approach, I’ll
just mention two for now. First, dividing the code into classes makes it easier
to reuse code. For example, any application that needs to work with products
can use the Product and ProductDB classes. Second, using classes helps you
separate the different layers of an application. That can simplify the devel-
opment of the application and make the application easier to maintain and
enhance later on. In the next chapter, you’ll learn how to use classes to struc-
ture an application so it has three layers.

Summary
•• The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the standard modeling language
for working with object-oriented languages. You can use UML class
diagrams to identify the fields and methods of a class.
•• Encapsulation lets you control the fields and methods within a class that are
exposed to other classes. When fields are encapsulated within a class, it’s
called data hiding.
•• Multiple objects can be created from a single class. Each object can be
referred to as an instance of the class.
•• The data that makes up an object can be referred to as its state. Each object
is a separate entity with its own state.
•• A field is a variable or constant that’s defined at the class level. An instance
variable stores data that’s available to an object (instance) of a class.
•• You can use a constructor to create, or construct, an object from a class.
•• When you code the methods of a class, you often code public get and set
methods, called accessors, that provide access to its instance variables.
•• If you want to code a method or constructor that accepts arguments, you
code a list of parameters between the parentheses for the constructor or
method. For each parameter, you must include a data type and a name.
•• You can use the static keyword to define static fields and static methods.
Then, you can call those fields and methods directly from the class, not from
an object created from the class.
•• The name of a method combined with the list of parameter types is known as
the signature of the method. You can overload a method by coding different
parameter lists for methods that have the same name.
•• When coding a class, you can use the this keyword to refer to the current
object.
 Chapter 4 How to code your own classes and methods 129

Exercise 4-1 Modify the Product Viewer

application
This exercise guides you through the process of testing and modifying the
Product Viewer application that’s presented in this chapter.

Review and test the project

1. Import the project named ch04_ex1_Product that’s in the ex_starts folder.
Then, open the Product, ProductDB, and ProductApp classes and review their
code.
2. Run the project and test it with valid product codes like “java”, “jsp”, and
“mysql” to make sure that this application works correctly. Then, test it with
an invalid code to see how that works.
Modify the ProductDB class
3. In the ProductDB class, modify the if/else statement so it includes another
product.
4. Run the project and test it to make sure the new product code works. This
shows that you can modify the code for a class without needing to modify the
other classes that use it.
Add a constructor to the Product class
5. In the Product class, add a constructor that defines three parameters and uses
them to set the values of the three instance variables.
6. In the ProductDB class, modify the code so it uses the new constructor to set
the data in the Product object instead of using the setCode, setDescription,
and setPrice methods. To do that, you can assign a new Product object to the
Product variable within each if/else clause.
7. Run the project to make sure it still works correctly.
Add a method to the Product class
8. In the Product class, add a method named getPriceNumberFormat that returns
the price with number formatting (not currency formatting). This method
should return the number with 2 decimal places but no currency symbol.
9. In the ProductApp class, modify the code so it uses this method.
10. Run the project to make sure it still works correctly.
Modify the ProductDB class so it defines an object
11. In the ProductDB class, modify the getProduct method so it’s a regular
method instead of a static method.
12. In the ProductApp class, modify the code so it creates a ProductDB object
named db. Then, use this object to call the getProduct method of the
ProductDB class.
13. Run the project to make sure it still works correctly.
130 Section 1 Get started right

Exercise 4-2 Use objects in the Area

and Perimeter application
This exercise guides you through the process of converting an Area and
Perimeter application from a procedural application to an object-oriented
application.

Create and use an object

1. Import the project named ch04_ex2_AreaAndPerimeter that’s stored in the
ex_starts folder. Then, review the code for the Main class.
2. Create a class named Rectangle and store it in the murach.rectangle package.
3. In the Rectangle class, add instance variables for length and width. Then,
code the get and set methods for these instance variables. If possible, use your
IDE to generate the get and set methods. With Eclipse, you can get started by
selecting the SourceGenerate Getters and Setters command.
4. Add a zero-argument constructor that initializes the length and width to 0.
5. Add a get method that calculates the area of the rectangle and returns a double
value for the result. If you want, you can copy the code that performs this
calculation from the Main class.
6. Add a get method that returns the area as a String object with standard
numeric formatting and a minimum of three decimal places. To make it easy
to refer to the NumberFormat class, you should add an import statement for it.
7. Repeat the previous two steps for the perimeter.
8. Open the Main class. Then, add code that creates a Rectangle object and sets
its length and width.
9. Modify the code that displays the calculations so it uses the methods of the
Rectangle object to get the area and perimeter of the rectangle.
10. Remove any leftover code from the Main class that’s unnecessary including
any unnecessary import statements.
11. Run the application and test it with valid data. It should calculate the area and
perimeter for a rectangle.
Overload the constructor
12. Open the Rectangle class. Then, overload the constructor by supplying
a second constructor that accepts two arguments: length and width. This
constructor should set the length and width of the rectangle to the values
supplied by these arguments.
13. Open the Main class. Then, modify its code so it uses this constructor instead
of the zero-argument constructor.
14. Run the application and test it to make sure it still works correctly.
 5
How to structure
an object-oriented
application
When you create an object-oriented application like the one shown in the
previous chapter, you typically want to structure it so that it’s divided into
multiple layers. To help show this structure, you can use packages to organize
your classes.
To show how this works, this chapter presents an object-oriented version
of the Line Item application described in chapter 3. This application also
works much like the Product Viewer application presented in the previous
chapter. In fact, it uses the Product and ProductDB classes described in the
previous chapter. However, it also uses a LineItem class.

How to use the three-tier architecture..............................132

How the three-tier architecture works..........................................................132
How to work with packages..........................................................................134
How to use Eclipse to work with packages..................................................136
The Line Item application...................................................138
The user interface.........................................................................................138
The class diagram.........................................................................................138
The LineItem class........................................................................................140
The LineItemApp class.................................................................................142
Perspective..........................................................................144
132 Section 1 Get started right

How to use the three-tier architecture

Now that you know how to define your own classes, you’re ready to learn
how to use those classes to structure an application.

How the three-tier architecture works

Figure 5-1 shows how you can use classes to simplify the design of a
business application using a multi-tier architecture. In a multi-tier applica-
tion, the developer separates the classes that perform different functions of the
application into two or more layers, or tiers.
A three-tier application architecture like the one shown in this figure
consists of a presentation tier, a business tier, and a database tier. This is the most
common architecture for structuring applications.
The classes in the presentation tier handle the details of the application’s
user interface. So far, all of the applications presented in this book have been
console applications. In these applications, the main method contains most of
the code for the presentation tier, though it may call methods of other classes.
However, the last two chapters of this book show how to write Java applications
that display a graphical user interface (GUI). In these applications, the developer
typically uses multiple classes to define the windows and other components of
the presentation tier.
The classes of the database tier are responsible for all of the database access
that’s required by the application. These classes typically include methods that
retrieve, add, update, and delete the data in a database. Then, the other tiers can
call these methods to work with the database, leaving the details of how this is
done to the database classes. Although we refer to this tier as the database tier, it
can also contain classes that work with data that’s stored in files.
The business tier provides an interface between the database tier and the
presentation tier. This tier often includes classes that correspond to business
entities such as products and customers. It may also include classes that imple-
ment business rules, such as discount or credit policies. The classes in this tier
are often referred to as business classes, and the objects that are created from
these classes are often called business objects.
One advantage of developing applications with a multi-tier architecture is
that you should be able to swap out one tier without having to modify the other
tiers. For example, you should be able to swap out the presentation tier so it uses
a GUI instead of using the console without having to modify any classes in the
business or database tiers.
A second advantage of developing applications with a multi-tier architecture
is that it allows programmers to divide work among members of a development
team. For example, one group of developers might work on the database tier,
another group on the business tier, and still another group on the presentation
tier.
A third advantage is that it allows developers of an application to share
classes. In particular, developers working on different parts of an application can
all use the classes that make up the business tier.
 Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 133

The three-tier architecture of an application

Description
•• To simplify development and maintenance, many applications use a three-tier
architecture to separate the application’s user interface, business rules, and database
processing. Each tier of the architecture may consist of one or more classes.
•• The classes in the presentation tier control the application’s user interface. For
a console application, the presentation tier typically consists of a class with a
main method and any other classes related to console input and output. For a GUI
application, the user interface typically consists of one class for each window of the
GUI.
•• The classes in the database tier handle all of the application’s data processing.
•• The classes in the business tier define the business objects and rules for the applica-
tion. These classes act as an interface between the classes in the presentation and
database tiers.

Figure 5-1 How the three-tier architecture works

134 Section 1 Get started right

How to work with packages

In chapter 3, you learned how the Java API organizes its classes into
packages. Now, you’ll learn how to organize your own classes into packages.
Often, these packages help to divide the classes of an application into tiers.
Packages provide two main advantages. First, when a project contains a
large number of classes, packages can provide some logical structure to your
application and make it easier to find classes. Second, packages provide a way
to avoid naming conflicts between classes. This is particularly important if you
make your classes available to other programmers.
Figure 5-2 shows the folders and files of the Line Item application presented
in this chapter after packages have been used to organize the classes in that
application. Here, the ch05_LineItem/src folder contains the subfolders for
each package. Then, each subfolder contains the classes for a package. For
example, the murach/business folder stores the Product and LineItem classes that
define the business objects for this application. The murach/db folder contains
the ProductDB class that defines the database class. And the murach/ui folder
contains the LineItemApp class that provides the code for the user interface.
When you name a package, you can use any name you want. However, if
you want to make sure that the name of your package is unique, it’s considered
a best practice to start the name with your Internet domain name in reverse. For
example, since our Internet domain name is murach.com, all packages created
by our company would begin with com.murach.
Even if you don’t follow this convention, you should avoid using a generic
name that might be used by someone else. For example, a package name of
business is too generic. However, murach.business is specific enough that it’s
unlikely to conflict with any other package names. This book uses murach as the
first level of the package name to clearly identify the company that created this
code. Then, you can use the second level to organize the packages within the first
level.
Once you store a class in the correct folder, you must code a package
statement at the beginning of the class. This statement consists of the package
keyword followed by the name of the package. In this figure, for example, each
class begins with a package statement that corresponds with the folder that
contains the class.
If a class is stored in a package, it can’t be accessed from classes in other
packages without qualifying it with the package name. As a result, you typically
import the class to make it easier to refer to that class. This works the same for
the packages and classes that you create as it does for the classes of the Java API.
In this figure, for example, the ProductDB class imports the Product class in the
murach.business package. This makes it easy for the ProductDB class to use the
Product class.
 Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 135

The folders and files for an application that uses packages

ch05_LineItem/src
murach
business
LineItem.java
Product.java
db
ProductDB.java
ui
LineItemApp.java

The LineItem class

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class LineItem {...}

The Product class

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class Product {...}

The ProductDB class

package murach.db;

import murach.business.Product;

public class ProductDB {...}

The LineItemApp class

package murach.ui;

import java.util.Scanner;

import murach.db.ProductDB;
import murach.business.LineItem;
import murach.business.Product;

public class LineItem {...}

Description
 A package can store one or more classes.
 Each package name corresponds with a folder that has the same name. The names
you use should be unique to prevent conflicts with other packages.
 When you store a class in a package, the first statement of the class must be a
package statement that specifies the name of the package.
 After the package statement, you can code the import statements for the class.
These statements work the same for the packages and classes that you create as
they do for the packages and classes of the Java API.

Figure 5-2 How to work with packages

136 Section 1 Get started right

How to use Eclipse to work with packages

When you work with packages, you need to make sure that the name of the
package corresponds with the name of the folder for the package. If you have
to do this manually, it can quickly become a tedious task. Fortunately, Eclipse
handles this for you automatically.
When a project contains packages, you can use the Package Explorer to
navigate through the packages for the project. To do that, you can click on the
arrow icons to the left of the packages to expand or collapse them.
In figure 5-3, the Package Explorer displays the three packages for the Line
Item application that’s presented in this chapter. The package named
murach.business stores the business classes, the package named murach.db
stores the database classes, and the package named murach.ui stores the user
interface classes.
To get started with packages, you can add a new package to a project as
described in this figure. As you do that, remember that package names corre-
spond to the folders and subfolders that are used to store the source code for
the packages. If these folders and subfolders don’t already exist, Eclipse creates
them when you create the packages.
Once you’ve created packages for your application, Eclipse automati-
cally adds the necessary package statement to any new class that you add to a
package. In addition, if you rename a package, Eclipse automatically renames
the corresponding folders and updates any package or import statements in the
project that need it. Similarly, if you move a class from one package to another,
Eclipse updates the package statement for that class and any import statements
that need it. In short, when you use Eclipse to work with packages, it automati-
cally takes care of most of the details for you.
 Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 137

An Eclipse project that contains multiple packages

Description
•• To navigate through existing packages, use the Package Explorer to expand or
collapse the packages within a project.
•• To add a new package to a project, right-click on the project name or the src folder
in the Package Explorer, select the NewPackage command, and enter the name of
the package in the resulting dialog box.
•• To rename a package, select the RefactorRename command and use the resulting
dialog box to specify the new name.
•• To move a class from one package to another, drag it in the Package Explorer.
Then, click the OK button in the resulting dialog box.
•• To delete a package from a project, right-click on the package and select the Delete
command from the resulting menu. If the package contains classes, this also deletes
those classes.
•• When you use Eclipse to work with packages, it automatically updates the corre-
sponding folders. In addition, it automatically updates any package or import
statements in the project that need it.

Figure 5-3 How to use Eclipse to work with packages

138 Section 1 Get started right

The Line Item application

This chapter finishes by presenting an object-oriented version of the Line
Item application. This application should give you a good idea of how to use
classes to structure a three-tier application.

The user interface

Figure 5-4 shows the console for the Line Item application. This console
works much like the Line Item application presented in chapter 3. However, it
displays all of the data for a Product object, including the product description.

The class diagram

This figure also shows a class diagram for the classes that are used by the
Line Item application. Here, the Product and ProductDB classes are the classes
presented in the previous chapter. By now, you should be familiar with these
classes.
The LineItem class defines two instance variables named product and
quantity. Here, the product variable holds a Product object that stores the data for
the product, and the quantity variable holds an int value for the quantity.
The LineItem class also defines six methods. The first four are the get and
set methods that provide access to the instance variables. In contrast, the getTotal
method returns a double value for the line item total. Similarly, the
getTotalFormatted method returns a String object that represents the total after
currency formatting has been applied. This works similarly to the
getPriceFormatted method of the Product class.
The arrows between the ProductDB and Product classes and the LineItem
and Product classes indicate that one class uses another class. In this diagram,
both the ProductDB and LineItem classes use the Product class. That’s because
the getProduct method of the ProductDB class returns a Product object, and the
LineItem class declares an instance variable of the Product type. However, the
Product class doesn’t use either of the other classes. Instead, it only uses the
String class and primitive types.
 Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 139

The console
Welcome to the Line Item Calculator

Enter product code: java

Enter quantity: 2

LINE ITEM
Code: java
Description: Murach's Beginning Java
Price: $49.50
Quantity: 2
Total: $99.00

Continue? (y/n):

The class diagrams

Description
•• The Line Item application accepts a product code and quantity from the user,
creates a line item using that information, and displays the result to the user.
•• The two instance variables of the LineItem class store a Product object and an
int value for the quantity. The first four methods of the LineItem class access the
values of these variables. The getTotal method calculates the line item total. And
the getTotalFormatted method formats the total as a currency value.

Figure 5-4 The user interface and the class diagram for the Line Item application
140 Section 1 Get started right

The LineItem class

Figure 5-5 shows the LineItem class. This class defines a line item for an
invoice. Like the Product class, the LineItem class defines a business object in
the application’s business tier.
The package statement defines the package for the class. In this figure, this
statement defines a package of murach.business, the same package that stores the
Product class.
The import statement imports the NumberFormat class of the java.text
package. As a result, the getTotalFormatted method can use this class without
needing to qualify it with its package name.
Within the class, the first two statements define the instance variables of the
class. Here, the first instance variable stores a Product object for the product, and
the second instance variable stores an int value for the quantity.
The first constructor of this class initializes the instance variables. Here, the
first statement initializes the product variable to a null. As a result, if you try to
call a method from this variable before you assign an object to it, this class will
throw a NullPointerException. To solve this, you could initialize this variable to
a new Product object. However, it’s often a good idea to allow the class to throw
an exception if it hasn’t been initialized correctly.
The second constructor allows the user to supply the product and quantity
for the line item. This accomplishes the same task as using the first constructor,
the setProduct method, and the setQuantity method. As a result, it isn’t neces-
sary. However, it does make the class easier to use.
After the constructors, the next four methods provide get and set methods
for the two instance variables. These methods access the corresponding instance
variables.
The fifth method returns a double value for the line item total. To do that,
this method calls the getPrice method of the Product object to get the price of the
product, multiplies the price by the quantity, and returns the result.
The sixth method returns a String object for the line item total after currency
formatting has been applied to it. To do that, this method calls the getTotal
method to return a double value for the total. Then, it uses the NumberFormat
class to apply currency formatting to this double value, and it returns the
resulting String object.
 Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 141

The LineItem class

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class LineItem {

private Product product;

private int quantity;

public LineItem() {
this.product = null;
this.quantity = 0;
}

public LineItem(Product product, int quantity) {

this.product = product;
this.quantity = quantity;
}

public void setProduct(Product product) {

this.product = product;
}

public Product getProduct() {

return product;
}

public void setQuantity(int quantity) {

this.quantity = quantity;
}

public int getQuantity() {

return quantity;
}

public double getTotal() {

double total = quantity * product.getPrice();
return total;
}

public String getTotalFormatted() {

double total = this.getTotal();
NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
String totalFormatted = currency.format(total);
return totalFormatted;
}
}

Figure 5-5 The LineItem class

142 Section 1 Get started right

The LineItemApp class

Figure 5-6 shows the code for the LineItemApp class. This class contains the
main method for the application. This method gets the input from the user and
displays the output to the user.
The package statement defines the package for the class. In this figure, this
statement defines a package of murach.ui. This indicates that this class contains
the code for the user interface of this application.
The import statement imports the Scanner class of the java.util package.
In addition, it imports the Product, LineItem, and ProductDB classes from the
murach.business and murach.db packages. As a result, it’s easy to refer to any of
these classes for the rest of the LineItemApp class.
Within the main method of this class, the first two statements print a
welcome message. Then, the third statement declares a Scanner object named sc
and creates a new Scanner object that this class uses to get input from the user.
Next, the fourth statement declares a String variable named choice and sets it to
a String literal of “y”.
The while loop begins by checking whether the choice variable is equal to
“y” or “Y”. If so, it executes the loop.
Within the while loop, the first four statements get the product code and
quantity from the user. However, if the user enters a quantity that the parseInt
method of the Integer class can’t convert to an int value, this code throws an
exception, and the application crashes.
If the user enters a valid product code and quantity, this code calls the
getProduct method of the ProductDB class to get a Product object that corre-
sponds with the product code. Then, it creates a new LineItem object from the
LineItem class and sets the Product object and the quantity in the LineItem
object.
After creating the LineItem object and setting its data, this application
creates a String object named message that stores the data that’s displayed. To
get this data, this code uses the get methods of the Product and LineItem objects.
Then, this code prints this data to the console.
After displaying the data for the LineItem object, this code checks whether
the user wants to continue. If the user enters “y” or “Y”, this code executes
the while loop again. Otherwise, this code exits the while loop. This closes the
scanner, prints a goodbye message to the console and exits the main method,
which causes the application to end.
 Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 143

The LineItemApp class

package murach.ui;

import java.util.Scanner;

import murach.db.ProductDB;
import murach.business.LineItem;
import murach.business.Product;

public class LineItemApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Line Item Calculator");
System.out.println();

// create 1 or more line items

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
// get input from user
System.out.print("Enter product code: ");
String productCode = sc.nextLine();

System.out.print("Enter quantity: ");

int quantity = Integer.parseInt(sc.nextLine());

// get the Product object

Product product = ProductDB.getProduct(productCode);

// create the LineItem object

LineItem lineItem = new LineItem(product, quantity);

// display the output

String message = "\nLINE ITEM\n" +
"Code: " + product.getCode() + "\n" +
"Description: " + product.getDescription() + "\n" +
"Price: " + product.getPriceFormatted() + "\n" +
"Quantity: " + lineItem.getQuantity() + "\n" +
"Total: " + lineItem.getTotalFormatted() + "\n";
System.out.println(message);

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}
sc.close();
System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 5-6 The LineItemApp class

144 Section 1 Get started right

Perspective
If you understand the Line Item application presented in this chapter, you
understand a lot about Java programming, including how to use packages and
classes to create a three-tier structure. With that as background, you’re ready to
learn more details about using Java. And that’s what you’ll learn in the rest of
this book.
But first, the next chapter shows how to test and debug the Line Item
application presented in this chapter. That way, whenever your code doesn’t
work correctly, you’ll have some skills that you can use to fix it.

Summary
•• A three-tier architecture separates an application into three layers, or tiers.
•• The presentation tier consists of the user interface.
•• The database tier consists of the database and the database classes that work
with it.
•• The business tier consists of the business classes that define the business
objects and rules of the application.

Exercise 5-1 Modify the Line Item application

This exercise guides you through the process of testing and modifying the Line
Item application that’s presented in this chapter.

Review and test the project

1. Import the project named ch05_ex1_LineItem that’s in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code for the LineItem and LineItemApp classes.
2. Run the project and test it with valid product codes like “java”, “jsp”, and
“mysql” to make sure that this application works correctly.
Rename a package
3. In the Package Explorer, navigate to the murach.db package. Then, rename
this package to murach.database.
4. Open the ProductDB class and note that Eclipse also changed the package
statement for this class to correspond with the new package name.
5. Open the LineItemApp class and note that Eclipse also changed the import
statement for the ProductDB class to correspond with the new package name.
6. Run the project and make sure it still works correctly.
 Chapter 5 How to structure an object-oriented application 145

Exercise 5-2 Use packages in the Area

and Perimeter application
This exercise guides you through the process of converting the Area and
Perimeter application so it uses multiple packages.

Review and test the project

1. Import the project named ch05_ex2_AreaAndPerimeter that’s stored in the
ex_starts folder. Then, review the code for the Main and Rectangle classes.
Note that they are both stored in the murach.rectangle package.
2. Run the project and make sure this application works correctly.
Work with packages
3. Create a package named murach.ui. Then, move the Main class into that
package.
4. Create a package named murach.business. Then, move the Rectangle class
into that package.
5. Open the Rectangle class. Then, note that Eclipse has modified its package
statement.
6. Open the Main class. Then, note that Eclipse has modified its package
statement and added an import statement for the Rectangle class.
7. Delete the murach.rectangle package.
8. Run the project and make sure it still works correctly.
 6
How to test and debug
an application
As you develop a Java application, you need to test it to make sure that it
performs as expected. Then, if you encounter any problems, you need to debug
the application. To do that, you need to find the cause of each problem, and you
need to fix each problem.

Basic skills for testing and debugging.............................148

Typical test phases........................................................................................148
The three types of errors..............................................................................148
Common Java errors.....................................................................................150
How to determine the cause of an error.......................................................152
A simple way to trace code execution..........................................................154
How to use Eclipse to debug an application....................156
How to set and remove breakpoints.............................................................156
How to step through code.............................................................................158
How to inspect variables...............................................................................158
How to inspect the stack trace......................................................................160
Perspective..........................................................................162
148 Section 1 Get started right

Basic skills for testing and debugging

When you test an application, you run it to make sure that it works correctly.
As you test the application, you try every possible combination of input data
and user actions to be certain that the application works in every case. In other
words, the goal of testing is to make an application fail.
When you debug an application, you fix the errors (bugs) that you discover
during testing. Each time you fix a bug, you test again to make sure that the
change that you made didn’t affect any other aspect of the application. This
process is known as debugging.

Typical test phases

When you test an application, you typically do so in phases. Figure 6-1 lists
three common test phases you can use for small applications like the ones in this
book. However, for large applications, developers sometimes test the business
classes before they even develop the user interface or database classes.
In the first phase, you test the user interface. For a console application,
that means you should make sure that the console displays the correct text and
prompts the user for the correct data. For an application with a graphical user
interface, that means you should visually check the controls to make sure they’re
displayed properly with the correct text. Then, you should make sure that all the
keys and controls work correctly. For instance, you should test the Tab and Enter
keys as well as the operation of check boxes and drop-down lists.
In the second phase, you test the application with valid data. To start, you
can enter data that you would expect a user to enter. Then, you should enter valid
data that tests all of the limits of the application.
In the third phase, you try to make the application fail by testing every
combination of invalid data and user action that you can think of. That should
include random actions like pressing the Enter key or clicking the mouse at the
wrong time.

The three types of errors

Three types of errors can occur as you test an application. These errors are
described in figure 6-1.
Compile-time errors occur when the Java compiler attempts to compile the
code. This type of error prevents your application from compiling and running
and is the easiest to find and fix. Most Java IDEs automatically detect syntax
errors as you type and give you suggestions for how to fix them.
Unfortunately, some errors can’t be detected until you run an application.
These errors are known as runtime errors, and they often throw exceptions that
stop the execution of an application.
Even if an application runs without throwing exceptions, it may contain
logic errors that prevent the application from working correctly. This type of
error is often the most difficult to find and correct. For example, the Line Item
application in figure 6-1 has a logic error. Can you tell what it is?
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 149

The Line Item application with a logic error

Welcome to the Line Item Calculator

Enter product code: java

Enter quantity: 2

LINE ITEM
Code: java
Description: Murach's Java Programming
Price: $57.50
Quantity: 2
Total: $59.50

Continue? (y/n):

The goal of testing

•• To find all errors before the application is put into production.

The goal of debugging

•• To fix all errors before the application is put into production.

Three test phases

•• Check the user interface to make sure that it works correctly.
•• Test the application with valid input data to make sure the results are correct.
•• Test the application with invalid data or unexpected user actions. Try everything
you can think of to make the application fail.

Three types of errors that can occur

•• Compile-time errors occur when the Java compiler compiles the code. This occurs
before the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) runs the code. These types of errors
often violate the syntax for how Java statements must be written.
•• Runtime errors occur when the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) runs the code.
This occurs after the Java compiler compiles the code. These types of errors often
throw exceptions that stop the execution of the application.
•• Logic errors occur when the application runs without throwing any errors but still
produces the wrong results such as displaying incorrect data.

Description
•• To test a Java application, you run it to make sure that it works properly no matter
what combinations of valid or invalid data you enter.
•• When you debug an application, you find the cause of all the errors (bugs) that
you find when you test the application. Then, you fix those errors. This process is
known as debugging.

Figure 6-1 An introduction to testing and debugging

150 Section 1 Get started right

Common Java errors

Figure 6-2 presents some of the coding errors that are commonly made as
you write a Java application. If you did the exercises for the last two chapters,
you’ve probably encountered some of these errors already. The code at the top
of this figure is from the main method of the Line Item application, but with four
errors introduced.
The first error is a missing semicolon at the end of the statement that
declares the variable named choice. As you know, Java requires a semicolon at
the end of every statement unless the statement contains of a block of code that’s
enclosed in braces.
The second error is a missing closing parenthesis at the end of the condition
for the while statement. As you code, you need to remember that every opening
parenthesis, brace, or quotation mark must have a closing parenthesis, brace, or
quotation mark.
The third error is that a data type has not been declared for the variable
named productCode. Unlike some other languages, Java requires that you
declare the data type for all variables.
The fourth error is that the statement that calls the nextLine method from
the Scanner object named sc uses improper capitalization. For this statement,
“NextLine” should be “nextLine” since Java is case-sensitive.
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 151

Code that contains errors

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
String choice = "y" // missing semicolon
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y") { // missing closing parenthesis
// get the input from the user
System.out.print("Enter product code: ");
productCode = sc.nextLine(); // no data type declared

System.out.print("Enter quantity: ");

String quantity = sc.NextLine(); // improper capitalization

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.next();
System.out.println();
}

Common syntax errors

•• Forgetting to code a semicolon at the end of a statement.
•• Forgetting an opening or closing parenthesis, brace, or quotation mark.
•• Forgetting to declare a data type for a variable.
•• Using incorrect case for an identifier.
•• Misspelling an identifier.

Description
•• An identifier is a name that refers to a piece of Java code such as a variable,
method, class, or package.

Figure 6-2 Common Java errors

152 Section 1 Get started right

How to determine the cause of an error

Figure 6-3 shows how to find the cause of an error. Once you find the cause
of an error, it’s usually easy to fix the error. The way you find the cause of an
error depends on what type of error you encountered.
If you get a compile-time error, the error message usually shows the line
or lines of code that prevented the code from compiling. In addition, the error
message typically includes a description that should help you determine why the
code didn’t compile. In this figure, for example, the compile-time error speci-
fies the line of the LineItemApp class that prevented the code from compiling.
In addition, the message for this error indicates that the compiler expected a
semicolon (‘;’) at the end of this line.
If you get a runtime error, the error message usually shows the line of code
that was running when the application crashed. In addition, the error message
typically includes a description that should help you determine why the applica-
tion crashed. In this figure, for example, the error shows the line of the main
method of the LineItemApp class that was running when the application crashed.
This line is the statement that uses the parseInt method of the Integer class to
convert the data that was entered by the user to an int value. In addition, the
message for this exception indicates that this method was attempting to format
an input string of “x”. That’s because the user entered “x” instead of entering a
valid number such as “2”. You’ll learn how to handle this type of error in
chapter 8.
If you have a logic error, you can start by figuring out why the application
produced the output that it did. In this figure, for example, you can start by
asking why the application didn’t calculate the correct total. Once you figure that
out, you’re well on your way to fixing the bug.
For compile-time and runtime errors, most IDEs include links that you can
click to jump directly to the line of code that caused the error. This makes it easy
to fix the error. For logic errors, it may be helpful to trace code execution as
shown in the next two figures.
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 153

A compile-time error

A link to a line of code

A runtime error

A link to a line of code

A logic error

Description
•• The first step in fixing an error is to determine the cause of the error. Once you
know the cause of the error, it’s often easy to fix the error.
•• For a compile-time error, go to the line in the source code that won’t compile. In
Eclipse, you can do that by clicking on the link to the line of source code. That
should give you a strong indication of what caused the error.
•• For a runtime error, go to the line in the source code that was running when the
application crashed. In Eclipse, you can do that by clicking on the link to the line of
source code. That should give you a strong indication of what caused the error.
•• For a logic error, review the output, review the source code, and try to figure out
how the source code produced that output. It’s often difficult to determine what
caused the error, but some of the techniques presented later in this chapter can help.

Figure 6-3 How to determine the cause of an error

154 Section 1 Get started right

A simple way to trace code execution

When you trace the execution of an application, you display messages or
variable values at key points in the code. You typically do this to help find the
cause of a logic error. One simple way to trace code execution is to add state-
ments to your code.
If, for example, you can’t figure out why the line item total that’s calculated
by the Line Item application is incorrect, you can insert println statements into
the code for the application as shown in figure 6-4. Here, the first println state-
ment prints a message that indicates that the getTotal method is starting. Then,
the next three println statements print the values of the price, quantity, and total
variables. Finally, the last println statement prints a message that indicates that
the getTotal method is ending.
When you use this technique, you typically start by adding just a few println
statements to the code. Then, if that doesn’t help you solve the problem, you can
add more. This works well for simple applications, but it creates extra work for
you because you have to add statements to your code and remove them later.
In the next few figures, you’ll learn how to use Eclipse to debug an applica-
tion without having to add or remove statements. Since this is usually easier than
adding and removing statements, you’ll rarely need to use the technique shown
in this figure. However, it can be useful in some cases.
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 155

Code that uses println statements to trace execution

public double getTotal() {
System.out.println("start getTotal() method");

double total = quantity + product.getPrice();

System.out.println("price: " + product.getPrice());
System.out.println("quantity: " + quantity);
System.out.println("total: " + total);

System.out.println("end getTotal() method");

return total;
}

The data that’s printed to the console

start getTotal() method
price: 57.5
quantity: 2
total: 59.5
end getTotal() method

Description
•• A simple way to trace the execution of an application is to insert println statements
at key points in the code that print messages to the console.
•• The messages that are printed to the console can indicate what code is being
executed, or they can display the values of variables.
•• When you see an incorrect value displayed, there is a good chance that the applica-
tion contains a logic error between the current println statement and the previous
one.

Figure 6-4 A simple way to trace code execution

156 Section 1 Get started right

How to use Eclipse

to debug an application
Debugging is one of the most difficult and frustrating parts of programming.
Fortunately, Eclipse includes a powerful tool called a debugger that can help you
find and fix these errors.

How to set and remove breakpoints

The first step in debugging an application is to figure out what is causing the
bug. To do that, it’s often helpful to view the values of the variables at different
points in the application’s execution. This often helps you determine the cause of
the bug, which is critical to debugging the application.
The easiest way to view the variable values as an application is executing is
to set a breakpoint as shown in figure 6-5. To do that, you double-click on the
line number to the left of the line of code. Then, the breakpoint is marked by a
blue circle. Later, when you run the application with the debugger, execution
will stop just prior to the statement at the breakpoint. Then, you will be able to
view the variables that are in scope at that point in the application. You’ll learn
more about that in the next figure.
When debugging, it’s important to set the breakpoint before the line in
the application that’s causing the bug. Often, you can figure out where to set a
breakpoint by reading the runtime exception that’s displayed when your applica-
tion crashes. Sometimes, though, you have to experiment before finding a good
location to set a breakpoint.
After you set the breakpoint, you need to run the current application with
the debugger. To do that, you can use the Debug button that’s available from the
toolbar (just to the left of the Run button).
Once you set a breakpoint, it remains set until you remove it. That’s true
even if you exit from Eclipse. As a result, when you want to remove a break-
point, you must do it yourself. One way to do that is to double-click the line
number again.
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 157

A code editor with a breakpoint

Description
•• When debugging, you need to stop application execution before the line of code
that caused the error. Then, you can examine variables and step through code as
described in the next few figures.
•• To stop application execution, you can set a breakpoint. Then, when you run the
application, execution stops when it reaches the breakpoint.
•• To set a breakpoint for a line, open the code editor for the class and double-click on
the line number. The breakpoint is identified by a small blue circle that’s placed to
the left of the line number.
•• To remove a breakpoint, double-click on the line number again.
•• You can set and remove breakpoints either before you start debugging or while
you’re debugging. In most cases, you’ll set at least one breakpoint before you start
debugging.
•• To start debugging for the current project, click the Debug button on the toolbar.
•• You can also start debugging by right-clicking on a project or a class that contains a
main method and selecting the Debug AsJava Application command.

Figure 6-5 How to set and remove breakpoints

158 Section 1 Get started right

How to step through code

Until now, you’ve been using Eclipse in the Java perspective. However,
when you click the Debug button to run an application with the debugger,
Eclipse switches to the Debug perspective as shown in figure 6-6. But first,
Eclipse may prompt you to confirm this perspective switch. After that, you can
switch back to the Java perspective at any time by clicking the Java button that’s
on the right side of the toolbar next to the Debug button.
When you run an application with the debugger and it encounters a break-
point, execution stops just prior to the statement at the breakpoint. Once execu-
tion stops, a blue arrow marks the next statement to be executed. In addition,
Eclipse displays the Variables window shown in the figure. This window shows
the values of the variables that are in scope at the current point of execution.
Eclipse also displays the Debug toolbar while you’re debugging. You can
click the Step Over and Step Into buttons on this toolbar repeatedly to step
through an application one statement at a time. Then, you can use the Variables
window to observe how and when the variable values change as the application
executes. That can help you determine the cause of a bug.
As you step through an application, you can click the Step Over button if
you want to execute a method without stepping into it. Or, you can use the Step
Return button to step out of any method that you don’t want to step through.
When you want to continue normal execution, you can click the Resume button.
Then, the application will run until the next breakpoint is reached. Or, you can
use the Terminate button to end the application’s execution.
There’s one additional button to the left of the Resume button you should be
aware of: the Skip All Breakpoints button. If this button is active, Eclipse will
not stop at any of your breakpoints, even in debugging mode.
These are powerful debugging features that can help you find the cause
of serious programming problems. Stepping through an application is also a
good way to understand how the code in an existing application works. If, for
example, you step through the Line Item application presented in the previous
chapter, you’ll get a better idea of how that application works.

How to inspect variables

When you set breakpoints and step through code, the Variables window
automatically displays the values of the variables that are in scope. In figure 6-6,
the execution point is in the getTotalFormatted method of the LineItem class.
Here, the Variables window shows the values of two local variables that are
declared within the method (total, currency).
So why doesn’t the totalFormatted variable show up? Well, in the code
editor, the arrow is positioned to the left of the line that declares the totalFor-
matted variable. As a result, this variable isn’t in scope yet because it hasn’t been
declared. Pressing F6 to step over will execute this line of code and cause the
totalFormatted variable to appear in the Variables window.
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 159

A debugging session

Some of the buttons on the Debug toolbar

Button Keyboard shortcut Description
Step Over F6 Steps through the code one statement at a time,
skipping over called methods.
Step Into F5 Steps through the code one statement at a time,
including statements in called methods.
Step Return F7 Finishes executing the code in the current
method and returns to the calling method.
Resume F8 Continues execution until the next breakpoint.
Terminate Ctrl+F2 Ends the application’s execution.

Description
•• When a breakpoint is reached, execution is stopped before the line is executed.
•• The arrow in the bar at the left side of the code editor shows the line that will be
executed next. This arrow may overlap with the breakpoint symbol.
•• The Variables window shows the values of the variables that are in scope for the
current method. This window is displayed by default when you start a debug-
ging session. If you close it, you can open it again using the WindowShow
ViewVariables command.
•• If a variable in the Variables window refers to an object, you can view the values
for that object by clicking the arrow to the left of the object name to expand it.
•• You can use the buttons on the Debug toolbar to control the execution of an application.

Figure 6-6 How to step through code and inspect variables

160 Section 1 Get started right

When the Variables window displays variables for numbers and strings, it
shows the value. In this figure, for example, the variable named total has a value
of 287.5.
However, when the Variables window displays a variable that refers to an
object, it doesn’t display the values of its variables automatically. Instead, it
displays an arrow icon to the left of the object’s name. Then, you can view the
values for the object by clicking on that arrow icon to expand it. In figure 6‑6,
for example, the variable named currency refers to an object that’s created from
the NumberFormat class.
Similarly, when you are examining the code from within an object that’s
executing, the Variables window begins by displaying a variable named this that
refers to the current object. As a result, you can expand this variable to view the
values of the instance variables that are defined by the current object. In figure
6‑6, for example, you can expand the variable named this to view the values of
the instance variables for the current LineItem object.

How to inspect the stack trace

When you’re debugging, it’s sometimes helpful to view the stack trace,
which is a list of methods in the reverse order in which they were called. By
default, Eclipse displays a stack trace in the Debug window in its top left corner.
The Debug window in figure 6-7 shows that code execution is on line 44 of
the getTotalFormatted method of the LineItem class. This window also shows
that this method was called by line 39 of the main method of the LineItemApp
class. At this point, you may want to display line 39 of the main method to view
the code that called the getTotalFormatted method. To do that, you can click
on the main method in the stack trace. This displays the source code for the
LineItemApp in the code editor, opening it if necessary. If you experiment with
this, you’ll find that it can help you locate the origin of a bug.
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 161

The stack trace in the Debug window

Description
•• A stack trace is a list of the methods that have been called in the reverse order in
which they were called.
•• By default, Eclipse displays a stack trace in the Debug window that’s located in
the upper left corner of the IDE. If you close it, you can open it again using the
WindowShow ViewDebug command.
•• To jump to a line of code in the code editor that’s displayed in the stack trace, click
on that line in the stack trace.
•• When you are finished with the debugger, you can return to the Java perspective by
clicking the Java button that’s displayed on the right side of the toolbar next to the
Debug button.

Figure 6-7 How to inspect the stack trace

162 Section 1 Get started right

Perspective
Before you put an application into production, you should test it and debug
it thoroughly. Now that you’ve completed this chapter, you should have the
skills you need to test an application to identify any bugs it may contain. In
addition, you should be able to use the Eclipse debugger to locate the cause of
those bugs.
The skills presented in this chapter should give you a solid foundation
for testing and debugging any application that you develop. However, Eclipse
provides some additional features that you can use to test and debug your appli-
cations. After reading this chapter, you should have the background you need to
learn more about other debugging features that are available from Eclipse.
As you begin to develop more complex applications, you may also want
to learn about unit testing. Unit testing is a way of creating tests for individual
units of source code such as methods to make sure they work correctly. Unit
tests can automate much of the application testing you would normally have
to do manually. By automating the testing, it’s more likely that the testing will
actually be done each time an application is updated. This makes it easier to
find and fix a bug since it’s easier to determine what new code introduced the
bug.

Summary
•• To test an application, you run it to make sure that it works properly no
matter what combinations of valid or invalid data you enter.
•• When you debug an application, you find and fix all of the errors (bugs) that
you find when you test the application. This process is known as debugging.
•• Compile-time errors violate the rules for how Java statements must be
written. These errors are detected by the Java compiler before you can run
the application.
•• Runtime errors occur while you are running an application. These types of
errors throw exceptions that stop the execution of the application.
•• Logic errors don’t cause the application to crash, but they prevent it from
working correctly.
•• A simple way to trace the execution of an application is to insert println
statements at key points in the code.
•• Eclipse includes a powerful tool known as a debugger that can help you find
and fix errors.
•• When debugging, Eclipse switches from the Java perspective to the Debug
perspective. You can click on the Java and Debug buttons in the toolbar to
switch between these perspectives.
•• You can set a breakpoint on a line of code to stop code execution just before
that line of code. Then, you can step through the code and view the values of
the variables as the code executes.
•• A stack trace is a list of methods in the reverse order in which they were called.
 Chapter 6 How to test and debug an application 163

Exercise 6-1 Test and debug the Line Item

application
This exercise guides you through the process of using Eclipse to test and debug
an application. This should give you some idea of how useful the Eclipse
debugger can be.

Introduce and correct a compile-time error

1. Import the ch06_ex1_LineItem project. Then, open the LineItemApp.java file
that’s in the murach.ui package.
2. Delete the semicolon at the end of the statement that prints the welcome
message and save the file. This should display an error in the code editor.
3. Replace the semicolon at the end of this statement. This should fix this error.
Introduce and examine a runtime error
4. Run the Line Item application and test it with a valid product code of “java”
and an invalid quantity of “ten”. This should cause the application to crash
and print an error message to the Console window.
5. Study the error message and note the line number of the statement in the
LineItemApp class that caused the crash. Then, click on the link to jump to
that line of code. This should open the LineItemApp.java file and highlight
the line of code that caused the crash. Based on this information, you should
be able to figure out that the application crashed because “ten” isn’t a valid
integer value. In chapter 8, you’ll learn how to handle this type of problem.
Set a breakpoint and step through a method
6. Open the LineItem class and set a breakpoint on the first line of code in the
getTotalFormatted method.
7. Click on the Debug button in the toolbar. This runs the project with the
debugger on.
8. Click the Console tab to display the Output window and enter a value of
“java” for the product code and a value of 3 for the quantity. When you do, the
application runs to the breakpoint and stops. If Eclipse prompts you to switch
to the Debug perspective, click the Yes button.
9. In the Variables window, expand the variable named this. This allows you to
view the instance variables for the current LineItem object. Note the value
of the quantity instance variable and expand the instance variable named
product. This allows you to view the instance variables for the Product object
that’s stored within the LineItem object.
10. Click the Step Over button in the toolbar repeatedly to step through the
statements in this method. After each step, review the values in the Variables
window to see how they have changed.
11. Click the Resume button in the toolbar to continue the execution of the
application.
164 Section 1 Get started right

12. Click in the Console window again. Then, enter “n” to exit the application and
end the debugging session.
Set a breakpoint and step through the application
13. Click on the Java button in the toolbar to switch back to the Java perspective.
14. Open the LineItemApp class and set a breakpoint on the first line of code in
the main method.
15. Click on the Debug button in the toolbar. If necessary, confirm that you want
to switch to the Debug perspective.
16. Use the Step Over and Step Into buttons to step through each line of the appli-
cation. To do that, use the Step Over button for most statements and the Step
Into button for any statements that call constructors and methods from the
LineItem, Product, and ProductDB classes. As you do this, use the Console
window to enter data and the Variables window to inspect the variables. This
should give you a good idea of how this code works.
Stop the debugger and remove the breakpoints
17. Once you have the hang of stepping through this application, click the Termi-
nate button to end the application and the debugging session.
18. Click the Java button to switch back to the Java perspective.
19. Remove the breakpoints that you set earlier in this exercise. To do that, you
can double-click on the line number for each breakpoint.
Section 2

Essential skills
as you need them
This section consists of four chapters that show you how to use more of the
core Java features. Chapter 7 presents the most important skills for working
with data types and operators. Chapter 8 presents the most important skills
for working with control statements. Chapter 9 presents the most important
skills for working with strings. And chapter 10 presents the concepts and
techniques you need to know to work with arrays.
We have designed each chapter in this section as an independent unit.
As a result, you can read these chapters in any sequence you like. If, for
example, you want to learn more about control structures, you can read
chapter 8 next. Or, if you want to learn about arrays, you can read chapter 9
next.
 7
How to work with primitive
types and operators
In chapter 2, you learned how to use two of the eight primitive data types. In
addition, you learned how to use operators to perform some simple arithmetic
calculations. Now, you’ll learn about the other six primitive data types. In
addition, you’ll learn the details for using operators to work with these data
types at a professional level.

Basic skills for working with data......................................168

The eight primitive data types......................................................................168
How to declare and initialize variables........................................................170
How to declare and initialize constants.......................................................172
How to code arithmetic expressions................................. 174
How to use the binary operators................................................................... 174
How to use the unary operators....................................................................176
How to use the compound assignment operators.........................................178
How to work with the order of precedence..................................................180
How to work with casting.............................................................................182
How to use Java classes to work with numbers..............184
How to use the Math class............................................................................184
How to use the BigDecimal class.................................................................186
How to fix rounding errors...........................................................................188
The Invoice application.......................................................190
The user interface.........................................................................................190
The code........................................................................................................190
Perspective..........................................................................194
168 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Basic skills for working with data

The next three figures review some of the skills presented in chapter 2 for
working with data. In addition, these figures present some new skills that are
related to this topic.

The eight primitive data types

Figure 7-1 shows the eight primitive data types provided by Java. You can
use these eight data types to store numbers, characters, and true or false values.
In chapter 2, you learned how to use the int data type to store integers
(whole numbers). However, Java provides three other data types for integers.
For example, if a value is too big for the int type, you can use the long type.
Conversely, if you only need to store small integer values and you want to save
system resources, you can use the short and byte types.
In chapter 2, you also learned how to use the double data type for storing
numbers with decimal places. However, if you want to save system resources,
you can use the float data type. The values in both of these data types are stored
as floating-point numbers that can hold very large and very small values, but
with a limited number of significant digits. For instance, the double type has 16
significant digits. As a result, it supports numbers like 12,345,678,901,234.56 or
12,345,678.90123456 or 12.34567890123456. However, the float type only has
7 significant digits. However, it can still support very large and small numbers
such as 1234567000000000 and .0000000001234567.
To express the value of a floating-point number, you can use scientific
notation. This lets you express very large and very small numbers in a sort of
shorthand. To use this notation, you type the letter e or E followed by a power of
10. For instance, 3.65e+9 is equal to 3.65 times 109 (3,650,000,000). Similarly,
3.65e-9 is equal to 3.65 times 10-9 (.00000000365).
You can use the char type to store one character. Since Java uses the
two-byte Unicode character set, it can store practically any character from any
language around the world. As a result, you can use Java to create applications
that read and print Greek or Chinese characters. In practice, though, you’ll
usually work with the characters that are stored in the older one-byte ASCII
character set. These characters are the first 256 characters of the Unicode
character set.
Last, you can use the boolean type to store a true or false value. This data
type is typically used to represent a condition in a control statement that can be
true or false.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 169

The eight primitive data types

Type Bytes Use
byte 1 Very short integers from -128 to 127.
short 2 Short integers from -32,768 to 32,767.
int 4 Integers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.
long 8 Long integers from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to
9,223,372,036,854,775,807.
float 4 Single-precision, floating-point numbers from -3.4E38
to 3.4E38 with up to 7 significant digits.
double 8 Double-precision, floating-point numbers from -1.7E308
to 1.7E308 with up to 16 significant digits.
char 2 A single Unicode character that’s stored in two bytes.
boolean 1 A true or false value.

Description
•• Integers are whole numbers.
•• Floating-point numbers provide for very large and very small numbers that require
decimal positions, but with a limited number of significant digits. A single-precision
number provides for numbers with up to 7 significant digits. A double-precision
number provides for numbers with up to 16 significant digits.
•• The Unicode character set provides for over 65,000 characters with two bytes used
for each character. The ASCII character set provides characters for the English
language. These characters are the first 256 characters of the Unicode character set.
•• A Boolean value can be true or false. In Java, the boolean data type provides for
Boolean values. Like the other primitive types, it uses all lowercase letters.

Technical notes
•• To express the value of a floating-point number, you can use scientific notation.
For example, 2.382E+5 means 2.382 times 105, which is a value of 238,200.
Conversely, 3.25E-8 means 3.25 times 10-8, which is a value of .0000000325. Java
sometimes uses this notation to display the value of a floating-point number.
•• Because of the way floating-point numbers are stored internally, they can’t repre-
sent the exact value of the decimal places in some numbers. This can cause a
rounding problem. Later in this chapter, you’ll learn how to use the BigDecimal
class to solve these rounding problems.
•• By default, Java uses Intel 80-bit extended precision floating-point when it is avail-
able from the CPU. As a result, code that uses floating-point numbers may produce
slightly different results on different systems.

Figure 7-1 The eight primitive data types

170 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to declare and initialize variables

In chapter 2, you learned how to declare and initialize a variable. Figure 7-2
reviews this skill, and it presents some new information. In particular, it shows
how to declare and initialize some of the data types that weren’t presented in
chapter 2.
Although you usually declare and initialize a variable in one statement, it
occasionally makes sense to do it in two. For instance, you may want to declare a
variable at the start of a coding routine without giving it a starting value because
its value won’t be set until later on.
The one-statement examples in this figure show how to declare and initialize
various types of variables. Here, the third and fourth examples show how to
assign values to the float and long types. To do that, you can add a letter after
the value. For a float type, you must add an f or F after the value. Otherwise,
the code won’t compile. For a long type, you can add an L. However, this isn’t
necessary for the code to compile. You can also use a lowercase l, but that letter
can easily be mistaken for the number 1. As a result, it’s generally considered a
better practice to use an uppercase L.
The fifth and sixth statements show how to assign an integer value that has
seven digits. Although these statements assign the same value, the second state-
ment uses underscores to separate each group of three digits. Since you can’t
use commas in numeric literals, you’ll want to use underscores whenever that
improves the readability of your code. And you can use this technique with all
types of numeric literals including double, float, and long values. However, since
this feature was introduced with Java 7, you should only use it if you’re sure
your code will be run by Java 7 or later.
The seventh statement shows how you can use scientific notation as you
assign a value to a variable. Then, the eighth and ninth examples show that you
can assign a character to the char type by enclosing a character in single quotes
or by supplying the integer that corresponds to the character in the Unicode
character set. And the tenth example shows how to initialize a variable named
valid as a boolean type with a false value.
The last example shows that you can declare and initialize two or more
variables in a single statement. Although you may occasionally want to do this,
it’s usually better to declare and initialize one variable per statement since it
usually results in code that’s easier to read and modify later.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 171

The assignment operator

Operator Name Description
= Assignment Assigns a new value to the variable.

How to declare a variable and assign a value to it in two statements

Syntax
type variableName;
variableName = value;

Example
int counter; // declaration statement
counter = 1; // assignment statement

How to declare a variable and assign a value to it in one statement

Syntax
type variableName = value;

Examples
int counter = 1; // initialize an int variable
double price = 14.95; // initialize a double variable
float interestRate = 8.125F; // F indicates a floating-point value
long numberOfBytes = 20000L; // L indicates a long integer
int population1 = 1734323; // initialize an int variable
int population2 = 1_734_323; // improve readability – Java 7 and later
double distance = 3.65e+9; // scientific notation
char letter1 = 'A'; // stored as a two-digit Unicode character
char letter2 = 65; // integer value for a Unicode character
boolean valid = false; // where false is a keyword
int x = 0, y = 0; // initialize 2 variables with 1 statement

Description
•• A variable stores a value that changes as an application executes. In other words, a
variable varies as an application executes.
•• Before you can use a variable, you must declare its data type and its name.
•• After you declare a variable, you can assign a value to the variable. To do that, you
use the assignment operator (=).
•• You can initialize a variable by declaring it and assigning a value to it. To do that,
you can use two statements, but it’s common to use one statement.
•• To declare and initialize more than one variable for a single data type in a single
statement, use commas to separate the assignments.
•• To identify float values, you must type an f or F after the number.
•• To identify long values, you can type an l or L after the number.

Naming conventions
•• Start variable names with a lowercase letter and capitalize the first letter in all
words after the first word. This naming convention is known as camel case.
•• Try to use meaningful names that are easy to remember as you code.

Figure 7-2 How to declare variables and assign values to them

172 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to declare and initialize constants

In chapter 2, you learned that a variable stores a value that changes as an
application executes. In other words, a variable varies as an application executes.
However, a constant stores a value that does not change as an application
executes. In other words, a constant remains constant as an application executes.
Most of the skills for declaring and initializing variables also apply to
declaring and initializing constants. However, when you declare a constant, you
begin the statement with the final keyword. As a result, constants are sometimes
called final variables. In addition, it’s a common coding convention to use all
uppercase letters for the name of a constant and to separate the words in the
name with an underscore as shown in figure 7-3.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 173

How to declare and initialize a constant

Syntax
final type CONSTANT_NAME = value;

Examples
final int DAYS_IN_NOVEMBER = 30;
final float SALES_TAX = .075F;
final double LIGHT_YEAR_MILES = 5.879e+12;

Description
 A constant stores a value that does not change as an application executes. In other
words, a constant remains constant as an application executes.
 To declare a constant, you begin the declaration statement with the final keyword.
After that, the skills for initializing variables also apply to constants.
 To make it easy to distinguish between variables and constants, most Java
developers use camel case for variables and all caps for constants.

Naming conventions
 Capitalize all of the letters in constants and separate words with underscores.
 Try to use meaningful names that are easy to remember.

Figure 7-3 How to declare and initialize constants

174 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code arithmetic expressions

In chapter 2, you learned how to code simple arithmetic expressions. These
expressions used the first four arithmetic operators in figure 7-4. Now, the
next three figures show how to use more of the operators that Java provides for
working with arithmetic expressions. These operators perform operations on the
operands in the expression, which can be either literal values or variables.

How to use the binary operators

In figure 7-4, the first five operators work on two operands. As a result,
they’re referred to as binary operators. For example, when you use the subtrac-
tion operator (-), you subtract one operand from another.
The addition (+), subtraction (-), and multiplication (*) operators are
self-explanatory. However, the division (/) and modulus (%) operators require
some explanation.
If you’re working with integer types, the division operator returns an integer
value that represents the number of times the right operand fits into the left
operand. Then, if necessary, you can use the modulus operator to return an
integer value that represents the remainder (which is the amount that’s left over
after dividing the left operand by the right operand).
If you’re working with floating-point types, the division operator returns a
floating-point value. This value uses decimal places to indicate the result of the
division. In most cases, that’s what you want.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 175

The arithmetic binary operators

Operator Name Description
+ Addition Adds two operands.
- Subtraction Subtracts the right operand from the left operand.
* Multiplication Multiplies the right operand and the left operand.
/ Division Divides the right operand into the left operand. If both
operands are integers, then the result is an integer.
% Modulus Returns the value that is left over after dividing the
right operand into the left operand.

Code that initializes two integer values

int x = 14;
int y = 8;

How to perform addition and subtraction

int result1 = x + y; // result1 = 22
int result2 = x - y; // result2 = 6

How to perform multiplication

int result3 = x * y; // result3 = 112

How to perform integer division

int result4 = x / y; // result4 = 1
int result5 = x % y; // result5 = 6

Code that initializes two double values

double a = 8.5;
double b = 3.4;

How to perform decimal division

double result6 = a / b; // result6 = 2.5

Description
•• An arithmetic expression consists of arithmetic operators that operate on one or
more numbers known as operands.
•• Binary operators operate on two operands.
•• An assignment statement can assign the value of an expression to a variable. Then,
when Java executes the assignment statement, it determines the value of the expres-
sion and stores the result in the variable.

Figure 7-4 How to use the arithmetic binary operators

176 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use the unary operators

Figure 7-5 shows four operators that work on one operand. As a result,
they’re referred to as unary operators. For example, you can code the increment
operator (++) after an operand to increase the value of the operand by 1.
When you code an increment (++) or decrement (--) operator, you can prefix
the operand by coding the operator before the variable. Then, the increment or
decrement operation is performed before the rest of the statement is executed.
Conversely, you can postfix the operand by coding the operator after the variable.
Then, the increment or decrement operation isn’t performed until after the state-
ment is executed.
Often, an entire statement does nothing more than increment a variable as
shown in the first two examples. Then, both the prefix and postfix forms yield
the same result. However, if you use the increment and decrement operators
as part of a larger statement, you can use the prefix and postfix forms of these
operators to control when the operation is performed. This is shown by the third
and fourth examples.
If necessary, you can code the negative sign operator (-) in front of an
operand to reverse the value of the operand as shown in the fifth example.
Although you can also code the positive sign operator (+) in front of an operand,
it doesn’t change the value of the operand. As a result, this unary operator is
rarely used.
Since each char type is a Unicode character that has a numeric code that
maps to an integer, you can perform some integer operations on char types. For
instance, the sixth example shows how you can use the increment operator to
change the numeric value for a char variable from 67 to 68, which changes the
character from C to D.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 177

The arithmetic unary operators

Operator Name Description
++ Increment Adds 1 to the operand (x = x + 1).
-- Decrement Subtracts 1 from the operand (x = x - 1).
+ Positive sign Indicates that the value is positive.
- Negative sign Changes a positive value to negative, and vice versa.

A typical statement that uses the increment operator

int i = 1;
i++; // after execution, i = 2

A typical statement that uses the decrement operator

int i = 10;
i--; // after execution, i = 9

How to postfix an increment operator

int x = 14;
int result = x++; // after execution, x = 15, result = 14

How to prefix an increment operator

int x = 14;
int result = ++x; // after execution, x = 15, result = 15

How to reverse the value of a number

int x = 14;
int result = -x; // result = -14

How to perform an arithmetic operation on a character

char letter1 = 'C'; // letter1 = 'C' Unicode integer is 67
char letter2 = ++letter1; // letter2 = 'D' Unicode integer is 68

Description
•• Unary operators operate on just one operand.
•• When you use an increment or decrement operator as a postfix to a variable, Java
performs the increment or decrement operation after other operations.
•• When you use an increment or decrement operator as a prefix to a variable, Java
performs the increment or decrement operation before other operations.
•• If you code an increment or decrement operation as a single statement, not as part
of an expression, it doesn’t matter whether the operator is prefixed or postfixed.

Figure 7-5 How to use the arithmetic unary operators

178 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use the compound assignment operators

When coding assignment statements, it’s common to code the same variable
on both sides of the equals sign as shown by the first example in figure 7-6. That
way, you can use the current value of the variable in an expression and update
the variable by assigning the result of the expression to it.
Since it’s common to write statements like this, the Java language provides
the five compound assignment operators shown in this figure. Although these
operators don’t provide any new functionality, you can use them to write shorter
code that doesn’t require you to code the same variable on both sides of the
equals sign. This is shown by the second example.
If, for example, you need to increment or decrement a variable by a value of
1, you can use a shortcut operator. For example:
month = month + 1;
can be coded with a shortcut operator as
month += 1;
which is equivalent to
month++;

Similarly, if you want to add the value of a variable named nextNumber to a

summary field named sum, you can do it like this:
sum += nextNumber;
which is equivalent to
sum = sum + nextNumber;
The technique that you use is mostly a matter of preference because both
techniques are easy to read and maintain.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 179

The compound assignment operators

Operator Name Description
+= Addition Adds the operand to the starting value of the variable and
assigns the result to the variable.
-= Subtraction Subtracts the operand from the starting value of the variable
and assigns the result to the variable.
*= Multiplication Multiplies the operand by the starting value of the variable
and assigns the result to the variable.
/= Division Divides the starting value of the variable by the operand and
assigns the result to the variable. If the operand and the value
of the variable are both integers, the result is an integer.
%= Modulus Derives the value that is left over after dividing the right
operand by the value in the variable, and then assigns this
value to the variable.

Statements that use the same variable on both sides of the equals sign
count = count + 1; // count is increased by 1
count = count – 1; // count is decreased by 1
total = total + 100.0; // total is increased by 100.0
total = total – 100.0; // total is decreased by 100.0
price = price * .8; // price is multiplied by .8
sum = sum + nextNumber; // sum is increased by the value of nextNumber

Statements that use the compound assignment operators

count += 1; // count is increased by 1
count -= 1; // count is decreased by 1
total += 100.0; // total is increased by 100.0
total -= 100.0; // total is decreased by 100.0
price *= .8; // price is multipled by .8
sum += nextNumber; // sum is increased by the value of nextNumber

Description
•• Besides the assignment operator (=), Java provides for five compound assignment
operators. These operators provide a shorthand way to code common assignment
operations.
•• The compound assignment operators are also referred to as the augmented assign-
ment operators.

Figure 7-6 How to use the compound assignment operators

180 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to work with the order of precedence

Figure 7-7 gives more information about coding arithmetic expressions. In
particular, it gives the order of precedence of the arithmetic operations. This
means that all of the prefixed increment and decrement operations in an expres-
sion are done first, followed by all of the positive and negative operations, and
so on. If there are two or more operations at the same order of precedence, the
operations are done from left to right.
This sequence of operations doesn’t always work the way you want it to.
As a result, you sometimes need to override the sequence by using parentheses.
Then, the expressions in the innermost sets of parentheses are done first,
followed by the next sets of parentheses, and so on. Within the parentheses,
though, the operations are done left to right by the order of precedence. In
general, you should use parentheses to specify the sequence of operations
whenever there’s any doubt about it.
The first example shows why you sometimes need use parentheses to specify
the order of precedence. Here, the first expression that calculates price doesn’t
use parentheses. As a result, Java uses the default order of precedence and
performs the multiplication operation before the subtraction operation, which
gives an incorrect result. In contrast, the second expression that calculates price
encloses the subtraction operation in parentheses. As a result, Java performs the
subtraction operation before the multiplication operation, which gives a correct
result.
The second example shows how you can use parentheses in a more compli-
cated expression. Here, the first expression uses three sets of parentheses to
calculate the current value of an investment account after a monthly investment
amount is added to it, monthly interest is calculated, and the interest is added
to it. If you have trouble following this, you can plug the initial values into the
expression and evaluate it one set of parentheses at a time:
(5000 + 100) * (1 + (.12 / 12))
(5000 + 100) * (1 + .01)
5100 * 1.01
5151

If you have trouble creating an expression like this for a difficult calculation,
you can often break the expression down into a series of statements as shown
in the last four lines of code. Here, the first statement adds the monthly invest-
ment amount to the current value. The second statement calculates the monthly
interest rate. The third statement calculates the monthly interest amount. And the
fourth statement adds the interest to the current value. This takes away the need
for parentheses. In addition, it makes the code easier to read and debug.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 181

The order of precedence for arithmetic operations

1. Increment and decrement
2. Positive and negative
3. Multiplication, division, and remainder
4. Addition and subtraction

Code that calculates a discounted price

Using the default order of precedence
double discountPercent = .2; // 20% discount
double price = 100; // $100 price
price = price * 1 - discountPercent; // price = $99.8

Using parentheses to specify the order of precedence

price = price * (1 – discountPercent); // price = $80

Code that calculates the current value of a monthly investment

double currentValue = 5000; // current value of investment account
double monthlyInvestment = 100; // amount added each month
double yearlyInterestRate = .12; // yearly interest rate

Using parentheses to specify the order of precedence

currentValue = (currentValue + monthlyInvestment) *
(1 + (yearlyInterestRate/12));

Using separate statements to control the order of precedence

currentValue += monthlyInvestment; // add investment
double monthlyInterestRate = yearlyInterestRate / 12;
double monthlyInterest = currentValue * monthlyInterestRate;
currentValue += monthlyInterest; // add interest

Description
•• Unless parentheses are used, the operations in an expression takes place from left to
right in the order of precedence.
•• To specify the sequence of operations, you can use parentheses. Then, the opera-
tions in the innermost set of parentheses are done first, followed by the operations
in the next set, and so on.

Figure 7-7 How to work with the order of precedence

182 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to work with casting

As you develop Java applications, you’ll frequently need to convert data
from one data type to another. To do that, you use a technique called casting as
shown in figure 7-8.
Java provides for two types of casting. Implicit casts are performed automat-
ically and can be used to convert data with a less precise type such as the float
type to a more precise type such as the double type. Similarly, implicit casts can
be used to convert data from a smaller type such as the int type to a larger type
such as the long type. This is called a widening conversion because the new type
is always wide enough to hold the original value. For instance, the first statement
in this figure converts an integer value of 93 to a double value.
Java also performs an implicit cast on the values in an arithmetic expression
if some of the values have more precise data types than other values as shown by
the next three statements. Here, the variable named d is declared with the double
type, and the variables named i and j are declared with the int type. Then, when
these variables are used together in an expression, Java converts both i and j to
double values when it evaluates this expression.
A narrowing conversion is one that casts data from a more precise data type
to a less precise data type. With this type of conversion, the less precise data type
may not be wide enough to hold the original value, which may result in the loss
of some data. In that case, you must use an explicit cast.
To perform an explicit cast, you code the data type in parentheses before the
variable that you want to convert. For instance, the first example that performs
an explicit cast converts a double value of 93.75 to an int value of 93. Here,
an explicit cast is required because Java won’t perform an implicit cast for a
narrowing conversion that may result in the loss of data. In this case, the conver-
sion results in the loss of the decimal digits.
When you use explicit casting in an arithmetic expression, Java performs the
casting before the arithmetic operations as shown by the last two examples of
explicit casts. In the last example, Java casts two integer types to double types
before the division is done so the result has decimal places if necessary. Without
explicit casting, the expression would return an integer value that Java would
then cast to a double.
When you code an explicit cast, an exception may occur at runtime if the
JRE isn’t able to perform the cast. As a result, you should use an explicit cast
only when you’re sure that the JRE is able to perform the cast.
Although you typically cast between numeric data types, you can also cast
between the int and char types as shown by the third example. That’s because
every char value corresponds to an int value that identifies it in the Unicode
character set. Since there’s no possible loss of data, you can implicitly cast
between these data types. However, if you prefer, you can also code these casts
explicitly.
If you use a compound assignment operator such as +=, an explicit cast is
implied. This can result in the loss of data as shown in the fourth example. As
a result, you should be careful when using the compound assignment operators
and mixing data types.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 183

How implicit casting works

Data types
byteshortintlongfloatdouble
Examples
double grade = 93; // convert int to double

double d = 95.0;
int i = 86, j = 91;
double average = (d+i+j)/3; // convert i and j to double values
// average = 90.666666...

How to code an explicit cast

Syntax
(type) expression

Examples
int grade = (int) 93.75; // convert double to int (grade = 93)

double d = 95.0;
int i = 86, j = 91;
int average = ((int)d+i+j)/3; // convert d to int value (average = 90)
int remainder = ((int)d+i+j)%3; // convert d to int value (remainer = 2)

double result = (double) i / (double) j; // result has decimal places

How to cast between char and int types

char letterChar = 65; // convert int to char (letterChar = 'A')
char letterChar2 = (char) 65; // this works too
int letterInt = 'A'; // convert char to int (letterInt = 65)
int letterInt2 = (int) 'A'; // this works too

How the compound assignment operator can cause an explicit cast

int i = 4;
double d = 4.5;
i += d; // i = 8 (4.5 is cast to the int type)

Description
•• If you assign a less precise data type to a more precise data type, or you assign a
smaller data type to a larger data type, Java automatically performs the cast and makes
the conversion. This can be referred to as an implicit cast or a widening conversion.
•• When you code an arithmetic expression, Java implicitly casts the less precise data
types to the most precise data type.
•• To code an assignment statement that assigns a more precise data type to a less
precise data type, you must use parentheses to specify the less precise data type.
This can be referred to as an explicit cast or a narrowing conversion.
•• When you code an explicit cast in an arithmetic expression, Java performs the cast
before any arithmetic operations.
•• Since each char value has a corresponding int value, you can implicitly or explicitly
cast between these types.

Figure 7-8 How to work with casting

184 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use Java classes to work

with numbers
As you learned in chapter 3, Java provides hundreds of classes that include
methods that you can use in your code. The next few figures present two classes
that are designed to work with the numeric data types. In addition, they show
how to use the BigDecimal class to fix rounding errors that sometimes occur
with the floating-point types.

How to use the Math class

The Math class provides a few dozen methods for working with numeric
data types. Figure 7-9 presents some of the most useful ones.
The first example shows how to use the round method. Here, the first state-
ment rounds a double type to a long type, and the second statement rounds a
float type to an int type. However, this method only rounds to an integer value.
As a result, it’s not that useful. In the next figure, you’ll learn how to use the
BigDecimal class to round to the specified number of decimal places, which is
much more useful.
The second example shows how to use the pow method to raise the first
argument to the power of the second argument. This method returns a double
value and accepts two double arguments. However, since Java automatically
converts any arguments of a less precise numeric type to a double, the pow
method accepts all of the numeric types. In this example, the first statement is
equal to 22, the second statement is equal to 23, and the third and fourth state-
ments are equal to 52.
In general, the methods of the Math class work the way you would expect.
However, you may need to cast numeric types to get the methods to work the
way you want them to. For example, the pow method returns a double type. So if
you want to return an int type, you need to cast the double type to an int type as
shown in the fourth example of the pow method.
The third example shows how to use the sqrt method to get the square root of
a number. Then, the fourth example shows how to use the max and min methods
to return the greater or lesser of two values. If you study these examples, you
shouldn’t have any trouble understanding how they work.
The fifth example shows how to use the random method to generate random
numbers. Since this method returns a random double value greater than or equal
to 0.0 and less than 1.0, you can return any range of values by multiplying the
random number by another number. In this example, the first statement returns a
random double value greater than or equal to 0.0 and less than 100.0. Then, the
second statement casts this double value to a long data type. If you want, you
can use code like this to generate random values for an application.
If you have the right mathematical background, you shouldn’t have any
trouble using these or any of the other Math methods. For example, if you’ve
taken a course in trigonometry, you should be able to understand the trigono-
metric methods that the Math class provides.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 185

The Math class

java.lang.Math

Common static methods of the Math class

Method Description
round(number) Returns the closest long value to a double value or the closest int
value to a float value. The result has no decimal places.
pow(number, power) Returns a double value of a double argument (number) that is raised
to the power of another double argument (power).
sqrt(number) Returns a double value that’s the square root of the double argument.
max(a, b) Returns the greater of two float, double, int, or long arguments.
min(a, b) Returns the lesser of two float, double, int, or long arguments.
random() Returns a random double value greater than or equal to 0.0 and less
than 1.0.

The round method

long result = Math.round(1.667); // result is 2
int result = Math.round(1.49F); // result is 1

The pow method

double result = Math.pow(2, 2); // result is 4.0 (2*2)
double result = Math.pow(2, 3); // result is 8.0 (2*2*2)
double result = Math.pow(5, 2); // result is 25.0 (5 squared)
int result = (int) Math.pow(5, 2); // result is 25 (5 squared)

The sqrt method

double result = Math.sqrt(20.25); // result is 4.5

The max and min methods

int x = 67;
int y = 23;
int max = Math.max(x, y); // max is 67
int min = Math.min(x, y); // min is 23

The random method

double x = Math.random() * 100; // result is a value >= 0.0 and < 100.0
long result = (long) x; // converts the result from double to long

Description
•• You can use the static methods of the Math class to perform common arithmetic
operations. This figure summarizes the methods that are the most useful for
business applications.
•• When a method requires one or more arguments, you code them between the
parentheses, separating multiple arguments with commas.
•• In some cases, you need to cast the result to the data type that you want.

Figure 7-9 How to use the Math class

186 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use the BigDecimal class

The BigDecimal class is designed to solve two types of problems that are
associated with floating-point numbers. First, this class allows you to create an
exact representation of a decimal number. Second, this class allows you to work
with decimal numbers that have more than 16 significant digits.
Figure 7-10 summarizes a few of the constructors that you can use with
the BigDecimal class. These constructors accept an int, double, long, or String
argument and create a BigDecimal object from it. Because floating-point
numbers are limited to 16 significant digits and because these numbers don’t
always represent decimal numbers exactly, it’s often best to create BigDecimal
objects from strings rather than doubles.
Once you create a BigDecimal object, you can use its methods to work with
the data. For example, the add, subtract, multiply, and divide methods let you
perform those operations as shown in the next figure.
The setScale method lets you set the number of decimal places (scale) for
the value in a BigDecimal object as well as the rounding mode. For example,
you can use the setScale method to return a number that’s rounded to two
decimal places like this:
salesTax = salesTax.setScale(2, RoundingMode.HALF_UP);
In this example, RoundingMode.HALF_UP is a value in the RoundingMode
enumeration that’s summarized in this figure.
An enumeration contains a set of related constants and is similar to a class
in some ways. For example, you typically import an enumeration at the start
of a class so you don’t have to fully qualify its name when you use it. For now,
you can code the rounding mode as HALF_UP because it provides the type of
rounding that’s normal for business applications.
If you want to round a double value so it includes decimal places, you
can create a BigDecimal object from the double value. Then, you can use the
setScale method to specify the number of decimal places and the rounding
mode. Finally, you can call the doubleValue method to get a double value.
In this figure, for example, the last code example rounds the double variable
named discountAmount so it has 2 decimal places. To do that, this code uses
method chaining. In other words, it calls the setScale method directly from
the BigDecimal constructor, and it calls the doubleValue method directly from
the setScale method. This is possible because the setScale method returns the
BigDecimal object.
When working with BigDecimal objects, you may sometimes need to create
one BigDecimal object from another BigDecimal object. However, you can’t
supply a BigDecimal object to the constructor of the BigDecimal class. Instead,
you need to call the toString method from the BigDecimal object to convert the
BigDecimal object to a String object.
If you look at the API documentation for the BigDecimal class, you’ll see
that it provides several other methods that you may want to use. This class also
provides many other features that you may want to learn more about.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 187

The BigDecimal class

java.math.BigDecimal

Constructors of the BigDecimal class

Constructor Description
BigDecimal(int) Creates a new BigDecimal object with the specified int value.
BigDecimal(double) Creates a new BigDecimal object with the specified double value.
BigDecimal(long) Creates a new BigDecimal object with the specified long value.
BigDecimal(String) Creates a new BigDecimal object with the specified String object.
Because of the limitations of floating-point numbers, it’s often
best to create BigDecimal objects from strings.

Methods of the BigDecimal class

Methods Description
add(value) Returns the value of this BigDecimal object after the
specified BigDecimal value has been added to it.
subtract(value) Returns the value of this BigDecimal object after the
specified BigDecimal value has been subtracted from it.
multiply(value) Returns the value of this BigDecimal object multiplied by
the specified BigDecimal value.
divide(value, scale, Returns the value of this BigDecimal object divided by the
roundingMode) value of the specified BigDecimal object, sets the specified
scale, and uses the specified rounding mode.
setScale(scale, Sets the scale and rounding mode for the BigDecimal object.
roundingMode)
doubleValue() Converts the BigDecimal value to a double value.
toString() Converts the BigDecimal value to a String object.

The RoundingMode enumeration

java.math.RoundingMode

Two of the values in the RoundingMode enumeration

Values Description
HALF_UP Round halfway values up to nearest neighbor.
HALF_DOWN Round halfway values down to nearest neighbor.
HALF_EVEN Round halfway values toward the nearest even neighbor.

How to round a double value to 2 decimal places

discountAmount = new BigDecimal(discountAmount)
.setScale(2, RoundingMode.HALF_UP).doubleValue();

Description
•• The BigDecimal class provides a way to perform accurate decimal calculations in
Java. It also provides a way to store numbers with more than 16 significant digits.

Figure 7-10 How to use the BigDecimal class

188 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to fix rounding errors

Figure 7-11 shows how you can use the BigDecimal class to fix rounding
errors that often occur when using the double type. To start, the first example
uses the double type to store monetary values for the subtotal, discount amount,
and total before tax. In addition, it uses the double type to store a percent for the
discount.
The second example creates two NumberFormat objects and uses them to
format the values of the first example. Then, it prints these formatted values
to the console. Unfortunately, this displays results that aren’t correct. If the
discount amount is $10.01, the total before tax should be $90.04. However, it’s
$90.05.
What’s causing the error? Well, because of the way NumberFormat class
works, the discount amount value of 10.005 is rounded up to 10.01, and the total
before tax value of 90.045 is also rounded up to 90.05. Although an error like
this may be acceptable in some types of applications, it is unacceptable in most
business applications. For those applications, you need to provide solutions that
deliver the results that you want. Imagine getting an invoice that didn’t add up!
What’s the solution? Well, one solution is to round the discount amount to 2
decimal places as soon as it’s calculated. To do that, you can add a line of code
like the last line of code shown in the last figure immediately after the statement
that calculates the discount amount.
Another solution is to use BigDecimal objects instead of double values as
shown in the third example. Then, you can use the methods of the BigDecimal
class to perform the calculations and round the discount amount. This example
starts by constructing BigDecimal objects from String objects for the subtotal
and discount percent. Then, it uses the multiply method to calculate the discount
amount, uses the setScale method to round this decimal number to 2 decimal
places, and uses the subtract method to calculate the total before tax.
In this example, only the discount amount needs to be rounded. That’s
because it’s calculated using multiplication, which can result in extra decimal
places. In contrast, the total before tax doesn’t need to be rounded because it’s
calculated using subtraction, which can’t result in extra decimal places. Once
this code performs the calculations and does the rounding, it can safely use the
NumberFormat objects to format the decimal values for display.
Isn’t this a lot of work just to do simple arithmetic? Relative to some other
languages, you would have to say that it is. In fact, it’s fair to say that this
is a weakness of Java. However, once you get the hang of working with the
BigDecimal class, you should be able to fix rounding problems with ease.
If the BigDecimal class solves all problems with decimal numbers, why
isn’t it the default way to work with decimal numbers? Unfortunately, using
the BigDecimal class is extremely slow when compared to the double and float
types. That’s because the BigDecimal class can’t access the processor’s FPU. For
most applications, this relative slowness isn’t noticeable. However, it wouldn’t
be acceptable for games or scientific applications that need to make thousands of
floating-point calculations per second.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 189

Code that uses double values to store monetary values

double subtotal = 100.05; // 100.050
double discountPercent = .1;
double discountAmount = subtotal * discountPercent; // 10.005
double totalBeforeTax = subtotal - discountAmount; // 90.045

Code that causes a rounding error

// get the objects for currency and percent formatting
NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
NumberFormat percent = NumberFormat.getPercentInstance();

// format the message and print it to the console

String formattedMessage =
"Subtotal: " + currency.format(subtotal) + "\n"
+ "Discount percent: " + percent.format(discountPercent) + "\n"
+ "Discount amount: " + currency.format(discountAmount) + "\n"
+ "Total before tax: " + currency.format(totalBeforeTax) + "\n";
System.out.println(formattedMessage);

The formatted result that contains the rounding error

Subtotal: $100.05
Discount percent: 10%
Discount amount: $10.01
Total before tax: $90.05

Code that uses BigDecimal objects to fix the rounding error

BigDecimal subtotal = new BigDecimal("100.05"); // 100.05
BigDecimal discountPercent = new BigDecimal(".1");
BigDecimal discountAmount = subtotal.multiply(discountPercent); // 10.005
discountAmount = discountAmount.setScale(2, RoundingMode.HALF_UP); // 10.01
BigDecimal totalBeforeTax = subtotal.subtract(discountAmount); // 90.04

The formatted result

Subtotal: $100.05
Discount percent: 10%
Discount amount: $10.01
Total before tax: $90.04

Description
•• With this code, all of the numbers are stored in BigDecimal objects, and all of the
results have two decimal places that have been rounded correctly when needed.
•• Once the results have been calculated, you can use the NumberFormat methods to
format the values in the BigDecimal objects without any fear of rounding problems.

Figure 7-11 How to fix a rounding error

190 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

The Invoice application

This chapter ends by presenting the code for an Invoice application.
Although this application is simple, it gets input from the user, performs calcula-
tions that use this input, and displays the results of the calculations.

The user interface

Figure 7-12 starts by showing the console for the Invoice application. This
application begins by getting a subtotal value from the user. Then, it calculates
the discount percent, discount amount, total before tax, sales tax, and total. Next,
it formats and displays these values. Finally, it asks the user if he or she wants
to continue. If the user enters “y”, the application performs another calculation
like the one shown in this figure. On the other hand, if the user enters “n”, the
application displays a goodbye message and exits.

The code
Much of the code for the Invoice application works like the code for the Line
Item application presented in chapter 3. As a result, the following description
focuses on the new skills that were presented in this chapter.
To start, this code imports the BigDecimal class and the RoundingMode
enumeration. This allows you to use the BigDecimal class to round numbers that
have decimal places as described earlier in this chapter.
Within the while loop, the first statement prompts the user to enter a
subtotal. Then, the second statement gets a String object for the text that the
user entered. Next, the third statement creates a new BigDecimal object from
this String object, calls the setScale method directly from this object, and
calls the doubleValue method directly from the setScale method. This returns
a double value that’s rounded to 2 decimal places and stores it in the variable
named subtotal. This is necessary because it’s possible that the user might enter
a subtotal that had more than 2 decimal places. In that case, this code would
prevent a rounding error by rounding the number to 2 decimal places.
After getting a double value for the subtotal, the loop uses an if/else state-
ment to calculate the discount amount based on the value of the subtotal. If, for
example, the subtotal is greater than or equal to 200, the discount amount is .2
times the subtotal (a 20% discount). If that condition isn’t true and the subtotal
is greater than or equal to 100, the discount is .1 times subtotal (a 10% discount).
Otherwise, the discount amount is 0.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 191

The console
Welcome to the Invoice Total Calculator

Enter subtotal: 100.05

INVOICE
Subtotal: $100.05
Discount percent: 10%
Discount amount: $10.01
Total before tax: $90.04
Sales tax: $4.50
Invoice total: $94.54

Continue? (y/n): n

Bye!

The code
package murach.invoice;

import java.util.Scanner;
import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.math.RoundingMode;

public class InvoiceApp {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Invoice Total Calculator");
System.out.println();

// create a Scanner object named sc

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

// perform invoice calculations until choice isn't equal to "y" or "Y"

String choice = "y";
while (!choice.equalsIgnoreCase("n")) {
// get the input from the user
System.out.print("Enter subtotal: ");
String subtotalLine = sc.nextLine();
double subtotal = new BigDecimal(subtotalLine)
.setScale(2, RoundingMode.HALF_UP)
.doubleValue();

// get discount percent based on subtotal

double discountPercent;
if (subtotal >= 200) {
discountPercent = .2;
} else if (subtotal >= 100) {
discountPercent = .1;
} else {
discountPercent = 0;
}

Figure 7-12 The Invoice application (part 1 of 2)

192 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

After the if/else statement, this code calculates the discount amount by
multiplying the subtotal by the discount percent. Since this can result in more
than 2 decimal places, this code uses the BigDecimal class to round the result
to 2 decimal places, and it returns the number as a double value. To do that, this
code creates a new BigDecimal object from the double value for the discount
amount, uses the setScale method to round the number, and uses the doubleValue
method to return the double value. Then, this code calculates the total before tax
by subtracting discountAmount from subtotal.
This code continues by declaring a constant named SALES_TAX_PCT
that stores the sales tax percent. Here, this constant is set to a value of .05 (5%).
Then, this code multiplies this constant by the total before tax to get the sales tax
amount. Since this amount might contain more than 2 decimal places, this code
uses the BigDecimal class to round this number to 2 decimal places using the
same technique that was used earlier in this class.
After this code finishes making all of its calculations, it uses the
NumberFormat class to apply currency and percent formatting to the monetary
and percent values. Then, it prints a message to the console that includes these
values. Since all of the monetary values have been rounded to 2 decimal places
before this formatting was applied, the values that are displayed should add up.
In other words, this application shouldn’t contain any rounding errors.
Unfortunately, this application still doesn’t handle the exception that’s
thrown if the user doesn’t enter a valid value for the subtotal. However, you’ll
learn how to handle this exception in the next chapter.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 193

The code (continued)

// calculate discount amount
double discountAmount = subtotal * discountPercent;
discountAmount = new BigDecimal(discountAmount)
.setScale(2, RoundingMode.HALF_UP)
.doubleValue();

// calculate total before tax

double totalBeforeTax = subtotal - discountAmount;

// calculate sales tax

final double SALES_TAX_PCT = .05;
double salesTax = SALES_TAX_PCT * totalBeforeTax;
salesTax = new BigDecimal(salesTax)
.setScale(2, RoundingMode.HALF_UP)
.doubleValue();

// calculate total
double total = totalBeforeTax + salesTax;

// get the currency and percent formatter objects

NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
NumberFormat percent = NumberFormat.getPercentInstance();

// display the data

String message = "\nINVOICE\n" +
"Subtotal: " + currency.format(subtotal) + "\n"
+ "Discount percent: " + percent.format(discountPercent) + "\n"
+ "Discount amount: " + currency.format(discountAmount) + "\n"
+ "Total before tax: " + currency.format(totalBeforeTax) + "\n"
+ "Sales tax: " + currency.format(salesTax) + "\n"
+ "Invoice total: " + currency.format(total) + "\n";

System.out.println(message);

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}
sc.close();
System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 7-12 The Invoice application (part 2 of 2)

194 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Perspective
If this chapter has succeeded, you should now be able to work with any of
the primitive data types you need in your applications. In addition, you should
be able to use the Math class whenever you need it. And you should be able
to use the BigDecimal class to solve the problems that are associated with
floating-point numbers such as rounding errors.

Summary
•• Java provides eight primitive data types to store integer, floating-point,
character, and boolean values.
•• Variables store data that changes as an application runs. Constants store data
that doesn’t change as an application runs. You use assignment statements to
assign values to variables.
•• You can use arithmetic operators to form arithmetic expressions, and you
can use some assignment operators as a shorthand for some types of arith-
metic expressions.
•• Java can implicitly cast a less precise data type to a more precise data type.
Java also lets you explicitly cast a more precise data type to a less precise
data type.
•• You can use the static methods of the Math class to perform mathematical
operations such as calculating the square root of a number.
•• You can use the BigDecimal class to create BigDecimal objects that store
decimal values that aren’t limited to 16 significant digits. In addition, you
can use the methods of these objects to perform operations such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, and rounding.
 Chapter 7 How to work with primitive types and operators 195

Exercise 7-1 Modify the Line Item application

In this exercise, you’ll use some of the skills that you learned in this chapter to
modify the Line Item application.
1. Import the project named ch07_ex1_LineItem that’s in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code for this project and run it until you understand how it
works.
2. Open the Product class. Use the float type instead of the double type for the
price. To do that, you need to modify the declaration for the instance variable,
the constructor that sets the price, the getPrice method, and the setPrice
method.
3. Open the LineItem class. Modify the getTotal method so it returns a float type
instead of a double type.
4. Open the ProductDB class. Modify the statements that use the setPrice
method so they pass float literals instead of double literals.
5. Run the application to make sure it still works correctly.
6. Before the while loop, declare a counter variable of the byte type. After the
code that displays the line item, use the increment operator to increment the
counter variable. After the while loop, display the number of line items that
the user entered. For example, for 2 line items, display a message like this:
Number of line items: 2

7. Before the while loop, declare a total variable of the float type. After the code
that displays the line item, use the compound addition operator to add the
total for the line item to the total variable. After the while loop, display the
total like this:
Invoice total: 287.5

8. Before the while loop, declare one variable of the float type that stores the
largest line item and another variable of the float type that stores the smallest
line item. After displaying the line item, use the max and min methods of the
Math class to update the values for the largest and smallest line items. After
the loop, display the total like this:
Largest line item: 172.5
Smallest line item: 100.0

To get this to work correctly, you need to initialize the minimum value to a
very large value.
196 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Exercise 7-2 Modify the Invoice application

to use the BigDecimal class
In this exercise, you’ll modify the Invoice application that’s presented in this
chapter so it uses the BigDecimal class to perform calculations.
1. Import the project named ch07_ex2_Invoice that’s in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code for this project.
2. Run the application and test it with a range of subtotal values including a
subtotal value of 100.05. Note that the totals all add up correctly.
3. Remove the statement that rounds the sales tax.
4. Run the application and test it by entering a subtotal value of 100.05. Note
that the totals don’t add up correctly.
5. Modify the code so it uses the methods of the BigDecimal class to perform
all of the rounding, multiplication, addition, and subtractions that needs to be
done for this application. In other words, don’t use the arithmetic operators
for multiplication (*), addition (+), or subtraction (-). Make sure to round
numbers up to 2 decimal places wherever that’s necessary.
6. Run the application and test it by entering a subtotal value of 100.05. The
totals should add up correctly.
 8
How to code control
statements
In chapter 3, you learned how to code simple if/else statements and while
loops to control the execution of your applications. Now, you’ll learn more
about coding these statements. In addition, you’ll learn how to code some
other control statements such as switch statements, for loops, and try/catch
statements.

How to code Boolean expressions....................................198

How to compare primitive data types..........................................................198
How to use the logical operators................................................................. 200
How to code if/else and switch statements......................202
How to code if/else statements.................................................................... 202
How to code switch statements.................................................................... 206
A new if/else statement for the Invoice application.....................................210
How to code loops...............................................................212
How to code while loops..............................................................................212
How to code do-while loops......................................................................... 214
How to code for loops...................................................................................216
How to code break and continue statements................................................ 218
How to code try/catch statements....................................220
How exceptions work....................................................................................220
How to catch exceptions...............................................................................222
The Future Value application.............................................224
The user interface........................................................................................ 224
The code....................................................................................................... 224
Perspective..........................................................................230
198 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code Boolean expressions

A Boolean expression is an expression that evaluates to a Boolean value of
true or false. Boolean expressions are often in control statements like the ones
described in this chapter. That’s why this chapter begins by showing how to use
the relational and logical operators to code Boolean expressions.

How to compare primitive data types

Figure 8-1 shows how to use the six relational operators to code a Boolean
expression that compares operands that are primitive data types. In a Boolean
expression, an operand can be a literal, a variable, an arithmetic expression, or a
keyword such as true or false.
The first three expressions in this figure use the equality operator (==) to test
if the two operands are equal. To use this operator, you must code two equals
signs instead of one. That’s because a single equals sign is used for assignment
statements. As a result, if you try to code a Boolean expression with a single
equals sign, your code doesn’t compile.
The fourth expression uses the inequality operator (!=) to test if a variable
is not equal to a numeric literal. Here, the expression evaluates to true if the
variable named subtotal is not equal to zero.
The fifth and sixth expressions use the greater than operator (>) and the less
than operator (<). Then, the seventh and eighth expressions use the greater than
or equal operator (>=) and less than or equal operator (<=).
The last two expressions show that you don’t need the == or != operator
when you use a boolean variable in an expression. That’s because, by definition,
a boolean variable evaluates to a Boolean value. As a result, if you declare a
boolean variable named isValid, then
isValid == true
is the same as
isValid
Although the first expression may be easier for a beginning programmer
to understand, the second expression is commonly used by professional
programmers.
When comparing numeric values, you usually compare values of the same
data type. However, if you compare different types of numeric values, Java
automatically casts the less precise numeric type to the more precise type. For
example, if you compare an int type to a double type, Java casts the int type to
the double type before performing the comparison.
Since floating-point numbers don’t represent the exact value of a number,
you shouldn’t use the equals operator (==) to compare them for equality. Instead,
you can use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators to make sure two
numbers fall within a range that’s close enough to be considered equal.
As you learned in chapter 3, a string is a reference type, not a primitive type.
As a result, you shouldn’t use the equals operator (==) to test two strings for
equality. Instead, you should use the equals or equalsIgnoreCase method of the
String class.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 199

Relational operators
Operator Name Description
== Equality Returns a true value if both operands are equal.
!= Inequality Returns a true value if the left and right operands
are not equal.
> Greater Than Returns a true value if the left operand is
greater than the right operand.
< Less Than Returns a true value if the left operand is less
than the right operand.
>= Greater Than Or Equal Returns a true value if the left operand is
greater than or equal to the right operand.
<= Less Than Or Equal Returns a true value if the left operand is less
than or equal to the right operand.

Boolean expressions
discountPercent == 2.3 // equal to a numeric literal
letter == 'y' // equal to a char literal
isValid == true // equal to a true value

subtotal != 0 // not equal to a numeric literal

years > 0 // greater than a numeric literal

i < months // less than a variable

subtotal >= 500 // greater than or equal to a numeric literal

quantity <= reorderPoint // less than or equal to a variable

isValid // isValid is equal to true

!isValid // isValid is equal to false

Description
•• You can use the relational operators to create a Boolean expression that compares
two operands and returns a Boolean value that is either true or false.
•• If you compare two numeric operands that are not of the same type, Java converts
the less precise operand to the type of the more precise operand before comparing
the operands.
•• A variable of the boolean type stores a Boolean value of true or false.
•• The floating-point types (double and float) don’t always represent the exact value of
a number. As a result, you shouldn’t use the equals operator (==) to compare them
for equality.
•• String objects are reference types, not primitive types. As a result, you shouldn’t
use the equals operator (==) to compare them for equality. Instead, you should use
the equals or equalsIgnoreCase methods of the String class as described in
chapter 3.

Figure 8-1 How to compare primitive data types

200 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use the logical operators

Figure 8-2 shows how to use the logical operators to code a Boolean expres-
sion that consists of two or more Boolean expressions. For example, the first
expression uses the && operator. As a result, it evaluates to true if both the first
expression and the second expression evaluate to true. Conversely, the second
expression uses the || operator. As a result, it evaluates to true if either the first
expression or the second expression evaluate to true.
When you use the && and || operators, the second expression is only evalu-
ated if necessary. Because of that, these operators are sometimes referred to as
the short-circuit operators. To illustrate, suppose the value of subtotal in the
first example is less than 250. Then, the first expression evaluates to false. That
means that the entire expression returns a false value. As a result, Java doesn’t
evaluate the second expression. Since this is more efficient than always evalu-
ating both expressions, you typically use these operators.
You can also use multiple logical operators in the same expression as shown
by the third example. Here, the && and || operators connect three expressions.
As a result, the entire expression is true if the first and second expressions are
true or the third expression is true.
When you code this type of expression, the expression is evaluated from left
to right based on this order of precedence: arithmetic operations first, followed
by relational operations, followed by logical operations. For logical operations,
And operations are performed before Or operations. If you need to change this
sequence or if there’s any doubt about the order of precedence, you can use
parentheses to clarify or control this evaluation sequence.
If necessary, you can use the ! operator to reverse the value of an expression.
However, this can create code that’s difficult to read. As a result, you should
avoid using the ! operators whenever possible. For example, instead of coding
!(subtotal < 100)
you can code
subtotal >= 100
Both expressions perform the same task, but the second expression is easier to
read.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 201

Logical operators
Operator Name Description
&& And Returns a true value if both expressions are true. This operator
only evaluates the second expression if necessary.
|| Or Returns a true value if either expression is true. This operator
only evaluates the second expression if necessary.
! Not Reverses the value of the expression.

Boolean expressions that use the logical operators

subtotal > 250 && subtotal < 500 // short-circuit AND
quantity <= 4 || quantity >= 12 // short-circuit OR

(subtotal > 250 && subtotal < 500) || isValid // 2 logical operators

!(counter++ >= years) // NOT

Description
•• You can use the logical operators to create a Boolean expression that combines two
or more Boolean expressions.
•• Since the && and || operators only evaluate the second expression if necessary,
they’re sometimes referred to as short-circuit operators and are slightly more
efficient than the & and | operators.
•• By default, Not operations are performed first, followed by And operations, and
then Or operations. These operations are performed after arithmetic operations and
relational operations.
•• You can use parentheses to change the sequence of operations. In addition, you can
use parentheses to clarify the sequence of operations.

Figure 8-2 How to use the logical operators

202 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code if/else

and switch statements
In chapter 3, you were introduced to the basic skills for working with an
if/else statement. Now, this topic reviews those skills and expands on them. In
addition, it shows how to code the switch statement, which can be used instead
of some types of if/else statements.

How to code if/else statements

Figure 8-3 reviews the use of the if/else statement (or just if statement). This
is Java’s implementation of the selection structure.
Whenever you code a set of braces in Java, you are explicitly defining a
block of code that may contain one or more statements. Then, any variables
declared within those braces have block scope. In other words, they can’t be
accessed outside of that block. As a result, if you want to access a variable
outside of the block, you must declare it before the block.
The first three examples show how block scope works. In these examples,
the variable named discountPercent is declared before the if/else statement. As a
result, the blocks of code defined by the if/else statement can modify the value of
this variable, but this variable is still available after the if/else statement finishes
executing.
The first example shows an if/else statement that only contains an if clause.
In this example, the statement that declares the discountPercent variable initial-
izes it to a value of .05 (5%). Then, the if clause checks whether the subtotal is
greater than or equal to 100. If so, it sets the discountPercent variable to a value
of .1 (10%). Otherwise, it leaves the discountPercent variable at its default value
of .05 (5%).
The second example shows an if/else statement that contains an if clause and
an else clause. This performs the same task as the first example. However, it uses
the else clause to set the value of the discountPercent variable.
The advantage of the second example is that the statements that set the value
for the discountPercent variable are all coded at the same level. As a result, some
programmers find it easier to read and understand this example. The disadvan-
tage of this approach is that it requires three more lines of code. Since the first
and second examples work equally well, you can choose the approach that you
prefer.
The third example shows an if/else statement that contains multiple else if
clauses. When coding a statement like this, it’s important to remember that Java
evaluates if/else statements from the top down. Once a clause evaluates to true,
Java executes the statements for that clause and skips the rest of the if/else state-
ment. As a result, it’s most efficient to code the most likely conditions first and
the least likely conditions last.
In the third example, for instance, the if clause contains the most likely
condition (a subtotal greater than or equal to 100 and less then 200). For this to
work, you must use the logical operator to connect two Boolean expressions.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 203

The syntax of the if/else statement

if (booleanExpression) {statements}
[else if (booleanExpression) {statements}] ...
[else {statements}]

An if statement that only has an if clause

double discountPercent = .05;
if (subtotal >= 100) {
discountPercent = .1;
}

With an else clause

double discountPercent;
if (subtotal >= 100) {
discountPercent = .1;
} else {
discountPercent = .05;
}

With multiple else if clauses

double discountPercent;
if (subtotal >= 100 && subtotal < 200) {
discountPercent = .1;
} else if (subtotal >= 200 && subtotal < 300) {
discountPercent = .2;
} else if (subtotal >= 300) {
discountPercent = .3;
} else {
discountPercent = .05;
}

Description
•• An if/else statement, or just if statement, always contains an if clause. In addition, it
can contain one or more else if clauses, and one else clause.
•• A pair of braces defines a block of code. Any variables declared within a block have
block scope. As a result, they can only be used within that block.
•• Java evaluates if/else statements from the top down. Once a clause evaluates to true,
Java skips the rest of the if/else statement. As a result, it’s most efficient to code the
most likely conditions first and the least likely conditions last.

Figure 8-3 How to code if/else statements (part 1 of 2)

204 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

If efficiency isn’t your primary concern, you should code the conditions
in a logical sequence. For example, you could start by coding a condition that
checks for the highest subtotal and work your way down to the lowest subtotal.
This would simplify the condition for each clause by removing the need for the
logical operators. As always, the easier your code is to read and understand, the
easier it is to test, debug, and maintain.
The fourth example of this figure shows an if/else statement that contains
multiple statements within each clause. Here, the first statement sets the variable
named discountPercent, and the second statement sets the variable named
shippingMethod. Since these clauses contain multiple statements, the braces are
required.
If a clause only contains a single statement, the braces are optional. In that
case, you can just end the clause with a semicolon as shown in the fifth and sixth
examples. Here, the fifth example shows an if/else statement that uses two lines
per clause. Then, the sixth example shows an if statement that uses one line.
Some programmers prefer the second approach since it clearly shows that the
clause should only contain a single statement.
However, it’s generally considered a good coding style to use braces for all
if/else statements. That’s why the first three examples in part 1 of this figure use
them. That way, you won’t introduce bugs later if you add more statements and
forget to add the braces.
When coding if statements, it’s a common practice to code one if state-
ment within another if statement. This is known as nesting if statements, and
it’s shown by the third example in this figure. When you nest if statements,
it’s a good practice to indent the nested statements and their clauses since this
allows the programmer to easily identify where each nested statement begins
and ends. In this figure, for example, Java only executes the nested statement if
the customer type is “r”. Otherwise, it executes the statements in the outer else
clause.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 205

An if statement with clauses that contain multiple statements

double discountPercent;
String shippingMethod = "";
if (subtotal >= 100) {
discountPercent = .1;
shippingMethod = "UPS";
} else {
discountPercent = .05;
shippingMethod = "USPS";
}

An if statement without braces

double discountPercent;
if (subtotal >= 100)
discountPercent = .1;
else
discountPercent = .05;

Another way to code an if statement without braces

double discountPercent;
if (subtotal >= 100) discountPercent = .1;

Nested if statements
double discountPercent;
if (customerType.equals("r")) {
if (subtotal >= 100) { // begin nested if
discountPercent = .2;
} else {
discountPercent =.1;
} // end nested if
}
else {
discountPercent = .4;
}

Description
•• If a clause in an if/else statement contains just one statement, you don’t have to
enclose the statement in braces. You can just end the clause with a semicolon.
•• It’s generally considered a good coding style to use braces for all if/else statements.
That way, you won’t introduce bugs later if you add more statements and forget to
add the braces.
•• Whenever necessary, you can nest one if statement within another.

Figure 8-3 How to code if/else statements (part 2 of 2)

206 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code switch statements

Figure 8-4 shows how to work with the switch statement. This is the Java
implementation of a control structure known as the case structure, which
lets you code different actions for different cases. The switch statement can
sometimes be used in place of an if statement with else if clauses.
Prior to Java 7, the switch statement could only be used with expressions
that evaluate to an integer. As a result, in early versions of Java, the switch state-
ment had limited use. However, with Java 7 and later, the switch statement can
also be used with expressions that evaluate to a string.
To code a switch statement, you start by coding the switch keyword followed
by a switch expression that evaluates to one of the integer types or to a string.
After the switch expression, you can code one or more case labels that represent
the possible values of the switch expression. Then, when the switch expression
matches the value specified by the case label, the statements after the label are
executed.
You can code the case labels in any sequence, but you should be sure to
follow each label with a colon. Then, if the label contains one or more state-
ments, you can code a break statement after them to jump to the end of the
switch statement. Otherwise, the execution of the program falls through to the
next case label and executes the statements in that label. The default label is an
optional label that identifies the statements to execute if none of the case labels
are executed.
The first example shows how to code a switch statement that sets the descrip-
tion for a product based on the value of an int variable named productID. Here,
the first case label assigns a value of “Hammer” to the productDescription
variable if productID is equal to 1. Then, the break statement exits the switch
statement. Similarly, the second case label sets the product description to “Box of
Nails” if productID is equal to 2 and then exits the switch statement. If productID
is equal to something other than 1 or 2, the default case label is executed. Like
the other two case labels, this one sets the value of the productDescription
variable and then exits the switch statement.
The second example works like the first example, but the switch statement
evaluates the value of a String variable named productCode. Here, the first case
label assigns a value of “Hammer” to the productDescription variable if
productCode is equal to “hm01”. Since the switch statement is case-sensitive, this
case label is only executed if the productCode variable stores a string with the
exact same capitalization. For example, this case isn’t executed if productCode is
equal to “HM01”. Similarly, the second case label sets the product description to
“Box of Nails” if productCode is equal to “bn03”.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 207

The syntax of the switch statement

switch (switchExpression) {
case label1:
statements
break;
[case label2:
statements
break;] ...
[default:
statements
break;]
}

A switch statement that uses an int variable named productID

switch (productID) {
case 1:
productDescription = "Hammer";
break;
case 2:
productDescription = "Box of Nails";
break;
default:
productDescription = "Product not found";
break;
}

A switch statement that uses a String variable named productCode

switch (productCode) {
case "hm01":
productDescription = "Hammer";
break;
case "bn03":
productDescription = "Box of Nails";
break;
default:
productDescription = "Product not found";
break;
}

Description
•• Prior to Java 7, the switch statement could only be used with an expression that
evaluated to one of these integer types: char, byte, short, or int.
•• Starting with Java 7, the switch statement can also be used with string expressions.
Then, the switch statement uses the equals method of the String object to compare
the strings. As a result, the strings in switch statements are case-sensitive.
•• The switch statement transfers control to the appropriate case label. If control isn’t
transferred to one of the case labels, the optional default label is executed.
•• For primitive types, switch statements are generally more efficient than if/else
statements.

Figure 8-4 How to code switch statements (part 1 of 2)

208 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

The third example shows how to code a switch statement that sets a day
variable to “weekday” or “weekend” depending on the value of the integer in the
variable named dayOfWeek. Here, the case labels for 1, 2, 3, and 4 don’t contain
any statements, so execution falls through to the case label for 5. As a result, day
is set to “weekday” for any of those values. Similarly, whenever dayOfWeek
equals 6 or 7, day is set to “weekend”.
Although a break statement is coded at the end of the last case label in this
example, you should know that it isn’t required. If you omit this break statement,
program execution automatically falls through to the statement that follows
the switch statement. However, it’s generally considered a good programming
practice to code a break statement at the end of the last case label. That way,
if you add a new case label after the last case label, your switch statement still
works correctly. Similarly, if you move the last case label so it occurs earlier in
the switch statement, it still works correctly.
When you code switch statements, you can nest one statement within
another. You can also nest if/else statements within switch statements and switch
statements within if/else statements. Here again, you should try to code the state-
ments with a logical structure that is relatively easy to understand. If necessary,
you can also add comments that clarify the logic of your code.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 209

A switch statement that falls through case labels

switch (dayOfWeek) {
case 1:
case 2:
case 3:
case 4:
case 5:
day = "weekday";
break;
case 6:
case 7:
day = "weekend";
break;
}

Description
•• If a case label doesn’t contain a break statement, code execution falls through to the
next label. Otherwise, the break statement ends the switch statement.
•• The case labels can be coded in any sequence.

Figure 8-4 How to code switch statements (part 2 of 2)

210 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

A new if/else statement

for the Invoice application
To give you a better idea of how if/else statements work, figure 8-5 presents
an enhanced version of the Invoice application. This time, the console prompts
the user for two entries: customer type and subtotal. Then, it uses a nested if/else
statement to determine the discount for the user.
If the user enters “r” or “c” for the customer type, the discount percent
changes depending on the value of the subtotal. If, for example, the customer
type is “r” and the subtotal is less than 100, the discount percent is .1. Or, if the
customer type is “c” and the subtotal is less than 250, the discount percent is .2.
This example codes the conditions in a logical order. For instance, the
expressions in the nested if statement for customer type “r” go from a subtotal
that’s less than 100, to a subtotal that’s greater than or equal to 100 but less
than 250, to a subtotal that’s greater than or equal to 250. That covers all of the
possible subtotals from the smallest to the largest. Although you could code this
statement in other ways, this sequence makes it easy to tell that all possibilities
have been covered.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 211

The console
Welcome to the Invoice Calculator

Enter customer type (r/c): r

Enter subtotal: 100

INVOICE
Subtotal: $100.00
Discount percent: 10%
Discount amount: $10.00
Total before tax: $90.00
Sales tax: $4.50
Invoice total: $94.50

Continue? (y/n): n

Bye!

The nested if/else statement that determines the discount percent

double discountPercent = 0;
if (customerType.equalsIgnoreCase("r")) {
if (subtotal < 100) {
discountPercent = 0.0;
} else if (subtotal >= 100 && subtotal < 250) {
discountPercent = .1;
} else if (subtotal >= 250) {
discountPercent = .2;
}
}
else if (customerType.equalsIgnoreCase("c")) {
if (subtotal < 250) {
discountPercent = .2;
} else if (subtotal >= 250) {
discountPercent = .3;
}
} else {
discountPercent = .1;
}

Figure 8-5 A new if/else statement for the Invoice application

212 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code loops

In chapter 3, you learned how to code while statements and while loops.
Now, you’ll review the coding for those loops and learn how to code two other
Java statements that implement the iteration structure.

How to code while loops

Figure 8-6 shows how to use the while statement to code a while loop. When
coding while loops, it’s common to use a counter variable to execute the state-
ments in the loop a certain number of times. For example, the first loop in this
figure uses an int counter variable named i that’s initialized to 1. Then, the last
statement in the loop increments the counter variable with each iteration of the
loop. As a result, the first statement in this loop is executed as long as the counter
variable is less than or equal to 36. When working with counter variables, it is a
common coding practice to name them with single letters like i, j, and k.
When you code loops, it’s important to remember that the code within a loop
has block scope. As a result, any variables that are declared within the loop can’t
be used outside of the loop. That’s why the variables that are needed outside of
the loops in this figure have been declared outside of the loop. In the first loop,
for example, the variable named futureValue has been declared outside the loop.
That way, you can use this variable after the loop has finished executing.
When you code loops, you usually want to avoid infinite loops. If, for
example, you forget to code a statement that increments the counter variable, the
loop never ends. If this happens, in Eclipse, you can stop the loop by clicking on
the Terminate button that’s displayed in the Console window.
However, there are times when you may want to code an infinite loop. For
example, you may want a loop to run endlessly until it accomplishes its task. In
that case, you can code an infinite loop like the one in the second example. Then,
you can end the loop once the task is accomplished. To do that, you can use a
break statement as described later in this chapter.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 213

The syntax of the while loop

while (booleanExpression) {
statements
}

A while loop that calculates a future value

int i = 1;
int months = 36;
while (i <= months) {
futureValue = (futureValue + monthlyPayment) *
(1 + monthlyInterestRate);
i++;
}

An infinite while loop

while (true) {
// run this code endlessly
}

Description
•• In a while loop, the condition is tested before the loop is executed.
•• A while loop executes the block of statements within the loop as long as its
Boolean expression is true.
•• If a loop requires more than one statement, you must enclose the statements in
braces. This identifies the block of statements that are executed by the loop, and
any variables or constants that are declared in that block have block scope.
•• If a loop requires just one statement, you don’t have to enclose the statement in
braces. However, it’s generally considered a good practice to use braces to identify
the statements that are executed by the loop.
•• If the condition for a loop never becomes false, the loop never ends. This is known
as an infinite loop. Although infinite loops can be useful at times, beginning
programmers often code them accidentally. In Eclipse, you can cancel an infinite
loop by clicking on the Terminate button in the Console window.

Figure 8-6 How to code while loops

214 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code do-while loops

Figure 8-7 shows how to code a do-while loop. The difference between a
while loop and a do-while loop is that the Boolean expression is evaluated at
the beginning of a while loop and at the end of a do-while loop. As a result, the
statements in a while loop are executed zero or more times while the statements
in a do-while loop are always executed at least once.
Most of the time, you can use either of these two types of loops to accom-
plish the same task. For example, the first do-while loop in this figure performs
the same calculation as the first while loop in the previous figure.
One problem with a do-while loop is that it’s possible for the while state-
ment to get separated from the loop if a programmer inserts code between the
loop and the while statement. This can introduce a bug that’s difficult to find and
fix.
As a result, it’s generally considered a best practice to use while loops
instead of do-while loops. In practice, do-while loops are rarely used.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 215

The syntax of the do-while loop

do {
statements
} while (booleanExpression);

A do-while loop that calculates a future value

int i = 1;
int months = 36;
do {
futureValue = (futureValue + monthlyPayment) *
(1 + monthlyInterestRate);
i++;
} while (i <= months);

Description
•• A do-while loop works like a while loop, except that the condition is tested after the
loop is executed.
•• In general, while loops are preferred over do-while loops. In practice, while loops
are commonly used and do-while loops are rarely used.
•• One problem with a do-while loop is that it’s possible for the while statement to
get separated from the loop if a programmer inserts code between the loop and the
while statement. This can introduce a bug that’s difficult to find and fix.

Figure 8-7 How to code do-while loops

216 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code for loops

Figure 8-8 shows how to use the for statement to code for loops. This type of
loop is useful when you need to increment or decrement a counter that deter-
mines how many times the loop is executed.
To code a for loop, you start by coding the for keyword followed by three
expressions enclosed in parentheses and separated by semicolons. The first
expression is an initialization expression that gives the starting value for the
counter variable. This expression can also declare the counter variable, if neces-
sary. The second expression is a Boolean expression that determines when the
loop ends. And the third expression is an increment expression that determines
how the counter is incremented or decremented each time the loop is executed.
The first example in this figure shows how to use these expressions. First,
the initialization expression declares a counter named i that’s of the int type and
is initialized to a value of 0. Next, a Boolean expression specifies that the loop
should be repeated as long as the counter is less than 5. Then, the increment
expression increments the counter by 1 at the end of each repetition of the loop.
Since this loop stores the counter variable followed by a space in a string, this
code stores the numbers 0 to 4 in a string variable with each number followed by
a space.
The second example calculates the sum of 8, 6, 4, and 2. Here, the sum
variable is declared before the loop so it’s available outside of the loop. Within
the parentheses of the for loop, the initialization expression initializes the
counter variable to 8, the Boolean expression indicates that the loop ends when
the counter variable is no longer greater than zero, and the increment expression
uses an assignment operator to subtract 2 from the counter variable with each
repetition of the loop. Within the loop, the value of the counter variable is added
to the value that’s already stored in the sum variable. As a result, the final value
for the sum variable is 20.
The third example shows how to code a loop that calculates the future
value for a series of monthly payments. Here, the loop executes one time for
each month. If you compare this for loop with the while loop in figure 8-6, you
can see how a for loop improves upon a while loop when a counter variable is
required.
The fourth example shows how to code an infinite for loop. Here, the initial-
ization expression, the Boolean expression, and the increment expression are all
left blank. In most cases, it’s easier to read and understand an infinite while loop
like the one shown in figure 8-6. As a result, in practice, for loops are rarely used
to code infinite loops.
The fifth example performs the same task as the for loop that’s shown in the
first example. However, this loop only uses a single statement within the loop.
As a result, the braces for the loop are optional. This works the same as it does
for the if/else statements. As with that statement, it’s generally considered a good
coding style to use braces. That’s why the first four examples in this figure use
them.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 217

The syntax of the for loop

for (initializationExpression; booleanExpression; incrementExpression) {
statements
}

A for loop that stores the numbers 0 through 4 in a string

String numbers = "";
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
numbers += i;
numbers += " ";
}

The console after the string is printed to it

0 1 2 3 4

A for loop that adds the numbers 8, 6, 4, and 2

int sum = 0;
for (int i = 8; i > 0; i -= 2) {
sum += i;
}

A for loop that calculates a future value

for (int i = 1; i <= months; i++) {
futureValue = (futureValue + monthlyPayment) *
(1 + monthlyInterestRate);
}

An infinite for loop

for ( ; ; ) {
// continue executing loop until the application ends
}

A for loop without braces

String numbers = "";
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
numbers += i + " ";

Description
•• A for loop is useful when you need to increment or decrement a counter that
determines how many times the loop is executed.
•• Within the parentheses of a for loop, you code an initialization expression that gives
the starting value for the counter, a Boolean expression that determines when the
loop ends, and an increment expression that increments or decrements the counter.
•• The loop ends when the Boolean expression is false.
•• If necessary, you can declare the counter variable before the for loop. Then, this
variable is in scope after the loop finishes executing.
•• Within the parentheses of a for loop, all three expressions are optional. As a result,
you can code an infinite for loop by coding the semicolons that separate these
expressions but by not coding any of these expressions.

Figure 8-8 How to code for loops

218 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code break and continue statements

When you code loops, you usually want them to run to completion.
Occasionally, though, you may need to jump to the end of a loop and exit the
loop. To do that, you can use the break statement as described in figure 8-9.
Conversely, you may need to jump to the top of a loop and continue the loop. To
do that, you can use the continue statement.
If you need to exit the current loop, you can code a break statement as shown
in the first example. Here, the Boolean expression for the while loop has been set
to true. As a result, this loop would execute indefinitely without a statement that
explicitly jumps out of the loop.
Within this loop, the first statement generates a random integer ranging in
value from 0 to 10. Then, the second statement prints the number to the console.
After that, an if statement checks whether this number is equal to 7. If so, this
code prints a message to the control and uses a break statement to exit the loop.
If you need to jump to the top of the current loop, you can use the continue
statement as shown in the second example. This statement work similarly to a
break statement, but it jumps to the beginning of a loop instead of the end of a
loop. Here, the for loop uses a counter variable to execute 5 times. Within this
loop, the first example generates a random integer ranging in value from 0 to
10. Then, if the random number is greater than 7, the loop prints a message to
the console and uses a continue statement to jump to the top of the loop. As a
result, the println method that comes after the if statement is only executed if the
random number is less than or equal to 7. In other words, random numbers of 8
through 10 aren’t printed to the console. Instead, they cause the “invalid value”
message to be printed to the console.
When reviewing other programmers code, it’s possible that you might
come across one loop that’s nested within another. In addition, it’s possible that
the outer loop may have a label that allows the code in the inner loop to jump
to the top or to jump out of the outer loop. However, using labels with loops
often yields code that’s difficult to read and maintain. As a result, it’s generally
considered a best practice to avoid using labels with loops.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 219

The syntax of the break statement

break;

A break statement that exits the loop

while (true) {
int random = (int) (Math.random() * 10);
System.out.println(random);
if (random == 7) {
System.out.println("value found - exit loop!");
break;
}
}

The console
2
5
7
value found - exit loop!

The syntax of the continue statement

continue;

A continue statement that jumps to the beginning of a loop

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
int random = (int) (Math.random() * 10);
if (random > 7) {
System.out.println("invalid value – continue loop!");
continue;
}
System.out.println(random);
}

The console
invalid value – continue loop!
0
1
2
invalid value – continue loop!

Description
•• To jump to the end of the current loop, you can use the break statement.
•• To skip the rest of the statements in the current loop and jump to the top of the
current loop, you can use the continue statement.

Figure 8-9 How to code break and continue statements

220 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to code try/catch statements

To prevent your applications from crashing, you can write try/catch state-
ments that handle exceptions when they occur. This is known as exception
handling, and it plays an important role in most applications.

How exceptions work

When Java can’t perform an operation, it throws an exception. An exception
is an object that’s created from one of the classes in the Exception hierarchy
such as the ones shown in figure 8-10. Exception objects represent errors that
have occurred, and they contain information about those errors. One of the most
common causes of exceptions is invalid input data.
The Exception class that’s at the top of the exception hierarchy defines the
most general type of exception. The RuntimeException class is a subclass of the
Exception class that defines a more specific type of exception. In particular, it
defines an exception that occurs at runtime.
The other four exceptions in this figure are subclasses of the
RuntimeException class. As a result, they define even more specific types of
exceptions that occur at runtime. For example, the NumberFormatException
occurs at runtime when the parseInt method of the Integer class can’t convert the
specified String object to an int value. Similarly, the NumberFormatException
occurs at runtime when the parseDouble method of the Double class can’t
convert the specified String object to a double value.
A well-coded application catches any exceptions that are thrown and handles
them. Exception handling can be as simple as notifying users that they must
enter valid data. Or, it may involve notifying users that the application is being
shut down, saving as much data as possible, cleaning up resources, and exiting
the application as smoothly as possible.
When you’re testing an application, it’s common to encounter exceptions
that haven’t been handled. For a console application, this typically causes
information about the exception to be displayed at the console. This information
usually includes the name of the exception class, a brief message that describes
the cause of the exception, and a stack trace. In this figure, for example, you can
see the information that’s displayed when the user enters an invalid double value.
A stack trace is a list of the methods that were called before the excep-
tion occurred. These methods are listed in the reverse order from the order in
which they were called. Each method includes a line number, which can help
you find the statement that caused the exception in your source code. In this
figure, for example, the stack trace indicates that line 18 of the main method of
the FutureValueApp class threw an exception when it called the parseDouble
method of the Double class.
One common situation where you’ll need to handle exceptions is when
you convert string data to numeric data. If, for example, the parseDouble
method of the Double class can’t convert user input to a double type, it throws a
NumberFormatException.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 221

Some of the classes in the Exception hierarchy

Exception
RuntimeException
IllegalArgumentException
NumberFormatException
ArithmeticException
NullPointerException

The console after a NumberFormatException has been thrown

Enter monthly investment: $100
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NumberFormatException: For
input string: "$100"
at sun.misc.FloatingDecimal.readJavaFormatString(
FloatingDecimal.java:2043)
at sun.misc.FloatingDecimal.parseDouble(
FloatingDecimal.java:110)
at java.lang.Double.parseDouble(
Double.java:538)
at murach.futurevalue.FutureValueApp.main(
FutureValueApp.java:18)
Java Result: 1

Two methods that might throw an exception

Class Method Throws
Integer parseInt(String) NumberFormatException
Double parseDouble(String) NumberFormatException

Description
 An exception is an object that contains information about an error that has occurred.
When an error occurs in a method, the method throws an exception.
 If an exception is thrown when you’re testing a console application, some
information about the exception, including its name and stack trace, is displayed at
the console.
 A stack trace is a list of the methods that were called before the exception occurred.
The list appears in reverse order, from the last method called to the first method
called.
 All exceptions are subclasses of the Exception class. The Exception class
represents the most general type of exception. Each successive layer of subclasses
represents more specific exceptions.
 The RuntimeException class represents exceptions that occur at runtime. All of the
exceptions described in this chapter are runtime exceptions.

Figure 8-10 How exceptions work

222 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to catch exceptions

To catch and handle exceptions, you can use a try/catch statement like the
one shown in figure 8-11. First, you code a try clause that contains a block of
one or more statements that may cause an exception. Then, you code a catch
clause immediately after the try clause. This clause contains the block of state-
ments that’s executed if an exception is thrown by a statement in the try block.
Since this block contains the code that handles the exception, it is known as an
exception handler.
The example in this figure shows how you can use a try statement in an
application that’s getting input from a user and attempting to convert it to a
double value. Here, the parseDouble method of the Double class is coded within
a try clause, and a catch clause is coded for the NumberFormatException.
Then, if the user enters a non-numeric value, the parseDouble method throws a
NumberFormatException and the code in the catch block is executed.
In this case, the catch block starts by displaying an error message. Then, it
uses the continue statement to jump to the beginning of the loop, which causes
the application to prompt the user to enter the number again.
The catch block in this example is only executed if the
NumberFormatException is thrown. Since this exception is the only exception
that’s likely to be thrown in the try block, this is the clearest way to catch this
exception. If you wanted the catch clause to catch other exceptions as well,
however, you could name an exception higher up in the Exception hierarchy.
For example, if you wanted to catch any runtime exception, you could code this
catch clause:
catch (RuntimeException e)
Or, if you wanted to catch any exception, you could code this catch clause:
catch (Exception e)
You’ll learn more about how this works in chapter 16.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 223

The syntax for a simple try/catch statement

try { statements }
catch (ExceptionClass exceptionName) { statements }

Code that catches a NumberFormatException

String choice = "y";
while (!choice.equalsIgnoreCase("n")) {
// get the input from the user
System.out.print("Enter monthly investment: ");
double monthlyInvestment;
try {
String line = sc.nextLine();
monthlyInvestment = Double.parseDouble(line);
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
System.out.println("Error! Invalid number. Try again.\n");
continue; // jump to the top of the loop
}

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}

Console output
Enter monthly investment: $100
Error! Invalid number. Try again.

Enter monthly investment:

Description
•• In a try statement (or try/catch statement), you code any statements that may throw
an exception in a try block. Then, you can code a catch block that handles any
exceptions that may occur in the try block.
•• When an exception occurs, any remaining statements in the try block are skipped
and the statements in the catch block are executed.
•• Any variables or objects that are used in both the try and catch blocks must be
declared before the try and catch blocks so both the try and catch blocks can access
them.
•• If you use a catch block to catch a specific type of exception, you should also
import the package that contains that exception class.

Figure 8-11 How to catch exceptions

224 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

The Future Value application

This chapter finishes by presenting a Future Value application that calculates
a future value for a series of monthly payments at the specified interest rate. This
application shows some of the skills presented in this chapter within the context
of an application. In addition, this application uses a Console class that you can
use to display data on the console or to get data from the console.

The user interface

Figure 8-12 begins by showing the console for this application. Here, the
user starts by entering valid numbers for the monthly investment, the yearly
interest rate, and the number of years. Then, the application calculates the future
value and displays it on the console.
After the first calculation, the user enters a “y” to continue with a second
calculation. For this calculation, the user enters an invalid number (“four”) for
the number of years. The application handles this by displaying an error message
that indicates that the user entered an invalid integer and prompting the user to
enter the years again.
Note that this does not restart the application. As a result, the user does not
lose the data (monthly investment and yearly interest rate) that he or she has
already entered. Also, the error message is specific enough (invalid integer) to be
helpful.

The code
Part 1 of this figure shows the Financial class that’s stored in the package
named murach.calculators. This class contains a single static method named
calculateFutureValue. This method accepts three arguments: (1) the monthly
investment, (2) the yearly interest rate, and (3) the number of years. From these
arguments, this method calculates the future value and returns it.
Within this method, the first two statements convert the yearly values to
monthly values. To do that, the first statement divides the yearly interest rate by
12 to convert it to a monthly interest rate, and divides that rate by 100 to convert
it to a percent value. Then, the second statement multiples the number of years
by 12 to get the number of months.
After this method creates the monthly variables, it uses a for loop to calcu-
late the future value. To do that, it executes the loop once for each month.
Within the loop, the first statement adds the monthly investment to the future
value. The second statement calculates the amount of interest for the month. And
the third statement adds the interest to the future value. After the loop, the return
statement method returns the future value to the calling method.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 225

The console
Welcome to the Future Value Calculator

Enter monthly investment: 100

Enter yearly interest rate: 3
Enter number of years: 3
Future value: $3,771.46

Continue? (y/n): y

Enter monthly investment: 100

Enter yearly interest rate: 3
Enter number of years: four
Error! Invalid integer. Try again.
Enter number of years: 4
Future value: $5,105.85

Continue? (y/n): n

Bye!

The Financial class

package murach.calculators;

public class Financial {

public static double calculateFutureValue(double monthlyInvestment,

double yearlyInterestRate, int years) {

// convert yearly values to monthly values

double monthlyInterestRate = yearlyInterestRate / 12 / 100;
int months = years * 12;

// calculate the future value

double futureValue = 0;
for (int i = 1; i <= months; i++) {
futureValue += monthlyInvestment;
double monthlyInterestAmount = futureValue * monthlyInterestRate;
futureValue += monthlyInterestAmount;
}

return futureValue;
}
}

Figure 8-12 The Future Value application (part 1 of 3)

226 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Part 2 of this figure shows the Console class that’s stored in the package
named murach.ui. This class contains static methods that display data on the
console and get input from the console.
To start, this class begins with the import statement for the Scanner class.
Then, within the class, the first statement declares a static instance variable for
a Scanner object named sc and creates this object. As a result, all of the static
methods in this class can use that Scanner object.
The two displayLine methods use the println method of the System.out
object to display data to the console. Here, the first displayLine method displays
a blank line, and the second displayLine method displays the specified string on
its own line.
The getString method begins by displaying the specified string to prompt the
user to enter data. For example, you could specify a string of “Enter your name:”
to prompt the user to enter a string. Then, this method uses the nextLine method
of the Scanner object to get a String object for the data that the user enters, and it
returns that String object.
The getInt method begins by declaring an int variable named i. This variable
stores the int value that’s returned by this method. Then, this method uses an
infinite while loop to continue prompting the user until he or she enters a valid
integer. Within the infinite while loop, the first statement displays the prompt.
For example, you specify a string of “Enter years:” to prompt the user to enter an
integer for the number of years.
After the prompt, this method uses a try/catch statement. Within the try
block, the first statement attempts to convert the data that the user enters to an
integer. If this conversion throws a NumberFormatException, the catch block
prints an error message that indicates that the user didn’t enter a valid integer
and the while loop continues. As a result, it prompts the user for the integer
again.
However, if this conversion succeeds, the code in the try block stores the
integer in the variable named i. Then, the try block calls the break statement.
This exits the while loop, which returns the integer stored in the variable
named i.
The getDouble method works like the getInt method. However, it works with
the double type instead of the int type.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 227

The Console class

package murach.ui;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Console {

private static Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

public static void displayLine() {

System.out.println();
}

public static void displayLine(String s) {

System.out.println(s);
}

public static String getString(String prompt) {

System.out.print(prompt);
String s = sc.nextLine();
return s;
}

public static int getInt(String prompt) {

int i = 0;
while (true) {
System.out.print(prompt);
try {
i = Integer.parseInt(sc.nextLine());
break;
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
System.out.println("Error! Invalid integer. Try again.");
}
}
return i;
}

public static double getDouble(String prompt) {

double d = 0;
while (true) {
System.out.print(prompt);
try {
d = Double.parseDouble(sc.nextLine());
break;
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
System.out.println("Error! Invalid decimal. Try again.");
}
}
return d;
}
}

Figure 8-12 The Future Value application (part 2 of 3)

228 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Part 3 of this figure shows the Main class that’s stored in the package named
murach.ui. This class contains the main method for the application. Much of the
code for this method works like the main method for the Line Item application
presented in chapter 3. As a result, the following description focuses on the new
skills that were presented in this chapter.
To start, this application begins with import statements that import the
NumberFormat class and the Financial class shown in part 1 of this figure. As a
result, this application can use the Financial class to calculate the future value,
and it can use the NumberFormat class to format the future value.
Within the main method, the first two statements use the Console class to
display a welcome message. Then, within the while loop, the first three state-
ments use the getDouble and getInt methods of Console class. These statements
get the double and int values that correspond with the monthly investment, the
yearly interest rate, and number of years. Here, the Console class converts the
string that’s entered by the user to the correct numeric type and handles the
exception that’s thrown if the user enters an invalid number. As a result, it makes
it easy to get numeric data from the user.
After getting the numeric data from the user, this code uses the Financial
class shown earlier to calculate the future value. Then, this code uses the
Console class and the NumberFormat class to display the future value with
currency formatting.
After displaying the future value, this code uses the Console class to ask
the user if he or she wants to continue. To do that, this code uses the getString
method to get the data that’s entered by the user.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 229

The Main class

package murach.ui;

import java.text.NumberFormat;
import murach.calculators.Financial;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// displayLine a welcome message
Console.displayLine("Welcome to the Future Value Calculator");
Console.displayLine();

String choice = "y";

while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {

// get input from user

double monthlyInvestment =
Console.getDouble("Enter monthly investment: ");
double yearlyInterestRate =
Console.getDouble("Enter yearly interest rate: ");
int years =
Console.getInt("Enter number of years: ");

// call the future value method

double futureValue = Financial.calculateFutureValue(
monthlyInvestment, yearlyInterestRate, years);

// format and displayLine the result

Console.displayLine("Future value: " +
NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance().format(futureValue));
Console.displayLine();

// see if the user wants to continue

choice = Console.getString("Continue? (y/n): ");
Console.displayLine();
}
Console.displayLine("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 8-12 The Future Value application (part 3 of 3)

230 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Perspective
If this chapter has succeeded, you should now be able to use if, switch,
while, do-while, and for statements. These are the Java statements that imple-
ment the selection, case, and iteration structures, and they provide the logic of
an application. You should also be able to code try/catch statements that handle
some runtime exceptions that occur when the user enters invalid numbers.

Summary
•• You can use the relational operators to create Boolean expressions that
compare primitive data types and return true or false values, and you can use
the logical operators to connect two or more Boolean expressions.
•• To determine whether two strings are equal, you can call the equals or
equalsIgnoreCase method from a String object.
•• You can use if/else statements and switch statements to control the logic of
an application, and you can nest these statements whenever necessary.
•• You can use while, do-while, and for loops to repeatedly execute one or more
statements until a Boolean expression evaluates to false, and you can nest
these statements whenever necessary.
•• You can use break statements to jump to the end of the current loop, and you
can use continue statements to jump to the start of the current loop.
•• An exception is an object that’s created from the Exception class or one
of its subclasses. This object contains information about an error that has
occurred.
•• The stack trace is a list of methods that were called before an exception
occurred.
•• You can code a try statement to create an exception handler that catches and
handles any exceptions that are thrown. This is known as exception handling.
 Chapter 8 How to code control statements 231

Exercise 8-1 Modify the Invoice application

In this exercise, you’ll modify the Invoice application so it uses more complex
control statements.
1. Import the project named ch08_ex1_Invoice that’s stored in the ex_starts
folder. Then, test it with valid data to make sure it works correctly.
2. Modify the if/else statement so customers of type “r” with a subtotal that is
greater than or equal to $250 but less than $500 get a 25% discount and those
with a subtotal of $500 or more get a 30% discount. Next, change the if/else
statement so customers of type “c” always get a 20% discount. Then, test the
application to make sure this works correctly.
3. Add another customer type to the if/else statement so customers of type “t”
get a 40% discount for subtotals of less than $500, and a 50% discount for
subtotals of $500 or more. Then, test the application.
4. Check your code to make sure that no discount is provided for a customer
type code that isn’t “r”, “c”, or “t”. Then, fix this if necessary.
5. Use a switch statement for the customer type instead of using an if/else state-
ment.
6. Add a try/catch statement that catches the NumberFormatException that
occurs when the user enters an invalid subtotal. In the catch block, add code
that prints an error message and jumps to the top of the while loop.
7. Modify the while loop so it is an infinite loop. Then, add code to the end of
the loop that breaks out of the loop if the user enters “n” at the “Continue
(y/n)” prompt.
232 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Exercise 8-2 Modify the Future Value

application
In this exercise, you’ll modify the Future Value application presented at the end
of this chapter.

Modify a for loop

1. Import the project named ch08_ex2_FutureValue that’s stored in the ex_starts
folder. Then, run the application to see how it works.
2. Open the Financial class that’s in the murach.calculators package. Then, edit
the for loop to use a counter variable named month instead of i.
3. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
Use if statements to check for minimum and maximum values
4. Open the Console class that’s in the murach.ui package. Then, review this
code.
5. Modify the getDouble method so it accepts three parameters: (1) a String
object for the prompt, (2) a double type for a minimum value, and (3) a
double type for a maximum value.
6. Within the getDouble method add an if statement that makes sure the user
enters a value within the minimum and maximum values. If the user enters a
value that’s not within the minimum and maximum values, display a
user-friendly error message and jump to the top of the loop.
7. Open the Main class and edit it so it uses the getDouble method of the
Console class to specify minimum and maximum values for the monthly
investment and the monthly interest rate. For example, you might want to
specify that the monthly investment should be greater than 0 but less than
100,000. Similarly, you might want to specify that the yearly interest rate
should be greater than 0 but less than 20.
8. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
 9
How to work with strings
In section 1 of this book, you learned some basic skills for working with
strings. In this chapter, you’ll learn more about working with strings. Because
you’ll use strings in many of the applications that you develop, you should
know how to use all of the skills presented in this chapter.

How to work with the String class.....................................234

How to create strings....................................................................................234
How to join strings........................................................................................234
How to append data to a string.....................................................................234
How to compare strings................................................................................236
How to work with string indexes..................................................................238
How to modify strings................................................................................. 240
How to work with the StringBuilder class.........................242
How to create a StringBuilder object...........................................................242
How to append data to a string.....................................................................242
How to modify strings................................................................................. 244
The Product Lister application..........................................246
The user interface........................................................................................ 246
The StringUtil class..................................................................................... 246
The Main class............................................................................................. 248
Perspective..........................................................................250
234 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to work with the String class

In chapter 2, you learned how to create and join strings. In chapter 3, you
learned how to use two methods of the String class to compare strings. Now,
you’ll review those skills, and you’ll learn some new skills for working with
strings.

How to create strings

The first example in figure 9-1 shows how to create String variables and
initialize them. The first statement creates a String variable named product-
Code and assigns it an empty string (""). The second statement creates a String
variable named productCode and assigns it a String literal of “Murach’s Java
Programming”. And the third statement creates a String variable named bookTitle
and assigns it the String variable named title. As a result, both of these variables
refer to the same String object.

How to join strings

The second and third examples show how to join strings. This is also known
as concatenating strings. To do that, you can use the + operator to join String
variables and String literals. In the second example, for instance, the second
statement creates a String variable named message that refers to a string of “Hi,
Bob”.
When you join or append other data types to a String variable, Java automat-
ically converts the other data types so they can be used as part of the string. In
the fourth example, for instance, the second statement joins a String literal of
“Years: ” with an int value of 3 and assigns the result to a String variable named
message. As a result, this String variable refers to a string of “Years: 3”.

How to append data to a string

The fourth and fifth examples show how to append data to a string. This
works the same as joining strings except that it adds the new data to the end of
the string.
In the fourth example, for instance, the first statement declares a String
variable that refers to a first name. Then, the second statement appends a space
to that variable, and the third statement appends a last name. Here, the name
variable is coded on both sides of the equals sign, and the + operator joins the
new String literal to this variable.
The fifth example works the same as the fourth example. However, it uses
the += operator to append the data. As a result, it isn’t necessary to code the
name variable on both sides of the equals sign. Since this is easy to read and
requires less code than the previous example, it’s more commonly used.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 235

The String class

java.lang.String;

How to declare and initialize String variables

String productCode = ""; // refers to an empty string
String title = "Murach's Java Programming"; // refers to a String literal
String bookTitle = title; // refers to the same object as another variable

How to join strings

String name = "Bob"; // name is "Bob"
String message = "Hi, " + name; // message is "Hi, Bob"

How to join a string and a number

int years = 3;
String message = "Years: " + years; // message is "Years: 3"

How to append one string to another

String name = "Bob"; // name is "Bob"
String name = name + " "; // name is "Bob "
String name = name + "Smith"; // name is "Bob Smith"

A more common way to append one string to another

String name = "Bob"; // name is "Bob"
String name += " "; // name is "Bob "
String name += "Smith"; // name is "Bob Smith"

Description
•• You can initialize a String variable by assigning a String literal or another variable
that refers to a String object.
•• To join (or concatenate) one string with another string or another data type, you can
use the + operator.
•• To append a string or another data type to a string, you can use the += operator.
•• When you join or append other data types to a String object, Java automatically
converts the other data types to String objects so they can be used as part of the
string.

Figure 9-1 How to create, join, and append strings

236 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to compare strings

In chapter 3, you learned how to use the equals and equalsIgnoreCase
methods of the String class to compare strings. Now, figure 9-2 reviews those
methods and introduces you to more methods that you can use to compare
strings.
All of the methods in this figure return a Boolean value of true or false.
For example, the equals method compares strings and returns a true value if
the strings are equal and have the same capitalization. Similarly, the startsWith
method checks whether a string starts with a certain combination of characters
and returns a true value if it does.
The first example shows a common mistake that beginners often make when
comparing strings. Here, the code uses the equality operator (==) that’s used for
comparing primitive types to compare strings. But, this doesn’t check whether
two strings are equal. Instead, it checks whether they refer to the same String
object. However, it’s possible that two String variables may refer to different
String objects and still have the same combination of characters. As a result, this
isn’t a reliable way to check for equality.
The second example shows how to use the equals method to compare
strings. This checks whether two String variables store the same characters with
the same capitalization. As a result, it’s a reliable way to check for equality.
As you learned in chapter 3, if you don’t care about capitalization, you can
use the equalsIgnoreCase method to check two strings for equality. This method
works the same as the equals method, but it isn’t case-sensitive.
The third example shows how to use the equals method to check for an
empty string. To do that, you just supply an empty string as the argument of the
equals method. Here, the if statement checks whether the String variable named
productCode refers to an empty string. If so, it prints a message to the console.
The fourth example shows how to use the isEmpty method that was intro-
duced with Java 6 to check for an empty string. This example works like the
equals method in the previous example. However, some programmers consider
the isEmtpy method easier to read.
The fifth example shows how to use the startsWith method. Here, the if
statement checks whether the String variable named productDescription starts
with a string of “Murach”. If so, it prints a message to the console.
The sixth example shows how to use the endsWith method. Here, the if
statement checks whether the String variable named productDescription ends
with a string of “Programming”. If so, it prints a message to the console.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 237

Methods for comparing strings

Method Description
equals(String) Returns a true value if the specified string is equal to the
current string. This comparison is case-sensitive.
equalsIgnoreCase(String) Returns a true value if the specified string is equal to the current
string. This comparison is not case-sensitive.
isEmpty() Returns a true value if this string contains an empty string. This
method was introduced with Java 1.6.
startsWith(String) Returns a true value if this string starts with the specified string.
endsWith(String) Returns a true value if this string ends with the specified string.

A common mistake when testing for equality

if (productCode == "java"){
System.out.println("This does not test for equality.");
}

How to use the equals method to test for equality

if (productCode.equals("java")){
System.out.println("This tests for equality.");
}

How to use the equals method to check for an empty string

if (productCode.equals("")){
System.out.println("You must enter a product code.");
}

How to use the isEmpty method (Java 1.6 and later)

if (productCode.isEmpty()) {
System.out.println("You must enter a product code.");
}

How to use the startsWith method

if (productDescription.startsWith("Murach")) {
System.out.println("This book is a Murach book.");
}

How to use the endsWith method

if (productDescription.endsWith("Programming")) {
System.out.println("This book is about programming.");
}

Description
•• The String class provides methods that you can use to compare strings.
•• The equality operator (==) checks whether two strings refer to the same String
object. It’s possible for two strings to contain the same characters, but to refer
to different String objects. As a result, you should not use this operator to check
whether two strings contain the same characters.

Figure 9-2 How to compare strings

238 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to work with string indexes

Figure 9-3 begins by listing some methods that you can use to work with the
indexes of a String object. Here, the indexOf and lastIndexOf methods return a
value that represents an index within a string. When you work with indexes, you
need to remember that the first index is 0, not 1. As a result, the index for the
first character is 0, the index for the second character is 1, the index for the third
character is 2, and so on.
The first example shows how to use the length method. Here, the length
method is called from a String variable named productCode that refers to a string
of “java”. As a result, the length method returns a value of 4.
The second example shows how to use the length method to check for an
empty string. To do that, the if statement checks whether the String variable
named productCode has a length of 0. If so, it prints a message to the console.
The third example shows how to use the indexOf method. Here, the first
call to the indexOf method returns an index for the first occurrence of the space
character in the specified string. Then, the second call to the indexOf method
returns an index for the second occurrence of the space character in the specified
string. To do that, this code adds a value of 1 to the index for the first space and
starts searching at that index. As a result, this code finds the second occurrence
of the space character instead of finding the first occurrence again.
The fourth example shows how to use the lastIndexOf method. This works
like the third example. However, it begins searching from the end of the string
and works toward the beginning of the string. To do that, this code subtracts a
value of 1 from the index for the first space that’s found.
The fifth example shows another way to use the indexOf method. Here, the
indexOf method searches the string for a value of “Van”. This shows that you
can use the indexOf method to search for a string of characters. In addition, it
shows that the index that’s returned is for the first character in this string. In
other words, this code returns an int value of 7 because that’s the index for where
“Van” begins in this string.
The sixth example shows how to use the charAt method. This code gets the
first three characters in the specified String variable and stores them in variables
of the char type. This shows how indexes work. In addition, it shows that a string
contains a sequence of char values. In the next figure, you’ll learn how to loop
through all of the characters in a string and do some processing on them.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 239

Methods for working with string indexes

Method Description
length() Returns an int value for the number of characters in
this string.
indexOf(String) Returns an int value for the index of the first occur-
rence of the specified string in this string. If the string
isn’t found, this method returns -1.
indexOf(String, startIndex) Returns an int value for the index of the first occur-
rence of the specified string starting at the specified
index. If the string isn’t found, this method returns -1.
lastIndexOf(String) Returns an int value for the index of the last occur-
rence of the specified string in this string.
lastIndexOf(String, startIndex) Returns an int value for the index of the last occur-
rence of the specified string in this string starting at
the specified index.
charAt(index) Returns the char value at the specified index.

How to get the length of a string

String productCode = "java";
int length = productCode.length(); // length is 4

How to use the length method to check for an empty string

if (productCode.length() == 0){
System.out.println("You must enter a product code.");
}

Code that gets the index values for the two spaces
String name = "Martin Van Buren";
int index1 = name.indexOf(" "); // index1 is 6
int index2 = name.indexOf(" ", index1+1); // index2 is 10

Another way to get the index values for the two spaces
String name = "Martin Van Buren";
int index1 = name.lastIndexOf(" "); // index1 is 10
int index2 = name.lastIndexOf(" ", index1-1); // index2 is 6

Code that gets the index of a string

String name = "Martin Van Buren";
int index = name.indexOf("Van"); // index is 7

Code that gets the character at the specified index

String name = "Martin Van Buren";
char char1 = name.charAt(0); // char1 is 'M'
char char2 = name.charAt(1); // char2 is 'a'
char char3 = name.charAt(2); // char3 is 'r'

Description
•• You can use an index to refer to each character within a string where 0 is the first
character, 1 is the second character, and so on.

Figure 9-3 How to use string indexes

240 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to modify strings

Figure 9-4 begins by listing some methods that you can use to modify
strings. These methods return another String object that occurs within the current
String object. This String object that’s returned is known as a substring.
The first example shows how to use the trim method to remove any spaces
from the beginning and end of a String object. As a result, after this code
executes the String variable named choice refers to a String literal of “y”.
The second example shows how to use the substring method to parse the first
name and last name from a string for a full name. Here, the first statement sets
the string to a string literal that includes a first and last name. Then, the second
statement uses the indexOf method to get the index of the first space in the
string, which is the space between the first and last names. Next, the third state-
ment uses the substring method to set the first name variable equal to the string
that begins at the first character of the string and ends at the first space character
in the string. Finally, the fourth statement uses the substring method to set the
last name variable equal to the string that begins one index after the index for the
space and continues to the end of the string.
The third example shows how to add dashes to a Visa credit card number.
To do that, this example creates four strings, one for each four-digit part of the
credit card number. To do that, it uses the substring method to return four String
objects from the String object for the credit card number. Then, the last state-
ment joins the four parts of the credit card number adding dashes at the appro-
priate locations in the string.
The fourth example shows how to remove the dashes from a credit card
number that’s referred to by a String variable named ccNumber. To do that, this
example creates a second String variable named temp. Then, it loops through
each index in the credit card number string. Within this loop, an if statement
uses the charAt method to check whether the character at the current index is not
equal to the dash character. If not, this code appends the character that’s returned
by the charAt method to the String variable named temp. As a result, this code
appends all characters to the temp variable, except the dash character. Later in
this chapter, you’ll learn an easier way to accomplish this task.
When using methods that require an index, you must be careful to supply
a valid index. If you supply an index argument that doesn’t exist in the String
object, the method will throw a StringIndexOutOfBoundsException. This is
a mistake that’s often made by beginning programmers. Fortunately, you can
prevent this exception by making sure that you use indexes that are greater than
or equal to 0 and less than the length of the String object. In the fourth example,
for instance, the loop begins at an index of 0 and stops at an index of one less
than the length of the String object for the ccNumber variable.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 241

Methods for modifying strings

Method Description
trim() Returns a String object with any spaces removed from
the beginning and end of this string.
substring(startIndex) Returns a String object that starts at the specified
index and goes to the end of the string.
substring(startIndex, endIndex) Returns a String object that starts at the specified start
index and goes to, but doesn’t include, the end index.

Code that removes spaces from the start and end of a string
String choice = " y ";
choice = choice.trim(); // choice is "y"

Code that parses a first name and last name from a string
String name = "Mike Murach";
int index = name.indexOf(" "); // index is 4
String firstName = name.substring(0, index); // firstName is "Mike"
String lastName = name.substring(index + 1); // lastName is "Murach"

Code that adds dashes to a credit card number

String ccNumber = "4012888888881881";
String part1 = ccNumber.substring(0,4);
String part2 = ccNumber.substring(4,8);
String part3 = ccNumber.substring(8,12);
String part4 = ccNumber.substring(12,16);
ccNumber = part1 + "-" + part2 + "-" + part3 + "-" + part4;

Code that removes dashes from a credit card number

String ccNumber = "4012-8888-8888-1881";
String temp = "";
for(int i = 0; i < ccNumber.length(); i++) {
if (ccNumber.charAt(i) != '-') {
temp += ccNumber.charAt(i);
}
}
ccNumber = temp;

Figure 9-4 How to modify strings

242 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to work with

the StringBuilder class
When you use a String variable to work with strings, each String object has a
fixed length, and you can’t edit the characters that make up the String object. In
other words, the String objects are immutable. As a result, if you want to change
the String object that’s referred to by the String variable, you must create a new
String object and assign it to that String variable.
If you want more flexibility when working with strings, you can use the
StringBuilder class. When you use this class, you create strings that are mutable.
Then, you can edit the characters that are stored in the StringBuilder object
without creating a new StringBuilder object. For example, you can append
characters to the end of the string, insert characters into the middle of the string,
or delete characters from the string. This makes it easier to write code that works
with strings, and it can improve the efficiency of your code.
The StringBuilder class was introduced with Java 5. It’s designed to be
a more efficient replacement for the StringBuffer class that was used prior to
Java 5. Because the API for the StringBuffer class is identical to the API for
the StringBuilder class, you can easily switch between the StringBuffer and
StringBuilder classes. However, the StringBuilder class is not thread-safe. As a
result, if you need your code to be thread-safe, you should use the StringBuffer
class.

How to create a StringBuilder object

Figure 9-5 shows three constructors and three methods of the StringBuilder
class. The first constructor creates an empty StringBuilder object with an initial
capacity of 16 characters. Then, if you add more than 16 characters to this
StringBuilder object, Java automatically increases the capacity. To do that, it
doubles the current capacity and adds 2.
Whenever possible, you should set the capacity to an appropriate value by
using the second or third constructor. Otherwise, Java has to allocate memory
each time the capacity is exceeded, and that can cause your code to run less
efficiently. On the other hand, if you set a large capacity and use a small
percentage of it, you waste memory.

How to append data to a string

Once you create a StringBuilder object, you can use the methods of the
StringBuilder class to work with the object. For instance, the first example
shows how to use the append method of the StringBuilder class. Here, the first
statement creates an empty StringBuilder object with the default capacity of
16 characters. Then, the next four statements use the append method to add 16
characters to the string. As a result, the length of the string is 16 and the capacity
of the StringBuilder object is 16.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 243

The StringBuilder class

java.lang.StringBuilder;

Constructors of the StringBuilder class

Constructor Description
StringBuilder() Creates an empty StringBuilder object with an initial
capacity of 16 characters.
StringBuilder(capacity) Creates an empty StringBuilder object with an initial
capacity of the specified number of characters.
StringBuilder(String) Creates a StringBuilder object that contains the specified
string plus an additional capacity of 16 characters.

Some starting methods of the StringBuilder class

Methods Description
append(data) Adds a string for the specified primitive type or object to the end of the string.
capacity() Returns an int value for the capacity of this StringBuilder object.
length() Returns an int value for the number of characters in this StringBuilder object.

Code that creates a credit card number

StringBuilder ccNumber = new StringBuilder();
ccNumber.append("4012");
ccNumber.append("8888");
ccNumber.append("8888");
ccNumber.append("1881");

Code that shows how capacity automatically increases

StringBuilder name = new StringBuilder(8);
int capacity1 = name.capacity(); // capacity1 is 8
name.append("Raymond R. Thomas");
int length = name.length(); // length is 17
int capacity2 = name.capacity(); // capacity2 is 18 (2 * capacity1 + 2)

Description
•• String objects are immutable. As a result, they can’t grow or shrink.
•• StringBuilder objects are mutable, which means you can modify the characters
in the string. The capacity of a StringBuilder object is automatically increased if
necessary.
•• The StringBuilder class was introduced with Java 5. It’s designed to replace the
older StringBuffer class.
•• The StringBuffer class has identical constructors and methods as the StringBuilder
class. As a result, you can use it to accomplish the same tasks.
•• The StringBuffer class isn’t as efficient as the StringBuilder class, but it is
thread-safe. As a result, you can use it instead of the StringBuilder class whenever
you need to make sure your code is thread-safe.

Figure 9-5 How to create a StringBuilder object and append data to it

244 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

As you learned earlier in this chapter, you can accomplish the same task
by using the String class and the += operator. However, if you do that, Java
must create a new String object for each statement. In contrast, when you
use the append method of the StringBuilder class, Java doesn’t create a new
StringBuilder object. Instead, it increases the length of the StringBuilder object.
If necessary, it also increases the capacity of the StringBuilder object. As a
result, the StringBuilder object usually works more efficiently than the String
object.
The second example in figure 9-5 shows how a StringBuilder object
automatically increases its capacity as the length of the string increases. Here,
the first statement creates an empty StringBuilder object with a capacity of 8
characters. The second statement uses the capacity method to verify that the
capacity is 8. The third statement appends a string of 17 characters to the empty
string. Since this exceeds the capacity of the StringBuilder object, Java automati-
cally increases the capacity by doubling the current capacity and adding 2. As a
result, this code increases the capacity from 8 to 18 characters. Then, the last two
statements verify the new length and capacity.

How to modify strings

Figure 9-6 shows some more methods of the StringBuilder class. Some
of these methods provide additional functionality that isn’t available from the
String class. For example, you can use the methods of the StringBuilder class to
insert, replace, or delete strings or characters. However, the StringBuilder class
also provides methods that work the same as the methods of the String class. For
example, the charAt and substring methods work the same for the StringBuilder
class as they do for the String class. As a result, you shouldn’t have any trouble
using these methods.
The first example adds dashes to the Visa credit card number string created
in the previous figure. Here, the first statement uses the insert method to insert
a dash after the first four characters. This pushes the remaining numbers back
one index. Then, the second statement uses the insert method to insert a dash
after the ninth character in the string, which was the eighth character in the
original string. This pushes the remaining eight numbers in the string back one
index. And so on. Note that this task is easier to accomplish with a mutable
StringBuilder object than it was with an immutable String object.
The second example shows how to remove dashes from a credit card
number. Here, a loop cycles through each character, using the charAt method to
check if the current character is a dash. If so, the deleteCharAt method deletes
that character. Since this causes all characters to the right of the dash to move
forward one index, the next statement decrements the counter. That way, the loop
doesn’t skip any characters. Again, note that this task is easier to accomplish
with a mutable StringBuilder object than it was with an immutable String object.
The third example shows how to use the substring method of the
StringBuilder class to separate the four parts of a credit card number. This shows
that the substring method works the same for the String class as it does for the
StringBuilder class.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 245

More methods of the StringBuilder class

Methods Description
insert(index, data) Inserts a string for the specified primitive type or
object at the specified index pushing the rest of the
string back.
replace(startIndex, endIndex, Replaces the characters from the start index to, but
String) not including, the end index with the specified string.
delete(startIndex, endIndex) Removes the substring from the start index to, but not
including, the end index. This moves the rest of the
string forward.
deleteCharAt(index) Removes the character at the specified index.
setCharAt(index, character) Replaces the character at the specified index with the
specified character.
charAt(index) Returns a char value for the character at the specified
index.
substring(index) Returns a String object for the characters starting at
the specified index to the end of the string.
substring(startIndex, endIndex) Returns a String object for the characters from the
start index to, but not including, the end index.
toString() Returns a String object for the string that’s stored in
the StringBuilder object.

Code that adds dashes to a credit card number

ccNumber.insert(4, "-");
ccNumber.insert(9, "-");
ccNumber.insert(14, "-");

Code that removes dashes from a credit card number

for(int i = 0; i < ccNumber.length(); i++) {
if (ccNumber.charAt(i) == '-') {
ccNumber.deleteCharAt(i);
i--;
}
}

Code that parses a credit card number

String part1 = ccNumber.substring(0,4);
String part2 = ccNumber.substring(4,8);
String part3 = ccNumber.substring(8, 12);
String part4 = ccNumber.substring(12);

Description
•• The StringBuilder class provides many of the same methods as the String class. In
addition, it contains some methods that make it easier to modify strings.

Figure 9-6 How to modify a StringBuilder object

246 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

The Product Lister application

This chapter finishes by presenting a Product Lister application that allows
the user to print a list of one or more products. This application shows some
of the skills presented in this chapter within the context of an application. In
addition, this application uses a StringUtil class that contains a static method that
makes it easier to work with strings.

The user interface

Figure 9-7 begins by showing the console for this application. Here, the
user starts by entering the product code for the first product and “y” to continue
entering product codes. Then, the user enters a second product code and “n” to
stop entering product codes. At this point, the application displays the list of
products.
The list shown here consists of three columns. The top of the list is a header
row that displays the names of the columns. The bottom of the list displays the
code, description, and price for each product in the list.

The StringUtil class

This figure also shows the StringUtil class. This class contains a single static
method, the pad method. You can use this method to add spaces to the end of the
string until it is a specified length. This is known as padding a string.
The pad method specifies two parameters. The first parameter is the String
object that you want to pad. The second is the length that you want the String to
be.
Within the method, an if/else statement begins by checking whether the
length of the String parameter is less than the length parameter. If so, this code
adds spaces to the string until it’s the specified length and returns that string.
Otherwise, this code truncates the string and returns it. Either way, the String
object that’s returned has a length that’s equal to the length parameter.
Within the if clause, the first statement creates a StringBuilder object that
starts with the String parameter. To do that, this code passes the String parameter
to the constructor of the StringBuilder class. Then, this code uses a while loop to
append spaces to the StringBuilder object until the length of this object is equal
to the length parameter. Finally, it converts the StringBuilder object to a String
object and returns that object.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 247

The console
Welcome to the Product Lister

Enter product code: java

Another product? (y/n): y

Enter product code: mysql

Another product? (y/n): n

Code Description Price

========= ================================ =========
java Murach's Java Programming $57.50
mysql Murach's MySQL $54.50

The StringUtil class

package murach.ui;

public class StringUtil {

public static String pad(String s, int length) {

if (s.length() < length) {
// append spaces until the string is the specified length
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(s);
while (sb.length() < length) {
sb.append(" ");
}
return sb.toString();
} else {
// truncate the string to the specified length
return s.substring(0, length);
}
}
}

Figure 9-7 The Product Lister application (part 1 of 2)

248 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

The Main class

Part 2 of figure 9-7 shows the code for the Main class of the Product Lister
application. This code begins by declaring three constants that specify the width
in characters for the code, description, and price columns.
After declaring the constants, this code creates a StringBuilder object for the
list. Then, it appends the heading row to this string. To do that, it uses the static
pad method of the StringUtil class to append spaces to the column so it’s the
correct width.
After setting up the header row, this code uses a while loop to allow the user
to enter product codes. Within this loop, the first statement gets the product code
from the user. To do that, it uses the static getString method of the Console class
described in the previous chapter. Then, it gets a Product object for the specified
code. To do that, it uses the static getProduct method of the ProductDB class.
After getting the Product object for the specified code, this code appends
a row for the product to the list. To do that, it uses the static pad method of the
StringUtil class.
The three constants defined at the beginning of this method are used in
three places. First, they are used to specify the width of the three columns in the
heading row. Second, they are used to specify the width of the three columns that
create a separator between the heading row and the rest of the rows. Third, they
are used to specify the width of the three columns for the data for each product.
As a result, if you want to change the width of a column, you only need
to change the value of the constant. For example, if you want to make the
description column 50 characters wide, you just need to change the value of the
constant named DESC_WIDTH to 50.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 249

The Main class

package murach.ui;

import murach.db.ProductDB;
import murach.business.Product;

public class Main {

public static void main(String args[]) {

System.out.println("Welcome to the Product Lister\n");

final int CODE_WIDTH = 10;

final int DESC_WIDTH = 34;
final int PRICE_WIDTH = 10;

// set up display string

StringBuilder list = new StringBuilder();
list.append(StringUtil.pad("Code", CODE_WIDTH));
list.append(StringUtil.pad("Description", DESC_WIDTH));
list.append(StringUtil.pad("Price", PRICE_WIDTH));
list.append("\n");

list.append(
StringUtil.pad("=========", CODE_WIDTH));
list.append(
StringUtil.pad("=================================", DESC_WIDTH));
list.append(
StringUtil.pad("=========", PRICE_WIDTH));
list.append("\n");

// perform 1 or more calculations

String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
// get the input from the user
String productCode = Console.getString("Enter product code: ");

Product product = ProductDB.getProduct(productCode);

list.append(
StringUtil.pad(product.getCode(), CODE_WIDTH));
list.append(
StringUtil.pad(product.getDescription(), DESC_WIDTH));
list.append(
StringUtil.pad(product.getPriceFormatted(), PRICE_WIDTH));
list.append("\n");

// see if the user wants to continue

choice = Console.getString("Another product? (y/n): ");
System.out.println();
}
System.out.println(list);
}
}

Figure 9-7 The Product Lister application (part 2 of 2)

250 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Perspective
Now that you’ve finished this chapter, you should be able to use the String
and StringBuilder classes to work with strings. These skills are fundamental to
developing Java applications. Keep in mind that this chapter has only covered
some of the most useful methods of these classes. As a result, if you want to
learn about the other methods of these classes, you can look them up in the
documentation for the Java API.

Summary
•• You can use methods of the String class to compare all or part of a string,
locate a string within another string, and return parts of a string.
•• When working with strings, you often need to use an index to refer to the
characters that make up the string. In a string, the first character has an index
of 0, the second character has an index of 1, and so on.
•• String objects are immutable. As a result, you can’t add, delete, or modify
individual characters in a string.
•• StringBuilder objects are mutable. As a result, you can use the methods of
the StringBuilder class to append, insert, delete, or replace characters in a
StringBuilder object.
•• StringBuilder objects are more efficient than String objects, especially if you
need to modify the string that you’re working with.
 Chapter 9 How to work with strings 251

Exercise 9-1 Parse a name

In this exercise, you’ll write an application that parses full names into first and
last name or first, middle, and last name, depending on whether the user enters
a string consisting of two or three words. The output for the application should
look something like this:

Enter a name: Joel Murach

First name: Joel

Last name: Murach

Or this:

Enter a name: Joel Ray Murach

First name: Joel

Middle name: Ray
Last name: Murach

1. Import the project named ch9_ex1_NameParser that’s in the ex_starts folder.

Then, review the code in the NameParserApp class.
2. Add code that separates the name into two or three strings depending on
whether the user entered a name with two words or three.
3. Display each word of the name on a separate line.
4. If the user enters fewer than two words or more than three words, display an
error message.
5. Make sure the application works even if the user enters one or more spaces
before or after the name.
6. Test the application to make sure it works correctly.
252 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Exercise 9-2 Improve the Future Value

application
In this exercise, you’ll improve the Future Value application by allowing the
user to enter dollar signs ($) and percent signs (%) when they enter numbers for
monetary and percent values like this:

Welcome to the Future Value Calculator

Enter monthly investment: $100

Enter yearly interest rate: 3%
Enter number of years: 3
Future value: $3,771.46

1. Import the project named ch9_ex2_FutureValue that’s in the ex_starts folder.

Then, open the Main and Console classes and review the code.
2. Open the Console class and modify the getDouble method so it removes any
dollar ($) or percent (%) signs from the string that’s entered by the user.
3. Run the application and test it to make sure it works correctly. You should be
able to enter dollar signs and percent signs.
 10
How to work with arrays
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to work with arrays, which are important in
many types of Java applications. For example, you can use a sales array to hold
the sales amounts for each of the 12 months of the year. Then, you can use that
array to perform calculations on those amounts. In this chapter, you’ll learn the
basic concepts and techniques for working with arrays.

Essential skills for working with arrays............................254

How to create an array..................................................................................254
How to assign values to the elements of an array........................................256
How to use for loops with arrays..................................................................258
How to use enhanced for loops with arrays................................................ 260
How to work with two-dimensional arrays..................................................262
How to use the Arrays class...............................................264
How to fill an array...................................................................................... 264
How to sort an array.................................................................................... 264
How to search an array................................................................................ 264
How to create a reference to an array.......................................................... 264
How to copy an array................................................................................... 266
How to compare two arrays......................................................................... 266
The Month Selector application.........................................268
The user interface.........................................................................................268
The Main class..............................................................................................268
Perspective..........................................................................270
254 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Essential skills for working with arrays

This chapter begins by showing how to use the Java language to create and
work with arrays.

How to create an array

An array is an object that contains one or more items called elements. Each
element within an array can be a primitive type such as an int value or a refer-
ence type such as a String object or a Product object. As you’ll see later in this
chapter, an array itself is a reference type.
In Java, all of the elements in an array must be of the same type. As a result,
an array of the int type can only contain int values, and an array of the String
type can only contain String objects. However, an array can contain elements
that are derived from the array’s base type. As a result, if you declare an array of
the Product type, the array can contain any object that inherits the Product class.
You’ll learn more about how this works in the next chapter.
The length (or size) of an array indicates the number of elements it contains.
In Java, arrays have a fixed length. As a result, once you create an array, you
can’t change its length. If you need to change the length of an array, you should
consider using a collection instead of an array. For example, you may want to
use the ArrayList class described in chapter 14 instead of an array. Then, the
collection automatically adjusts its length to fit the array.
Figure 10-1 shows several ways to create an array. To start, you must declare
a variable that refers to the array object. Then, you create an array object and
assign it to the variable. To create a new array object, you code the new keyword,
followed by the data type, followed a pair of brackets. Within the brackets, you
code the length of the array.
You can use separate statements to declare the array variable and create the
array object as shown in the first example. Or, you can declare the variable and
instantiate the array object in a single statement as shown in the second example.
Both of these examples create an array that holds four double values.
When you declare the array variable, you use an empty set of brackets to
indicate that the variable is an array. Most programmers prefer to code the empty
brackets after the data type to indicate that the array is an array of a particular
type. However, if you prefer, you can code these brackets after the variable name
as shown in the third example.
The fourth and fifth examples create arrays of objects. More specifically,
the fourth example creates an array of three String objects, and the fifth example
creates an array of five Product objects.
If you know the size of an array at compile time, you can code the length of
the array as a literal value as shown in the first five examples. Or, you can code
the length as a constant as shown in the sixth example. However, if you don’t
know the size of the array until runtime, you can use a variable to specify its size
as shown in the seventh example.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 255

The syntax for declaring and instantiating an array

With two statements
type[] arrayName;
arrayName = new type[length];

With one statement

type[] arrayName = new type[length];

With one statement and brackets after the variable name

type arrayName[] = new type[length];

An example that declares and instantiates an array of double values

With two statements
double[] prices;
prices = new double[4];

With one statement

double[] prices = new double[4];

With one statement and brackets after the variable name

double prices[] = new double[4];

Other examples
An array of String objects
String[] titles = new String[3];

An array of Product objects

Product[] products = new Product[5];

Code that uses a constant to specify the array length

final int TITLE_COUNT = 100;
String[] titles = new String[TITLE_COUNT];

Code that uses a variable to specify the array length

System.out.print("Enter number of titles: ");
int titleCount = Integer.parseInt(sc.nextLine());
String[] titles = new String[titleCount];

Description
•• An array can store multiple primitive types such as int values or multiple reference
types such as String objects. An element is one of the items in an array.
•• To create an array, you must declare a variable of the correct type and instantiate an array
object that the variable refers to. You can declare and instantiate the array in separate
statements, or you can combine the declaration and instantiation into a single statement.
•• To declare an array variable, you code a set of empty brackets after the type or the
variable name.
•• To instantiate an array, you use the new keyword and specify the length, or size, of
the array in brackets following the array type.
•• When you instantiate an array of primitive types, numeric types are set to zeros and
boolean types to false. When you create an array of reference types, they are set to nulls.

Figure 10-1 How to create an array

256 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to assign values to the elements of an array

Figure 10-2 shows how to assign values to the elements of an array. As the
syntax at the top of this figure shows, you refer to an element in an array by
coding the array name followed by an index in brackets. The index must be an
int value starting at 0 and ending at one less than the size of the array. In other
words, 0 refers to the first element in the array, 1 refers to the second element, 2
refers to the third element, and so on.
The first example in this figure shows how to assign values to the elements
in an array by coding one statement per element. The first example creates an
array of 4 double values. Then, it assigns a literal value to each element. In this
example, the first element holds the value 14.95, the second holds 12.95, the
third holds 11.95, and the fourth holds 9.95.
If you specify an index that’s outside of the range of the array, Java throws
an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException. For instance, the commented out line at
the end of the first example refers to the element with index number 4. Since this
array only has four elements, this statement throws this exception. Although you
can catch this exception, it’s better to write your code so it avoids using indexes
that are out of bounds. To do that, you can check the length of the array as shown
in the next figure.
The second and third examples work similarly to the first example. However,
the second example creates an array that holds 3 String objects and initializes
those strings. Similarly, the third example creates an array that holds 2 Product
objects and initializes those objects. To do that, this code uses the getProduct
method of the ProductDB class to return a Product object that corresponds with
the specified product code.
After the third example, this figure shows how to create an array and assign
values to the elements of the array in one statement. Here, you declare the array
variable as usual. Then, you use the special assignment syntax to assign the
initial values. With this syntax, you simply list the values you want assigned to
the array within braces following the equals sign. Then, the number of values
you list within the braces determines the size of the array that’s created. The last
three examples show how to use this special syntax to create the same arrays that
were created by the first three examples in this figure.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 257

The syntax for referring to an element of an array

arrayName[index]

Examples that assign values by accessing each element

Code that assigns values to an array of double types
double[] prices = new double[4];
prices[0] = 14.95;
prices[1] = 12.95;
prices[2] = 11.95;
prices[3] = 9.95;
//prices[4] = 8.95; // this would throw ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

Code that assigns values to an array of String types

String[] names = new String[3];
names[0] = "Ted Lewis";
names[1] = "Sue Jones";
names[2] = "Ray Thomas";

Code that assigns objects to an array of Product objects

Product[] products = new Product[2];
products[0] = ProductDB.getProduct("java");
products[1] = ProductDB.getProduct("jsp");

The syntax for creating an array and assigning values in one statement
type[] arrayName = {value1, value2, value3, ...};

Examples that create an array and assign values in one statement

double[] prices = {14.95, 12.95, 11.95, 9.95};
String[] names = {"Ted Lewis", "Sue Jones", "Ray Thomas"};
Product[] products = {
ProductDB.getProduct("java"),
ProductDB.getProduct("jsp")
};

Description
•• To refer to the elements in an array, you use an index that ranges from zero (the first
element in the array) to one less than the number of elements in the array.
•• If you specify an index that’s less than zero or greater than the upper bound of the
array, Java throws an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException.
•• You can instantiate an array and provide initial values in a single statement by
listing the values in braces. The number of values you provide determines the size
of the array.

Figure 10-2 How to assign values to the elements of an array

258 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use for loops with arrays

For loops are commonly used to process the elements in an array one at a
time by incrementing an index variable. Figure 10-3 shows how to process an
array using a for loop.
The syntax at the top of this figure shows how to use the length field to
return the length of an array. Since length is a field rather than a method, you
don’t need to include parentheses after it. The length field returns an int value
that represents the length of the array. Typically, you use this value to stop a for
loop after it gets the last element but before the loop attempts to use an index
that’s out of bounds.
The first example in this figure shows how to create an array of 10 int values
and fill it with the numbers 0 through 9. Here, the loop uses an int variable
named i to index the array and to assign a value to each element in the array. As
a result, each element stores a value that’s equal to its index.
The second example shows how you can use a for loop to print the contents
of an array to the console. Here, the first statement creates an array of double
values named prices and initializes its values. Then, the for loop cycles through
each element of the array. Within the loop, a statement prints the value of the
current element to the console.
The third example shows how you can use a for loop to calculate the average
of the prices array. Here, the first statement creates an array of double values
named prices and initializes its values. Then, the second statement declares a
double variable named sum to store the sum total of the values. Next, the for
loop cycles through each element of the array and adds the value of each element
to a variable named sum. When the for loop finishes, the sum variable contains
the total of all the prices in the array. Then, the average is calculated by dividing
the sum by the number of elements in the array.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 259

The syntax for getting the length of an array

arrayName.length

Code that puts the numbers 0 through 9 in an array

int[] values = new int[10];
for (int i = 0; i < values.length; i++) {
values[i] = i;
}

Code that prints an array of prices to the console

double[] prices = {14.95, 12.95, 11.95, 9.95};
for (int i = 0; i < prices.length; i++) {
System.out.println(prices[i]);
}

The console output

14.95
12.95
11.95
9.95

Code that computes the average of the array of prices

double[] prices = {14.95, 12.95, 11.95, 9.95};
double sum = 0.0;
for (int i = 0; i < prices.length; i++) {
sum += prices[i];
}
double average = sum/prices.length;

Description
•• You can use for loops to process each element in an array.
•• You can use the length field of an array to determine the number of elements in the
array.

Figure 10-3 How to use for loops with arrays

260 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use enhanced for loops with arrays

Figure 10-4 shows how to use the enhanced for loop that was introduced
with Java 5. Since this loop was designed to make it easy to process each
element in an array or a collection, it’s sometimes called a foreach loop.
Unlike a regular for loop, the enhanced for loop doesn’t use separate expres-
sions to initialize, test, and increment a counter variable. Instead, it declares a
variable that’s used to refer to each element of the array. Within the loop, you
can use this variable to access each element of the array.
The first example in this figure shows how you can use an enhanced for loop
to print the elements of an array of doubles. This example performs the same
function as the second example in figure 10-3. However, in the enhanced for
loop version, a variable named price is used to access each element in the prices
array. Then, the statement within the for loop simply prints the price variable to
the console. Since the enhanced for loop gets the current element automatically,
you don’t need to use an index to get each element of the array, and you don’t
need to use the length field of the array to keep the index within the bounds of
the array.
The second example shows how to use an enhanced for loop to calculate the
average value in the prices array. This example performs the same function as
the third example in figure 10-3. Again, since the enhanced for loop automati-
cally indexes the array, no indexing is required.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 261

The syntax of the enhanced for loop

for (type variableName : arrayName) {
statements
}

Code that prints an array of prices to the console

double[] prices = {14.95, 12.95, 11.95, 9.95};
for (double price : prices) {
System.out.println(price);
}

The console output

14.95
12.95
11.95
9.95

Code that computes the average of the array of prices

double[] prices = {14.95, 12.95, 11.95, 9.95};
double sum = 0.0;
for (double price : prices) {
sum += price;
}
double average = sum / prices.length;

Description
•• Java 5 introduced the enhanced for loop. This loop simplifies the code required
to loop through arrays. The enhanced for loop is sometimes called a foreach loop
because it lets you process each element of an array.
•• Within the parentheses of an enhanced for loop, you declare a variable with the
same type as the array followed by a colon and the name of the array.
•• With each iteration of the loop, the variable that’s declared by the for loop is
assigned the value of the next element in the array.
•• You can also use enhanced for loops to work with collections as described in
chapter 14.

Figure 10-4 How to use enhanced for loops with arrays

262 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to work with two-dimensional arrays

So far, this chapter has shown how to work with an array that uses one index
to store a single set of elements. This is known as a one-dimensional array, and
you can think of it as a column of values.
Now, figure 10-5 shows how to work with an array that uses two indexes to
store data. This is known as a two-dimensional array, and you can think of it as
a table made up of rows and columns. Here, each element in the array is at the
intersection of a row and column.
Java implements a two-dimensional array as an array of arrays where each
element of the first array is itself an array. This figure shows how to create and
use a two-dimensional array. To start, you specify two sets of empty brackets
following the array type. Then, you specify the number of rows and columns
when you instantiate the array. Thus, the code example shown here declares and
instantiates an array with three rows and two columns.
To refer to an element in a two-dimensional array, you specify two index
values in separate sets of brackets. The first value refers to the row index, and
the second value refers to the column index. Thus, numbers[1][0] refers to row
2, column 1 of the numbers array. Remember, 0 refers to the first element of an
array, 1 refers to the second element, and so on.
You can also create a two-dimensional array and assign values to its
elements using a single statement. To do that, you can use the same shorthand
notation that’s available for one-dimensional arrays. However, you code each
element of the array as a separate array as shown in this figure. Here, the
numbers array is assigned three elements, each of which is a two-element array
with the values {1, 2}, {3, 4}, and {5, 6}.
The last example uses two enhanced for loops to cycle through the elements
of a two-dimensional array. To do that, it nests one enhanced for loop within the
other. Here, the outer for loop cycles through the rows of the array to get each
row. However, each row is an array that contains multiple columns. As a result,
the inner for loop cycles through each column of the current row. This gets the
element from the current column of the current row.
The arrays in this figure are the most common type of two-dimensional
array, a rectangular array. In this type of array, each row has the same number
of columns. However, it’s possible to create a jagged array. In this type of array,
the rows may contain unequal numbers of columns. That’s possible because each
row of a two-dimensional array is a separate one-dimensional array, and Java
doesn’t require that each of these arrays be the same size.
If necessary, you can create a three-dimensional array to represent things
such as object positions within 3D space on an x, y, and z axis. In theory,
it’s possible use Java to create arrays that have more than three dimensions.
However, using more than three dimensions is very rare because humans don’t
visualize more than three dimensions very well.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 263

How to create a rectangular array

The syntax for creating a rectangular array
type[][] arrayName = new type[rowCount][columnCount];

A statement that creates a 3x2 array

int[][] numbersTable = new int[3][2];

How to assign values to a rectangular array

The syntax for referring to an element of a rectangular array
arrayName[rowIndex][columnIndex]

The indexes for a 3x2 array

[0][0] [0][1]
[1][0] [1][1]
[2][0] [2][1]

Code that assigns values to the array

numbersTable[0][0] = 1;
numbersTable[0][1] = 2;
numbersTable[1][0] = 3;
numbersTable[1][1] = 4;
numbersTable[2][0] = 5;
numbersTable[2][1] = 6;

Code that creates a 3x2 array and initializes it in one statement

int[][]numbersTable = { {1,2}, {3,4}, {5,6} };

How to use nested for loops to process a rectangular array

Code that processes a rectangular array with nested for loops
int[][] numbersTable = { {1,2}, {3,4}, {5,6} };
for (int[] row : numbersTable) {
for (int column : row) {
System.out.print(column + " ");
}
System.out.print("\n");
}

The console output

1 2
3 4
5 6

Description
 Two-dimensional arrays use two indexes and allow data to be stored in a table that
consists of rows and columns. This can also be thought of as an array of arrays
where each row is a separate array of columns.
 Most two-dimensional arrays are rectangular arrays where each row has the same
number of columns. However, it’s also possible to create jagged arrays where each
row may have a different number of columns.
 If necessary, you can extend this two-dimensional syntax to work with arrays that
have more than two dimensions.
Figure 10-5 How to work with rectangular arrays
264 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

How to use the Arrays class

Now that you know the basic language skills for creating and using arrays,
you’re ready to learn how to use the Arrays class of the java.util package to
perform some additional operations on arrays. This class contains static methods
that you can use to fill, sort, search, copy, and compare arrays. Figure 10-6
presents three of these methods, and figure 10-7 presents two more.
When you work with these methods, you can supply any type of
one-dimensional array as the array argument. Similarly, you can supply a primi-
tive value or an object as the value argument. However, you must make sure that
the value or object type matches the array type.

How to fill an array

The first example shows how to use the fill method to assign a value to all of
the elements in an array. Here, the first statement creates an array of 5 int values.
By default, this statement automatically initializes each element to 0. Then, the
second statement uses the fill method of the Arrays class to set all five elements
to a value of 1.

How to sort an array

The second example shows how to use the sort method to sort an array of 10
int values. Here, the first statement creates an unsorted array of int values from 0
to 9. Then, the second statement uses the sort method to sort these values. After
that, this code uses an enhanced for loop to print the contents of the array to the
console. This shows that the sort method successfully sorted the array.

How to search an array

The third example shows how to use the binarySearch method. This method
searches for an element with a specific value and returns its index. However,
before you can use this method, you must use the sort method to sort the array.
In this example, the first statement creates an array of unsorted strings. Then, the
second statement uses the sort method to sort this array. For strings, this sorts the
array alphabetically from A to Z. In other words, it sorts the strings of this array
like this: “java”, “jsp”, and “mysql”. As a result, the binarySearch method that’s
called in the third statement returns a value of 2, which means that the string is
the third element of the array.

How to create a reference to an array

Like a string, an array is a reference type. As a result, it works a little
differently than primitive types. To start, when you use the assignment operator
(=) to assign a variable to an array, the variable doesn’t store a copy of the
array. Instead, it refers to the array object. As a result, it’s possible for multiple
variables to refer to the same array object.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 265

The Arrays class

java.util.Arrays

Some static methods of the Arrays class

Method Description
fill(array, value) Fills all elements of the specified array with the
specified value.
sort(array) Sorts the elements of an array into ascending order.
binarySearch(array, value) Returns an int value for the index of the specified
value in the specified array. Returns -1 if the speci-
fied value is not found in the array. For this method
to work correctly, the array must first be sorted by
the sort method.

How to fill an array

int[] quantities = new int[5]; // all elements are set to 0
Arrays.fill(quantities, 1); // all elements are set to 1

How to sort an array

int[] numbers = {2,6,4,1,8,5,9,3,7,0};
Arrays.sort(numbers);
for (int number : numbers) {
System.out.print(number + " ");
}

The console output

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

How to search an array

String[] productCodes = {"mysql", "jsp", "java"};
Arrays.sort(productCodes);
int index = Arrays.binarySearch(productCodes, "mysql"); // sets index to 2

Description
•• All of these methods accept arrays of primitive data types and arrays of objects for
the array argument, and they all accept primitive types and objects for the value
argument.
•• For the sort method to work correctly with an array of objects created from a
user-defined class, such as the Product class, the class must implement the
Comparable interface. For more information about implementing interfaces, see
chapter 12.

Figure 10-6 How to fill, compare, sort, and search arrays

266 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

The first example in figure 10-7 shows how this works. Here, the code
creates two variables that refer to the same array. More specifically, the grades
variable and the percentages variable both refer to the same array. As a result,
any change to the grades variable is reflected by the percentages variable and
vice versa. In this example, for instance, the third statement sets percentages[1]
to 70.2. As a result, this change is reflected by grades[1]. This is shown by the
statement that prints grades[1]. Since the percentages and grades variables both
refer to the same array, this statement prints the value 70.2.

How to copy an array

If you want a copy of an array instead of another reference to the array, you
can use the copyOf method to copy all of the elements of one array into another
array. The easiest way to do that is to use the static copyOf method as shown
in the second example. Then, each array variable points to its own copy of the
array, and any changes that are made to one array aren’t reflected in the other
arrays.
In this example, the length argument is set to the length of the grades array.
As a result, this example copies all of the elements of the grades array into the
percentages array. However, if you specified a larger number for the length
argument, the percentages array would be padded with extra elements with
a default value of zero. Or, if you specified a smaller number for the length
argument, the extra elements in the percentages array would be truncated.
The copyOf method was introduced with Java 6. As a result it doesn’t work
with earlier versions of Java. If you need to use an earlier version of Java, you
can create a copy of an array by using the arraycopy method of the System class.
This method is a little more difficult to use than the copyOf method of the Arrays
class. However, you should be able to figure out how to use it if you refer to the
documentation for the Java API.
When you use the copyOf method with an array of reference types, you
need to know that it produces a shallow copy, not a deep copy. That means that
it creates a new array with copies of the references to the objects in the original
array. As a result, if you change a value in one of the objects from one array, the
object in the other array also changes.

How to compare two arrays

If you want to check whether two variables refer to the same array object,
you can use the equality operator (==) as shown in the third example. However,
this only checks whether the two variables refer to the same array object, not
whether the two arrays store the same number of elements with the same values
for each element. To do that, you need to use the equals method of the Arrays
class as shown in the fourth example. When you use this method with an array of
reference types, you may need to implement the equals method for the reference
type as described in the next chapter.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 267

More static methods of the Arrays class

Method Description
copyOf(array, length) Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with default
values as necessary so the copy has the specified length.
equals(array1, array2) Returns a boolean true value if both arrays are of the same type
and all of the elements within the arrays are equal to each other.

How to create a reference to an array

double[] grades = {92.3, 88.0, 95.2, 90.5};
double[] percentages = grades;
percentages[1] = 70.2; // changes grades[1] too
System.out.println("grades[1]=" + grades[1]); // prints 70.2

How to create a shallow copy of an array (Java 6 or later)

double[] grades = {92.3, 88.0, 95.2, 90.5};
double[] percentages = Arrays.copyOf(grades, grades.length);
percentages[1] = 70.2; // doesn't change grades[1]
System.out.println("grades[1]=" + grades[1]); // prints 88.0

How to determine if two variables refer to the same array

if (grades == percentages) {
System.out.println("Both variables refer to the same array.");
}
else {
System.out.println("Each variable refers to a different array.");
System.out.println("However, these arrays may contain the same data.");
}

How to determine if two variables contain the same data

if (Arrays.equals(grades, percentages)) {
System.out.println("Both variables refer to the same data.");
}
else {
System.out.println("Both variables do not refer to the same data.");
}

Description
•• Like a string, an array is a reference type.
•• To create a reference to an existing array, you can use the assignment operator (=)
to assign a variable that points to an existing array to another variable. Then, both
variables point to the same array.
•• To check if two array variables refer to the same array, you can use the equality
operator (==).
•• The copyOf method was introduced with Java 6. As a result, it only works with
Java 6 and later. Prior to Java 6, you can use the arraycopy method of the System
class.
•• When you copy an array, the new array must be the same type as the source array.

Figure 10-7 How to refer to and copy arrays

268 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

The Month Selector application

This chapter finishes by presenting a Month Selector application that allows
the user to select the text for a month by entering its number. This application
shows some of the skills presented in this chapter within the context of an
application.

The user interface

Figure 10-8 begins by showing the console for this application. Here, the
user starts by entering 1 to select January and “y” to continue. Then, the user
enters 12 to select December and “n” to exit the application.

The Main class

This figure also shows the code for the Main class of the Month Selector
application. This code begins by declaring an array of 12 String objects that
contains the names of the 12 months.
After declaring the array, this code uses a while loop to allow the user to
select one or more months. Within this loop, the first statement gets the number
of the month from the user. To do that, it uses the static getInt method of the
Console class described in chapter 8.
After getting the number of the month, this code uses an if statement to
check whether this number is a valid number for a month. To do that, this code
checks whether this number is less than 1 or greater than the length of the array,
which is 12. If so, this code uses the Console class to display an error message to
the console, and it uses a continue statement to jump to the top of the while loop.
If the number of the month is valid, this code continues by subtracting 1
from the month number that was entered by the user. That way, this code can
use the new int value as the index to access the correct String object from the
array of month names. As you should know by now, this is necessary because the
index for an array starts with 0, not 1. As a result, the indexes for this array range
from 0 to 11, not from 1 to 12.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 269

The console
Welcome to the Month Selector

Enter month number: 1

You selected: January

Continue? (y/n): y

Enter month number: 12

You selected: December

Continue? (y/n): n

The Main class

package murach.ui;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Welcome to the Month Selector\n");

String[] monthName = {"January", "February", "March", "April", "May",

"June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November",
"December"};

// select 1 or more months

String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
// get the input from the user
int monthNumber = Console.getInt("Enter month number: ");

// validate input
if (monthNumber < 1 || monthNumber > monthName.length) {
Console.displayLine("Invalid month number. Try again.");
continue;
}

// display output
int monthIndex = monthNumber - 1;
Console.displayLine("You selected: "
+ monthName[monthIndex] + "\n");

// check if the user wants to continue

choice = Console.getString("Continue? (y/n): ");
System.out.println();
}
}
}

Figure 10-8 The Month Selector application

270 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Perspective
Now that you’ve finished this chapter, you should know how to work with
one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays. Although arrays are a core part
of Java, they may not always provide the functionality you need. In many
cases, it’s preferable to use a more advanced data structure called a collection.
For example, instead of using an array as shown in this chapter, you may want
to use an ArrayList object as shown in chapter 14.

Summary
•• An array is a special type of object that can store multiple elements of the
same type.
•• When working with arrays, you can use an index to identify any element
in the array. An index of 0 refers to the first element, 1 refers to the second
element, and so on.
•• The length (or size) of an array is the number of elements that are in the
array.
•• For loops are often used to process arrays. Java 5 introduced a new type of
for loop, called an enhanced for loop or a foreach loop, that lets you process
each element of an array without using indexes.
•• A one-dimensional array provides for a single column of elements. In
contrast, a two-dimensional array, or an array of arrays, provides for a table
of elements that has rows and columns.
•• A two-dimensional array can be rectangular, where each row has the same
number of columns, or jagged, where each row may have a different number
of columns.
•• You can use the Arrays class to fill, sort, search, copy, and compare arrays.
•• Like a string, an array is a reference type. As a result, you should use the
copy method of the Arrays class if you want to copy the data of an array, and
you should use the equals method of the Arrays object if you want to check
whether two arrays store the same data.
 Chapter 10 How to work with arrays 271

Exercise 10-1 Use a one-dimensional array

In this exercise, you can get some practice using one-dimensional arrays.
1. Import the project named ch10_ex1_ArrayTest in the ex_starts directory.
Then, open the Main class.
2. Create a one-dimensional array of 99 double values. Then, use a for loop to
add a random number from 0 to 100 to each element in the array. To do that,
you can call the random method of the Math class and multiply it by 100 like
this:
Math.random() * 100
3. Use an enhanced for loop to sum the values in the array. Then, calculate the
average value and print that value to the console like this:

Average: 50.9526671843517

4. Use the sort method of the Arrays class to sort the values in the array, and
print the median value (the 50th value) to the console like this:

Median: 52.18369291650803

5. Print the 9th value of the array to the console and every 9th value after that like
this:

Position: 9 8.927702403161032
Position: 18 14.053128749806076
...
Position: 99 22.471670293184822
272 Section 2 Essential skills as you need them

Exercise 10-2 Use a two-dimensional array

This exercise guides you through the process of adding a two-dimensional,
rectangular array to the Future Value application. This array stores the values for
up to ten of the calculations. When the application ends, it prints a summary of
those calculations to the console like this:

Future Value Calculations

Inv/Mo. Rate Years Future Value

$100.00 8.0% 10 $18,416.57
$125.00 8.0% 10 $23,020.71
$150.00 8.0% 10 $27,624.85

1. Import the project named ch10_ex2_FutureValue in the ex_starts directory.

Then, review the code and run the application to make sure it works correctly.
2. Declare variables at the beginning of the main method for a row counter and a
rectangular array of strings that provides for 10 rows and 4 columns.
3. After the code that displays the results for each calculation, add code that
formats all values for the calculation and converts them to strings. Then, store
these String values in the next row of the array. (Hint: You can use the toString
method of the Integer class to convert the years value to a string.)
4. Add code to display the elements on the console when the user exits the
application. The output should be formatted as shown above and should only
include the rows that contain data.
5. Test the application by making up to 10 future value calculations.
Section 3

Object-oriented
programming skills
In the first section of this book, you learned how to create your own classes
and use them to create a well-structured, object-oriented application. That’s
a great start to object-oriented programming. Now, the chapters in this
section teach the rest of the skills for object-oriented programming that you
should know. Chapter 11 shows you how to use inheritance, an important
object-oriented skill. Chapter 12 shows you how to use interfaces, another
important object-oriented skill. And chapter 13 shows several more skills
including how to work with inner classes, how to work with enumerations,
and how to add API documentation to the classes that you create.
Because each of the chapters in this section builds on the previous
chapters, we recommend reading these chapters in sequence. In addition,
we recommend reading all of the chapters in this section before going on
to section 4 or 5. That’s because most of the chapters in sections 4 and 5
expect you to understand how inheritance, interfaces, inner classes, and
enumerations work.
 11
How to work
with inheritance
Inheritance is one of the key concepts of object-oriented programming. It
lets you create a class that’s based on another class. When used correctly,
inheritance can reduce code duplication and simplify the overall design of an
application.

An introduction to inheritance...........................................276
How inheritance works.................................................................................276
How the Object class works..........................................................................278
Basic skills for working with inheritance..........................280
How to create a superclass........................................................................... 280
How to create a subclass...............................................................................282
How polymorphism works.......................................................................... 284
The Product application.....................................................286
The console...................................................................................................286
The Product, Book, and Software classes....................................................288
The ProductDB class....................................................................................288
The ProductApp class...................................................................................292
More skills for working with inheritance...........................294
How to cast objects.......................................................................................294
How to compare objects...............................................................................296
How to work with the abstract and final keywords..........298
How to work with the abstract keyword.......................................................298
How to work with the final keyword........................................................... 300
Perspective..........................................................................302
276 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

An introduction to inheritance
Inheritance allows you to create a class that’s based on another class. The
next two figures introduce some of the basic concepts of inheritance.

How inheritance works

Figure 11-1 illustrates how inheritance works. When inheritance is used, a
subclass inherits the fields and methods of a superclass. Then, when you create
an object from the subclass, that subclass can use these fields and methods. The
subclass can also provide its own fields and methods that extend the superclass,
and it can override fields and methods of the superclass by providing new code
for them.
The three classes presented in this figure show how this works. Here, the
superclass is the Product class. This class has eight public methods. By now, you
should already be familiar with the first seven methods. And the next two figures
show how to work the eighth method, the toString method.
In this figure, there are two subclasses: the Book and Software classes.
These classes inherit the first eight methods from the superclass, the Product
class. Then, they both extend the Product class by providing two new methods.
In particular, the Book class adds the setAuthor and getAuthor methods, and the
Software class adds the setVersion and getVersion methods.
In this book, we’ll primarily use superclass to refer to a class that another
class inherits and subclass to refer to a class that inherits another class. However,
a superclass can also be called a base or parent class, and a subclass can also be
called a derived or child class.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 277

Business classes for a Product Maintenance application

Description
•• Inheritance lets you create a new class based on an existing class. Then, the new
class inherits the fields and methods of the existing class.
•• A class that inherits from an existing class is called a derived class, child class, or
subclass. A class that another class inherits is called a base class, parent class, or
superclass.
•• A subclass can extend the superclass by adding new fields and methods to the
superclass. It can also override a method from the superclass with its own version
of the method.

Figure 11-1 How to use inheritance in your applications

278 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How the Object class works

The Object class is the superclass for all Java classes. In other words, every
class automatically inherits the Object class. As a result, the methods of the
Object class are available from every object. Some of the most common methods
of the Object class are summarized in figure 11-2. Since subclasses often
override these methods, these methods may work differently from class to class.
For example, you’ll learn how to override the toString method in the next figure.
Perhaps the most common method of the Object class is the toString
method. That’s because the Java compiler implicitly calls this method when it
needs a string representation of an object. For example, when you supply an
object as the argument of the println method, this method implicitly calls the
toString method of the object.
When you code a class, it’s generally considered a good practice to override
the toString method of the Object class to provide more detailed information
about the object. If possible, this information should be concise, informative, and
easy for a person to read. Otherwise, the toString method that’s provided by the
Object class returns the name of the class, followed by the @ symbol, followed
by a hexadecimal representation of the hash code of the object. In case you
aren’t familiar with hexadecimal, it is a numbering system with a base of 16. To
represent the 16 values, Java uses the numbers 0–9 plus the letters a-f.
In contrast, the hashCode method returns an int value that represents the
hash code of the object in base 10. If necessary, other code can use the hash code
of an object when storing or manipulating the object.
If you need to compare objects of a class for equality, you can override the
equals method of the class so it compares two objects to check whether their
instance variables are equal as shown later in this chapter. Otherwise, the equals
method of the Object class returns true only if the two variables refer to the same
object. In other words, it might return false, even if the two variables refer to
objects that store the same data.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 279

The Object class

java.lang.Object

Methods of the Object class

Method Description
toString() Returns a String object containing the class name, followed by the
@ symbol, followed by a hexadecimal representation of the hash
code for this object. If that’s not what you want, you can override
this method as shown in the next figure.
equals(Object) Returns true if this variable refers to the same object as the specified
variable. Otherwise, it returns false, even if both variables refer to
objects that contain the same data. If that’s not what you want, you
can override the equals method as shown later in this chapter.
getClass() Returns a Class object that represents the type of this object.
clone() Returns a copy of this object as an Object object. Before you can
use this method, the class must implement the Cloneable interface.
hashCode() Returns an int value that represents the hash code for this object.

A typical value returned by a Product object’s toString method

murach.business.Product@15db9742

A typical value returned by a Product object’s hashCode method

366712642

Description
•• The Object class in the java.lang package is the superclass for all classes. In other
words, every class inherits the Object class or some other class that ultimately
inherits the Object class. As a result, the methods defined by the Object class are
available to all classes.
•• When coding classes, it’s recommended to override the toString method so that it
returns a string that’s concise, informative, and easy for a person to read.

Figure 11-2 How the Object class works

280 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Basic skills for working

with inheritance
Now that you’ve been introduced to the basic concepts of inheritance,
you’re ready to learn the details for coding superclasses and subclasses. In
addition, you’ll learn how to work with one of the major features of inheritance,
polymorphism.

How to create a superclass

Figure 11-3 shows how to create a class that can be used as a superclass
for one or more subclasses. To do that, you define the fields, constructors, and
methods of the class just as you would for any other class.
The table in this figure lists several access modifiers you can use to indicate
whether members of a superclass are accessible to other classes. By now, you
should be familiar with the private and public access modifiers. To review, you
use the private keyword for any fields or methods that you want only to be avail-
able within the current class. In contrast, you use the public keyword for any
fields or methods that you want to be available to all other classes.
Beyond that, you may occasionally want to use the protected keyword to code
protected members. A protected member is a member that can be accessed within
the defining class, any class in the same package, and any class that inherits the
defining class, but not by any other class. This lets subclasses access certain parts
of the superclass without exposing those parts to other classes. For example, the
Product class in this figure includes a static field named count that has protected
access. As a result, any subclass of the Product class can access this field, regard-
less of whether the subclass is in the same package as the Product class.
You can also code a field or method without an access modifier. Then, the
classes in the same package are able to access the field or method, but classes in
other packages aren’t able to do that.
The Product class shown in this figure includes a toString method that
overrides the toString method of the java.lang.Object class. This method returns
the description for the product, which is a concise and easy-to-read representa-
tion of this object. As a result, any subclasses of this class can use this toString
method. Or, they can override the toString method to provide their own code for
that method.
When you override a method, it’s generally considered a good practice
to add an annotation to the method in the subclass to clearly indicate that the
method in the subclass overrides the method in the superclass. An annotation
is a standard way to provide information about your code that can be used by
the compiler, the JRE, and other software development tools. In this figure, for
example, an @Override annotation is coded above the toString method.
Although this annotation isn’t required, it’s helpful for two reasons. First,
the compiler can use this information to make sure that the toString method
correctly overrides the toString method in the superclass. If it doesn’t, the
compiler can generate an error. Second, this makes it easy for other program-
mers to see that this method overrides a method in the superclass.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 281

Access modifiers
Keyword Description
private Available within the current class.
public Available to classes in all packages.
protected Available to classes in the same package and to subclasses.
no keyword coded Available to classes in the same package.

An annotation for overriding a method

@Override
// method declaration goes here

The code for the Product superclass

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class Product {

private String code;

private String description;
private double price;
protected static int count = 0;

public Product() {
}

// get and set accessors for the code, description, and price
// instance variables

@Override
public String toString() {
return description;
}

public static int getCount() { // create public access for the

// count variable
return count;
}
}

Description
•• Access modifiers specify the accessibility of the members declared by a class.
•• Protected members are accessible to the current class, to other classes in the same
package, and to subclasses.
•• An annotation is a standard way to provide information about your code. When you
override a method, you can add the @Override annotation to the method.

Figure 11-3 How to create a superclass

282 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to create a subclass

Figure 11-4 shows how to create a subclass. To indicate that a class is a
subclass, you follow the class name on the class declaration with the extends
keyword and the name of the superclass that the subclass inherits. For example,
the code for the Book class shown in this figure specifies that the Book class
extends the Product class. In other words, the Book class is a subclass of the
Product class.
After you declare the subclass, you can extend the functionality of the super-
class by adding fields, constructors, and methods. In this figure, for example, the
Book class adds a new instance variable and a new constructor. It also adds new
setAuthor and getAuthor methods, and it overrides the toString method defined
by the Product class.
The constructor for the Book subclass starts by using the super keyword
to call the default constructor of the Product class. This initializes the code,
description, and price fields. Next, this constructor assigns a default value of an
empty string to the author field. Finally, this constructor increments the count
field. This constructor can access this field because the superclass declared it
with protected access.
To override a method of the superclass, you just code a method with the
same signature as the method in the superclass. In this case, the toString method
of the Book class overrides the toString method of the Product class. This
method accepts no parameters and returns a string. The code within this method
uses the super keyword to call the toString method of the Product class. This
method returns a string representation of the Product object. Then, this code
appends the author’s name to this string. Finally, it returns the string. Note that
the toString method of the Book class is clearly marked with the @Override
annotation.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 283

The syntax for creating subclasses

To declare a subclass
public class SubclassName extends SuperClassName{}

To call a superclass constructor

super(argumentList)

To call a superclass method

super.methodName(argumentList)

The code for a Book subclass

package murach.business;

public class Book extends Product {

private String author;

public Book() {
super(); // call constructor of Product superclass
author = "";
count++;
}

public void setAuthor(String author) {

this.author = author;
}

public String getAuthor() {

return author;
}

@Override
public String toString() { // override the toString method
return super.toString() + // call method of Product superclass
" by " + author;
}
}

Description
•• You can directly access fields that have public or protected access in the superclass
from the subclass.
•• You can extend the superclass by adding new fields and methods to the subclass.
•• You can override the public and protected methods in the superclass by coding
methods in the subclass that have the same signatures as methods in the superclass.
However, you can’t override private methods in the superclass because they aren’t
available to the subclass.
•• You use the super keyword to call a constructor or method of the superclass. If you
call a constructor of the superclass, it must be the first statement in the constructor
of the subclass.

Figure 11-4 How to create a subclass

284 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How polymorphism works

Polymorphism is one of the most important features of object-oriented
programming and inheritance. As figure 11-5 shows, polymorphism lets you
treat objects of different types as if they were the same type by referring to a
superclass that’s common to both objects. For example, the Book class presented
in figure 11-4 inherits the Product class. As a result, you can treat a Book object
as if it is a Product object.
One benefit of polymorphism is that you can write generic code that’s
designed to work with a superclass. Then, you can use that code with instances
of any class that’s derived from the superclass. For example, suppose you have
a method named getDiscountPercent that accepts a Product object as a param-
eter. Because the Book and Software classes both inherit the Product class, the
getDiscountPercent method also works with Book and Software objects.
The examples in this figure show how polymorphism works. To start, the
first three examples show the toString methods for the Product, Book, and
Software classes. The Book version of the toString method adds the author’s
name to the end of the string that’s returned by the toString method of the
Product class. Similarly, the Software version adds the version number to the end
of the string that’s returned by the toString method of the Product class.
The fourth example shows how polymorphism works with these classes.
This code begins by creating an instance of the Book class, assigning it to a
variable named b, and assigning values to its instance variables. After that, it
creates an instance of the Software class, assigns it to a variable named s, and
assigns values to its instance variables.
Next, a variable named p of type Product is declared, and the Book object is
assigned to it. Then, the toString method of the Product class is called. When the
JRE sees that the p variable refers to a Book object and that this object contains
an overridden version of the toString method, it calls the overridden version of
this method.
This example finishes by doing the same thing with the Software object.
First, this Software object is assigned to the Product variable. Then, the toString
method defined by the Product class is called, which causes the toString method
of the Software class to be executed.
The key to polymorphism is that the decision on what method to call is
based on the inheritance hierarchy at runtime. This can be referred to as late
binding. At compile time, the compiler recognizes that a method with the speci-
fied signature exists.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 285

Three versions of the toString method

The toString method in the Product superclass
public String toString() {
return description;
}

The toString method in the Book class

public String toString() {
return super.toString() + " by " + author;
}

The toString method in the Software class

public String toString() {
return super.toString() + " " + version;
}

Code that uses the overridden methods

Book b = new Book();
b.setCode("java");
b.setDescription("Murach's Java Programming");
b.setPrice(57.50);
b.setAuthor("Joel Murach");

Software s = new Software();

s.setCode("eclipse");
s.setDescription("Eclipse");
s.setPrice(0.00);
s.setVersion("8.0");

Product p;
p = b;
System.out.println(p.toString()); // calls toString from the Book class
p = s;
System.out.println(p.toString()); // calls toString from the Software class

Description
•• Polymorphism is a feature of inheritance that lets you treat objects of different
subclasses that are derived from the same superclass as if they had the type of the
superclass. If, for example, Book is a subclass of Product, you can treat a Book
object as if it were a Product object.
•• If you access a method of a superclass object and the method is overridden in the
subclasses of that class, polymorphism determines which method is executed based
on the object’s type. For example, if you call the toString method of a Product
object, the toString method of the Book class is executed if the object is a Book
object.

Figure 11-5 How polymorphism works

286 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

The Product application

Now that you’ve learned how to code superclasses and subclasses, the
following topics present a version of the Product application that uses inheri-
tance. This version of the application uses the Book and Software classes that
were described in figure 11-4. In addition, it uses a ProductDB class that can
return two distinct types of products: books and software.

The console
Figure 11-6 shows the console for the Product application. This application
works much like the Product application presented in chapter 4. However, there
are three main differences. First, this application displays an additional piece of
information about each product, which varies depending on whether the product
is a book or software. In particular, it displays an author for a book and a version
number for software. Second, this application displays a count of the total
number of objects it has created. Third, if the user enters an invalid product code,
the application displays an appropriate error message.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 287

The console for the Product application

Welcome to the Product Viewer

Enter product code: java

Description: Murach's Java Programming by Joel Murach

Price: $57.50

Product count: 1

Continue? (y/n): y

Enter product code: eclipse

Description: Eclipse 4.4.2

Price: $0.00

Product count: 2

Continue? (y/n): y

Enter product code: xxxx

No product matches this product code.

Continue? (y/n):

Description
•• This version of the Product application handles two types of products: books and
software.
•• If you enter the product code for a book, the information about the product includes
an author.
•• If you enter the product code for software, the information about the product
includes a version number.

Figure 11-6 The console for the Product application

288 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

The Product, Book, and Software classes

Figures 11-7 and 11-8 show the code for the Product superclass and its two
subclasses, Book and Software. Since most of the code for the Product and Book
classes was presented earlier in this chapter, you shouldn’t have much trouble
understanding how they work.
In addition, the Software class works like the Book class. As a result, you
shouldn’t have much trouble understanding it either. After it extends the Product
class, it declares a private instance variable named version. Next, it provides
a constructor that has no parameters that creates a new Software object with
default values. This constructor also increments the count variable defined by the
Product class. Finally, the Software class provides setVersion, getVersion, and
toString methods.
The toString method of the Software class overrides the toString method of
the Product class. However, it uses the super keyword to call the toString method
of the Product class, which returns a string for the description of the product.
Then, it appends information about the software version to the end of this string.

The ProductDB class

Figure 11-9 shows the code for the getProduct method of the ProductDB
class, which returns the Book and Software objects used by the Product applica-
tion. Here, the return type for the getProduct method is a Product object. Since
the Book and Software classes are subclasses of the Product class, this method
can return both Book and Software objects.
Within the getProduct method, the first statement declares a Product variable
named p and assigns a null value to it. Then, if the user doesn’t enter a product
code that matches a product, this null value is returned.
If the product code that’s passed to this method matches one of the valid
book codes, a new Book object is created. Then, the instance variables for that
object are set depending on the book code. Finally, that Book object is assigned
to the Product variable.
If, on the other hand, the product code that’s passed to this method matches
the code for a software product, a new Software object is created and its instance
variables are set. Then, that Software object is assigned to the Product variable.
The last statement in this method returns the Product variable to the calling
method. Here, the Product variable can contain a Book object, a Software object,
or a null. As a result, the calling method can check whether the product code is
valid by checking whether the Product variable is null.
This chapter presents the ProductDB class as part of an application that
shows how inheritance works. However, this class is not a realistic way to get
an object and fill it with data since adding any new data would require updating
and recompiling the source code. Typically, the data for an object is stored in a
database as shown later in this book. Then, a class such as the ProductDB class
can read the data from the database and return one or more objects that contain
this data.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 289

The code for the Product class

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class Product {

private String code;

private String description;
private double price;
protected static int count = 0;

public Product() {}

public void setCode(String code) {

this.code = code;
}
public String getCode(){
return code;
}

public void setDescription(String description) {

this.description = description;
}

public String getDescription() {

return description;
}

public void setPrice(double price) {

this.price = price;
}

public double getPrice() {

return price;
}

public String getPriceFormatted() {

NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
return currency.format(price);
}

@Override
public String toString() {
return description;
}

public static int getCount() {

return count;
}
}

Figure 11-7 The code for the Product class

290 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

The code for the Book class

package murach.business;

public class Book extends Product {

private String author;

public Book() {
super();
author = "";
count++;
}

public void setAuthor(String author) {

this.author = author;
}

public String getAuthor() {

return author;
}

@Override
public String toString() {
return super.toString() + " by " + author;
}
}

The code for the Software class

package murach.business;

public class Software extends Product {

private String version;

public Software() {
super();
version = "";
count++;
}

public void setVersion(String version) {

this.version = version;
}

public String getVersion() {

return version;
}

@Override
public String toString() {
return super.toString() + " " + version;
}
}

Figure 11-8 The code for the Book and Software classes
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 291

The code for the ProductDB class

package murach.db;

import murach.business.Book;
import murach.business.Product;
import murach.business.Software;

public class ProductDB {

public static Product getProduct(String productCode) {

// In a more realistic application, this code would
// get the data for the product from a file or database
// For now, this code just uses if/else statements
// to return the correct product data

Product p = null;

if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")
|| productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("jsp")
|| productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("mysql")) {
Book b = new Book();
if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")) {
b.setCode(productCode);
b.setDescription("Murach's Java Programming");
b.setPrice(57.50);
b.setAuthor("Joel Murach");
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("jsp")) {
b.setCode(productCode);
b.setDescription("Murach's Java Servlets and JSP");
b.setPrice(57.50);
b.setAuthor("Mike Urban");
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("mysql")) {
b.setCode(productCode);
b.setDescription("Murach's MySQL");
b.setPrice(54.50);
b.setAuthor("Joel Murach");
}
p = b; // set Product object equal to the Book object
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("eclipse")) {
Software s = new Software();
s.setCode("eclipse");
s.setDescription("Eclipse");
s.setPrice(0.00);
s.setVersion("4.4.2");
p = s; // set Product object equal to the Software object
}
return p;
}
}

Figure 11-9 The code for the ProductDB class

292 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

The ProductApp class

Figure 11-10 shows the code for this version of the ProductApp class.
This code is similar to the code for the ProductApp class presented in chapter
4. However, in this version of the application, the getProduct method of the
ProductDB class returns a null if the product code is invald. Otherwise, it returns
a Product variable that refers to a Book or Software object that corresponds to
the product code.
Within the loop, this class uses an if/else statement to test whether the
Product variable contains a null. If so, this code displays an error message.
Otherwise, this code calls the toString method of the object that the Product
variable refers to. If the object is a book, this calls the toString method of the
Book class. If the object is software, it calls the toString method of the Software
class. In other words, this statement uses polymorphism to determine which
method to call.
In this application, the product code that’s entered by the user determines
whether a Book object or a Software object is created. As a result, at compile
time, the application doesn’t know which version of the toString method to
call. At runtime, however, the JRE determines what type of object the Product
variable refers to, and it calls the appropriate method.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 293

The code for the ProductApp class

package murach.ui;

import java.util.Scanner;
import murach.db.ProductDB;
import murach.business.Product;

public class ProductApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Product Viewer");
System.out.println();

// perform 1 or more selections

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
System.out.print("Enter product code: ");
String productCode = sc.nextLine(); // read the product code

// get the Product object

Product p = ProductDB.getProduct(productCode);

// display the output

System.out.println();
if (p != null) {
System.out.println("Description: " + p.toString());
System.out.println("Price: " + p.getPriceFormatted());
} else {
System.out.println("No product matches this product code.\n");
}

System.out.println();
System.out.println("Product count: " + Product.getCount() + "\n");

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}
sc.close();
}
}

Figure 11-10 The code for the ProductApp class

294 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

More skills for working

with inheritance
Now that you’ve learned the basic skills for working with inheritance and
polymorphism, you’re ready to learn some additional skills for working with
inheritance. You might not need to use these skills often, but they provide useful
information about how Java works, and they are necessary for some types of
applications.

How to cast objects

One potentially confusing aspect of using inheritance is knowing when to
cast inherited objects explicitly. The basic rule is that Java can implicitly cast a
subclass to its superclass, but you must use explicit casting if you want to treat a
superclass object as one of its subclasses.
The first example in figure 11-11 shows how this works. To start, the first
group of statements creates a Book object, assigns this object to a Book variable
named b, and assigns values to the object’s instance variables.
The second group of statements shows how you can cast a subclass to its
superclass without explicitly coding a cast. The first statement in this group casts
the Book object to a Product variable named p. Since this cast goes up the inheri-
tance hierarchy (from more data to less), you don’t need to explicitly code the
cast. Once you perform a cast like this, you can’t call methods that are specific
to the subclass. For example, once you cast a Book object to a Product object,
you can’t call the setAuthor method of the Book object. However, you can call
methods of the Product class such as the setDescription method.
The third group of statements shows how to explicitly cast a superclass to
a subclass. Since this cast goes down the inheritance hierarchy (from less data
to more), you need to code the class name within parentheses in the assign-
ment statement before you code the name of the object you’re casting. Here,
the first statement casts a Product object to a Book object. This works because
the Product object is actually the Book object that was created in the first group
of statements. This makes all methods of the Book object available again and
doesn’t cause any of the data in the original Book object to be lost.
The fourth group of statements shows a cast that causes a
ClassCastException to be thrown. Here, the first statement creates a Product
object. Then, the second statement attempts to cast this object to the Book type.
Since the Product variable named p2 refers to an instance of the Product class,
not an instance of the Book class, an exception is thrown when this statement is
executed.
The second example shows how you can check an object’s type. This code
uses the instanceof operator to check whether the variable named p is an instance
of the Book object. You can use code like this to avoid a ClassCastException like
the one shown by the last statement in the first example.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 295

Code that casts Product and Book objects

Book b = new Book();
b.setCode("java");
b.setDescription("Murach's Beginning Java");
b.setAuthor("Andrea Steelman");
b.setPrice(49.50);

Product p = b; // cast Book object to a Product object

p.setDescription("Test"); // OK - method in Product class
//p.setAuthor("Test"); // not OK - method not in Product class

Book b2 = (Book) p; // cast the Product object back to a Book object

b2.setAuthor("Test"); // OK - method in Book class

Product p2 = new Product();

Book b3 = (Book) p2; // throws a ClassCastException because
// p2 is a Product object not a Book object

Code that checks an object’s type

Product p = new Book(); // create a Book object
if (p instanceof Book) {
System.out.println("This is a Book object");
}

The console
This is a Book object

Description
•• Java can implicitly cast a subclass to a superclass. As a result, you can use a
subclass whenever a reference to its superclass is called for. For example, you can
specify a Book object whenever a Product object is expected because Book is a
subclass of Product.
•• You must explicitly cast a superclass object when a reference to one of its
subclasses is required. For example, you must explicitly cast a Product object to
Book if a Book object is expected. This only works if the Product object is a valid
Book object. Otherwise, this throws a ClassCastException.
•• Casting affects the methods that are available from an object. For example, if you
store a Book object in a Product variable, you can’t call the setAuthor method
because it’s defined by the Book class, not the Product class.
•• You can use the instanceof operator to check if an object is an instance of a
particular class.

Figure 11-11 How to cast objects and check an object’s type

296 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to compare objects

Figure 11-12 shows how the equals method of the Object class works. In
short, this method checks whether two variables refer to the same object, not
whether two variables hold the same data. Since that’s not usually the behavior
you want when comparing objects for equality, many classes in the API, such as
the String class, override this method. When you code your own classes, you’ll
often want to override this method too.
The first two examples in this figure show how the equals method of the
Object class works when the Book class doesn’t override the equals method. In
the first example, the first two statements create two variables that refer to the
same object. Since both variables point to the same object, the expression that
uses the equals method to compare these variables evaluates to true.
In the second example, though, the first two statements create two objects
that contain the same data. However, since the two variables in this example
don’t refer to the same object, the expression that uses the equals method to
compare these variables evaluates to false. But that’s usually not what you want.
The third example shows how to code an equals method in the Product class
that overrides the equals method of the Object class. To start, this method uses
the same signature as the equals method of the Object class, which returns a
boolean value and accepts a parameter of the Object type. Then, an if statement
uses the instanceof operator to make sure that the passed object is an instance of
the Product class. If so, it casts the Object parameter to a Product object. Then,
an if statement compares the three instance variables stored in the Product object
with the instance variables stored in the current object. If all instance variables
are equal, this statement returns true. Otherwise, it returns false. As a result, the
first two examples in this figure return a true value if the Product class contains
this method.
The fourth example shows how to code an equals method in the LineItem
class you saw in the previous chapter. The code for this method works the same
as the code for the equals method of the Product class. However, because a
LineItem object contains a Product object, the equals method of the LineItem
class uses the equals method of the Product class. As a result, you must code an
equals method for the Product class for this method to work correctly.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 297

How the equals method of the Object class works

Both variables refer to the same object
Product product1 = new Product();
Product product2 = product1;
if (product1.equals(product2)) // expression returns true

Both variables refer to different objects that store the same data
Product product1 = new Product();
Product product2 = new Product();
if (product1.equals(product2)) // expression returns false

How to override the equals method of the Object class

The equals method of the Product class
@Override
public boolean equals(Object object) {
if (object instanceof Product) {
Product product2 = (Product) object;
if (code.equals(product2.getCode()) &&
description.equals(product2.getDescription()) &&
price == product2.getPrice()) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}

The equals method of the LineItem class

@Override
public boolean equals(Object object) {
if (object instanceof LineItem) {
LineItem li = (LineItem) object;
if (product.equals(li.getProduct()) &&
quantity == li.getQuantity()) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}

Description
•• To test if two objects variables refer to the same object, you can use the equals
method of the Object class.
•• To test if two objects store the same data, you can override the equals method in the
subclass so it tests whether all instance variables in the two objects are equal.
•• Many classes from the Java API (such as the String class) already override the
equals method to test for equality.

Figure 11-12 How to override the equals method

298 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to work with the

abstract and final keywords
The last two figures in this chapter show how you can require or restrict
the use of inheritance in the classes you create by using the abstract and final
keywords.

How to work with the abstract keyword

An abstract class is a class that can’t be instantiated. In other words, you
can’t create an object directly from an abstract class. Instead, you can code a
class that inherits an abstract class, and you can create an object from that class.
Figure 11-12 shows how to work with abstract classes. To declare an abstract
class, you include the abstract keyword in the class declaration as shown in
the Product class at the top of this figure. Within an abstract class, you can use
the abstract keyword to code abstract methods. For example, the Product class
shown here includes an abstract method named getDisplayText that returns a
string. The declaration for this method includes the abstract keyword, it ends
with a semicolon, and no method body is coded.
When you include abstract methods in an abstract class, you must override
them in any class that inherits the abstract class. This is illustrated in the second
example in this figure. Here, a class named Book that inherits the Product class
overrides the abstract getDisplayText method that’s defined by that class.
When you work with an abstract class, you can still declare a variable of the
abstract type. However, you can’t use the new keyword create an instance of the
abstract type. In this figure, for example, you can still declare a Product variable.
However, you can’t use the new keyword to create a Product object to store in
this variable. Instead, you must store a Book or Software object in the Product
variable.
So, why you would use abstract classes? Well, one common use is to imple-
ment most, but not all, of the functionality of a class as a convenience to the
programmer. This leaves only a few abstract methods that are specific to the
subclass. In chapter 21, for example, the AbstractTableModel class implements
most of the methods common to all table models, but it leaves a few abstract
methods that are specific to the table that the subclass defines.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 299

An abstract Product class

package murach.business;

public abstract class Product {

private String code;
private String description;
private double price;

// regular constructors and methods for instance variables

@Override
public String toString() {
return description;
}

public abstract String getDisplayText(); // an abstract method

}

A class that inherits the abstract Product class

package murach.business;

public class Book extends Product {

private String author;

// regular constructor and methods for the Book class

@Override
public String getDisplayText() { // implement the abstract method
return super.toString() + " by " + author;
}
}

Description
•• An abstract class is a class that can be inherited by other classes but that you can’t
use to create an object. To declare an abstract class, code the abstract keyword in
the class declaration.
•• An abstract class can contain fields, constructors, and methods just like other
superclasses. In addition, an abstract class can contain abstract methods.
•• To create an abstract method, you code the abstract keyword in the method declara-
tion and you omit the method body. Abstract methods cannot have private access.
However, they may have protected or default access (no access modifier).
•• When a subclass inherits an abstract class, all abstract methods in the abstract class
must be overridden in the subclass. Otherwise, the subclass must also be abstract.
•• An abstract class doesn’t have to contain abstract methods. However, any class that
contains an abstract method must be declared as abstract.

Figure 11-13 How to work with the abstract keyword

300 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to work with the final keyword

Figure 11-13 shows how to use the final keyword to declare final classes,
final methods, and final parameters. You can use this keyword whenever you
want to make sure that no one can override or change your classes, methods, or
parameters. When you declare a final class, other programmers won’t be able
to create a subclass from your class. When you declare a final method, other
programmers won’t be able to override that method. And when you declare a
final parameter, other programmers won’t be able to assign a new value to that
parameter.
In early versions of Java, using final methods sometimes resulted in a signifi-
cant performance gain. However, with modern versions of Java, the performance
gain is almost nonexistent.
So, why would you want to use final classes, methods, or parameters?
The main reason is because you may not want other programmers to be able
to change the behavior of a method or a class. For example, you may need to
make a method public so other programmers can use it. However, changing that
method in a subclass might cause the method to not work properly. In that case,
you can declare the method as final.
The first example shows how to declare a final class. This example declares
the Book class that inherits the Product class as final. When you declare a final
class like this, all methods in the class automatically become final methods.
The second example shows how to declare a final method. Since this method
is in the Software class, which hasn’t been declared as final, the class can still
be inherited by other classes. However, any class that inherits the Software class
won’t be able to override the getVersion method.
The third example shows how you can declare a final parameter when you’re
coding a method. In most cases, there’s no reason to declare a parameter as final.
However, in some rare cases, you may need to declare a parameter as final to
guarantee that the parameter cannot change. In these cases, the compiler usually
gives a warning that the variable must be final or effectively final. Then, you can
add the final keyword to the declaration of the parameter.
In most cases, you’ll declare an entire class as final rather than declaring
specific methods as final. Because of that, you typically don’t need to worry
about whether individual methods of a class are final. However, if you encounter
final methods, you should now understand how they work.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 301

A final class
public final class Book extends Product {
// all methods in the class are automatically final
}

A final method
public final String getVersion() {
return version;
}

A final parameter
public void setVersion(final String version) {

// version = "new value"; // not allowed

this.version = version;
}

Description
•• To prevent a class from being inherited, you can create a final class by coding the
final keyword in the class declaration.
•• To prevent subclasses from overriding a method of a superclass, you can create a
final method by coding the final keyword in the method declaration. In addition, all
methods in a final class are automatically final methods.
•• To prevent a method from assigning a new value to a parameter, you can code the
final keyword in the parameter declaration to create a final parameter. Then, if a
statement in the method tries to assign a new value to the parameter, the compiler
reports an error.

Figure 11-14 How to work with the final keyword

302 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Perspective
Conceptually, this is one of the most difficult chapters in this book.
Although the basic idea of inheritance isn’t that difficult to understand, the
complications of polymorphism, overriding, and casting make inheritance
a difficult topic. So if you find yourself a bit confused right now, don’t be
disheartened. It will become clearer as you actually use the techniques you’ve
learned here and see them used in the Java API.
The good news is that you don’t have to understand every nuance of how
inheritance works to use it. In fact, since all classes automatically inherit the
Object class, you’ve already been using inheritance without even knowing
it. Now that you’ve completed this chapter, you should have a better under-
standing of how the Java API works. In addition, you should have a better idea
of how you can use inheritance to improve the design of your own classes.

Summary
•• Inheritance lets you create a new class based on an existing class. The
existing class is called the superclass, base class, or parent class, and the
new class is called the subclass, derived class, or child class.
•• A subclass inherits all of the fields and methods of its superclass that aren’t
private. The subclass can extend the superclass by adding its own fields and
methods, and it can override a method with a new version of the method.
•• All classes inherit the java.lang.Object class. This class provides methods,
such as the toString and equals methods, that are available to all classes.
•• You can use access modifiers to limit the accessibility of the fields and
methods declared by a class. Protected members can be accessed only by
classes in the same package or by subclasses.
•• An annotation is a standard way to provide information about your code
to other software tools and developers. When you override a method, it’s
generally considered a good practice to add the @Override annotation to the
method.
•• In a subclass, you can use the super keyword to access the fields, construc-
tors, and methods of the superclass.
•• Polymorphism is a feature of inheritance that lets you treat subclasses as
though they were their superclass.
•• Java can implicitly cast a subclass type to its superclass type, but you must
use explicit casting to cast a superclass type to a subclass type.
•• You can use the instanceof operator to check if an object is an instance of a
particular class.
•• Abstract classes can be inherited by other classes but can’t be used to create
an object. Abstract classes can include abstract methods.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 303

•• If you extend an abstract class, you must implement all abstract methods.
Otherwise, you must also declare your class as abstract.
•• You can use the final keyword to declare final classes, final methods, and
final parameters. No class can inherit a final class, no method can override a
final method, and no statement can assign a new value to a final parameter.

Exercise 11-1 Use inheritance

with the Product application
In this exercise, you’ll modify the Product application shown in this chapter so
it provides for an additional kind of product: a music album. When you enter the
code for a music album, it should look like this:

Enter product code: sgtp

Description: Sgt. Peppers (The Beatles)

Price: $14.99

Product count: 1

Create a new subclass named Album

1. Import the project named ch11_ex1_Product that’s in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code.
2. In the murach.business package, create a new class named Album that inherits
the Product class. This new class should store data about the artist of the
album. In addition, its toString method should append the name of the artist to
the end of the string.
Modify the ProductDB class so it returns an Album object
3. Modify the ProductDB class so it creates at least one Album object.
4. Run the application to make sure that it works correctly.
Modify the protected variable
5. Open the Product class and delete the protected access modifier for the count
variable. This restricts the availability of this variable even further, making it
only available to the other classes in the current package.
6. Run the application to make sure that the count is maintained properly.
304 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Exercise 11-2 Use the abstract

and final keywords
In this exercise, you’ll experiment with the abstract and final keywords to see
how they work.

Use an abstract class with an abstract method

1. Import the project named ch11_ex2_Product that’s in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code.
2. Open the Product class. Then, add the abstract keyword to the class declara-
tion.
3. In the Product class, add an abstract method named getDisplayText. This
method should accept no parameters, and it should return a String object.
4. Attempt to compile the application. This should display an error message that
indicates that the Book and Software classes must override the getDisplayText
method.
5. Open the Book and Software classes. Then, add a getDisplayText method to
these classes that overrides the abstract getDisplayText method of the Product
class. One easy way to do that is to rename the toString method to getDisplay-
Text.
6. Open the ProductApp class. Then, modify it so it calls the getDisplayText
method of a product object instead of the toString method.
7. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
Use a final class
8. In the Book class, add the final keyword to its class declaration.
9. Create a new class named UsedBook that inherits the Book class. You don’t
need to include any code in the body of this class. This should display an
error message that indicates that the Book class can’t be inherited because it is
final.
10. In the Book class, remove the final keyword from its class declaration.
11. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
Use a final method
12. In the Book class, add the final keyword to the getDisplayText method.
13. Add a getDisplayText method to the UsedBook class to override the getDis-
playText method of the Book class. This method can return an empty string.
This should display an error message that indicates that the getDisplayText
method can’t be overridden because it is final.
14. In the Book class, remove the final keyword from the getDisplayText method.
15. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
 Chapter 11 How to work with inheritance 305

Exercise 11-3 Code an equals method

In this exercise, you’ll add an equals method to the Product and LineItem
classes that you can use to compare the instance variables of two objects.
1. Import the project named ch11_ex3_EqualsTest in the ex_starts folder. This
application creates and compares two Product objects and two LineItem
objects using the equals method. Review this code to see how it works.
2. Run the project. Since the equals method isn’t overridden in the Product
or LineItem class, the output from this application should indicate that the
comparisons are based on object references and not the data the objects
contain like this:

The Product class is comparing references.

The LineItem class is comparing references.

3. Open the Product class, and add an equals method as shown in this chapter.
Then, run the project again. This time, the output should indicate that the
products are being compared based on their data like this:

The Product class is comparing data.

The LineItem class is comparing references.

4. Repeat step 3 for the LineItem class. This time, the comparisons for both the
products and line items should be based on their data like this:

The Product class is comparing data.

The LineItem class is comparing data.
 12
How to work
with interfaces
Interfaces are similar to abstract classes. However, they have several advantages
that make them easier to create and more flexible to use.
The Java API defines hundreds of interfaces. Many classes in the Java API
use these interfaces. You can use interfaces from the Java API in your own
applications. In addition, you can create and use your own interfaces.

An introduction to interfaces.............................................308
A simple interface........................................................................................ 308
Interfaces compared to abstract classes....................................................... 310
Basic skills for working with interfaces............................312
How to code an interface..............................................................................312
How to implement an interface.................................................................... 314
How to inherit a class and implement an interface...................................... 316
How to use an interface as a parameter........................................................ 318
How to use inheritance with interfaces........................................................320
New features for working with interfaces.........................322
How to work with default methods...............................................................322
How to work with static methods.................................................................324
The Product Viewer application.........................................326
The console...................................................................................................326
The ProductReader interface........................................................................326
The ProductDB class....................................................................................326
The ProductApp class...................................................................................328
Perspective..........................................................................330
308 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

An introduction to interfaces
In some object-oriented programming languages, such as C++, a class can
inherit more than one class. This is known as multiple inheritance. Although
Java doesn’t support multiple inheritance, it does support a special type of
coding element known as an interface. An interface provides many of the advan-
tages of multiple inheritance without some of the problems that are associated
with it.

A simple interface
Figure 12-1 illustrates how you create and use an interface. Here, the first
example shows the code for a simple interface named Printable. This code is
similar to the code that defines a class and is stored in a file named Printable.
java. However, the code for an interface uses the interface keyword instead of the
class keyword. In addition, all of the methods in an interface are automatically
public and abstract. As a result, you don’t need to code the public or abstract
keywords for the methods in an interface.
The second example shows a Product class that implements the Printable
interface. To implement the Printable interface, the declaration for the Product
class uses the implements keyword followed by the name of the interface. Then,
the body of the Product class implements the print method that’s specified by the
Printable interface.
The third example shows that a Product object that implements the Printable
interface can be stored in a variable of the Printable type. In other words, an
object created from the Product class shown in this figure is both a Product
object and a Printable object. As a result, you can use this object anywhere a
Printable object is expected as shown later in this chapter.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 309

A Printable interface that defines an abstract print method

package murach.business;

public interface Printable {

void print(); // this method is automatically public and abstract
}

A Product class that implements the Printable interface

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class Product implements Printable {

private String code;
private String description;
private double price;

public Product(String code, String description, double price) {

this.code = code;
this.description = description;
this.price = price;
}

// get and set methods for the fields

public void print() // implement the Printable interface

System.out.println(description);
}
}

Code that uses the print method of the Product class

Printable p = ProductDB.getProduct("java");
p.print();

Resulting output

Murach's Java Programming

Description
•• An interface can define one or more methods. These methods are automatically
public and abstract. As a result, the interface only specifies the method signatures,
not any code that implements the methods.
•• A class that implements an interface can use any constants defined by the interface.
In addition, it must provide an implementation for each abstract method defined by
the interface. If it doesn’t, it must be declared as abstract.

Figure 12-1 A simple interface

310 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Interfaces compared to abstract classes

So, how does an interface compare to an abstract class like the abstract class
shown in the last figure? Figure 12-2 shows the similarities and differences and
lists some of the advantages of each.
Abstract classes and interfaces are similar in some ways. To start, with all
versions of Java, both abstract classes and interfaces can define abstract methods
and static constants. In addition, you can’t create an object from an abstract class
or an interface.
Abstract classes and interface also have some important differences. To start,
with all versions of Java, an abstract class can also define and use other types
of fields such as instance variables, and it can define regular methods and static
methods. However, interfaces can’t.
Java 8 introduced two new features that make interfaces more powerful.
First, they can define default methods, which work much like regular methods in
a class. Second, they can define static methods. As a result, with Java 8 and later,
abstract classes have fewer advantages over interfaces. In addition, interfaces
have always had one important advantage over abstract classes: a class can
implement multiple interfaces, but it can only inherit one class.
To illustrate, suppose you want to create several types of products, such as
books, software, and music albums, and you want each type of product to have
a print method that prints information about the product that’s appropriate for
the product type. You could implement this hierarchy using inheritance, with an
abstract Product class at the top of the hierarchy and Book, Software, and Album
classes that extend the Product class. Then, the Product class would provide
features common to all products, such as a product code, description, and price.
In addition, the Product class would declare an abstract print method, and the
Book, Software, and Album classes would provide their own implementations of
this method.
The drawback of this approach is that there are undoubtedly other objects in
the applications that use these classes that can be printed as well. For example,
objects such as invoices and customers have information that can be printed.
Obviously, these objects wouldn’t inherit the abstract Product class, so they’d
have to define their own print methods.
In contrast, if you created a Printable interface like the one in this figure, it
could be implemented by any class that represents an object that can be printed.
One advantage of this is that it enforces consistency within the application by
guaranteeing that any Printable object will be printed using a method named
print. Without the interface, some printable objects might use a method called
print, while others might use methods with names like display or show.
More importantly, an interface defines a Java type, so any object that imple-
ments an interface is marked as that interface type. As a result, an object that’s
created from a Book class that extends the Product class and implements the
Printable interface is not only an object of the Book type and of the Product
type, but also an object of the Printable type. That means you can use the object,
or any other object that implements the Printable interface, wherever a Printable
type is called for. You’ll see examples of this later in this chapter.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 311

An abstract class compared to an interface

A Printable interface
public interface Printable {
void print();
}

A Printable abstract class

public abstract class Printable {
public abstract void print();
}

Advantages of an abstract class

•• An abstract class can use instance variables and constants as well as static variables
and constants. Interfaces can only use static constants.
•• An abstract class can define regular methods that contain code. Prior to Java 8, an
interface can’t define regular methods.
•• An abstract class can define static methods. Prior to Java 8, an interface can’t define
static methods.

Advantages of an interface
•• A class can only directly inherit one other class, but a class can implement multiple
interfaces.

Description
•• A default method of an interface works much like a regular (non-static) method of
a class.

Figure 12-2 Interfaces compared to abstract classes

312 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Basic skills for working

with interfaces
Now that you have an idea of how interfaces work, you’re ready to learn
some basic skills for coding and implementing them. To get you started, the
next five figures show how to work with interfaces using the features that were
available prior to Java 8.

How to code an interface

Figure 12-3 shows how to code an interface. To start, you code the public
keyword, followed by the interface keyword, followed by the name of the
interface. When you name an interface, it’s common to end the name with a
suffix of “able” or “er”. For example, the Java API uses names like Cloneable,
Comparable, EventListener, ActionListener, and so on. Another common naming
strategy is to prefix the name of an interface with “I”. For example, some
programmers use names such as IProduct.
The first example in this figure shows the code for the Printable interface.
This interface contains a single abstract method named print that doesn’t accept
any arguments or return any data. As with all abstract methods, you don’t code
braces at the end of the method. Instead, you code a semicolon immediately after
the parentheses.
The second example shows the code for an interface named ProductWriter.
This interface contains three abstract methods: add, update, and delete. All three
of these methods accept a Product object as an argument and return a boolean
value that indicates whether the operation was successful.
The third example shows how to code an interface that defines constants. In
this case, an interface named DepartmentConstants defines three constants that
map departments to integer values. You’ll see how you can use constants like
these in the next figure.
When you code an abstract method in an interface, you don’t have to use the
public and abstract keywords. That’s because Java automatically supplies these
keywords for all methods. Similarly, Java automatically supplies the public,
static, and final keywords for constants. As a result, most programmers typically
don’t code these keywords in their interfaces. However, you can code these
keywords if you think that they help clarify the code.
The fourth example shows the code for an interface named Serializable. This
interface is available from the java.io package of the Java API, and it’s designed
to let programmers identify objects that can be stored (serialized) and then later
reconstructed (unserialized) for reuse. For example, you might use this interface
if you want to transport an object over a network or save an object to disk. Since
this interface contains no constants or methods, it is known as a tagging inter-
face. To code a tagging interface, you code an interface that doesn’t contain any
constants or methods.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 313

The syntax for declaring an interface

public interface InterfaceName {
type CONSTANT_NAME = value; // static constant
returnType methodName([parameterList]); // abstract method
}

An interface that defines one abstract method

public interface Printable {
void print();
}

An interface that defines three abstract methods

public interface ProductWriter {
boolean add(Product p);
boolean update(Product p);
boolean delete(Product p);
}

An interface that defines three static constants

public interface DepartmentConstants {
int ADMIN = 1;
int EDITORIAL = 2;
int MARKETING = 3;
}

A tagging interface with no members

public interface Serializable {
}

Description
•• Declaring an interface is similar to declaring a class except that you use the inter-
face keyword instead of the class keyword.
•• In an interface, all methods are automatically declared public and abstract.
•• In an interface, all fields are automatically declared public, static, and final.
•• When working with an interface, you can code the public, abstract, and final
keywords. However, they’re optional.
•• An interface that doesn’t contain any methods is known as a tagging interface. This
type of interface is typically used to identify that an object is safe for a certain type
of operation such as cloning or serializing.

Figure 12-3 How to code an interface

314 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to implement an interface

Figure 12-4 shows how to code a class that implements an interface. To do
that, you code the implements keyword after the name of the class followed by
the names of one or more interfaces separated by commas. For example, this
figure shows a class named Employee that implements both the Printable and
DepartmentConstants interfaces.
A class that implements an interface must implement all of the abstract
methods defined by that interface. For example, the Employee class implements
the Printable interface. As a result, it must implement the print method declared
by that interface. If this method isn’t implemented, the class must be declared as
abstract, or it won’t compile.
When a class implements an interface, you can use any of the constants
defined by that interface. To do that, you can code the name of the constant
without any qualification as shown in this figure. Here, the Employee class
implements the DepartmentConstants interface. As a result, this class can use the
ADMIN, EDITORIAL, and MARKETING constants defined by that interface.
In this example, the print method includes an if/else statement that uses these
constants to determine the department name to include in the output.
If you want, you can qualify the constant with the name of the interface. To
do that, code the name of the interface, followed by the dot operator, followed by
the name of the constant. For example, you can qualify the ADMIN constant like
this:
DepartmentConstants.ADMIN
Although this makes it clear where the constant is stored, it also takes more
code. As a result, most programmers typically omit the interface name when
referring to constants.
Even if a class doesn’t implement an interface, you can still use any of the
constants defined by that interface. However, in that case, you must qualify the
constant with the name of the interface as shown above.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 315

The syntax for implementing an interface

public class ClassName implements Interface1[, Interface2]...{}

A class that implements two interfaces

package murach.business;

public class Employee implements Printable, DepartmentConstants {

private int department;

private String firstName;
private String lastName;

public Employee(int department, String lastName, String firstName) {

this.department = department;
this.lastName = lastName;
this.firstName = firstName;
}

@Override
public void print() {
String dept = "Unknown";
if (department == ADMIN) {
dept = "Administration";
} else if (department == EDITORIAL) {
dept = "Editorial";
} else if (department == MARKETING) {
dept = "Marketing";
}

System.out.println(firstName + " " + lastName + " (" + dept + ")");

}
}

Description
•• To declare a class that implements an interface, you use the implements keyword.
Then, you provide an implementation for each method defined by the interface.
•• If you forget to implement a method that’s defined by an interface that you’re
implementing, the compiler will issue an error message.
•• A class that implements an interface can use any constant defined by that interface.

Figure 12-4 How to implement an interface

316 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to inherit a class

and implement an interface
Figure 12-5 shows how to code a class that inherits another class and imple-
ments an interface. In particular, this figure shows how the Book class that you
learned about in the previous chapter can inherit the Product class and imple-
ment the Printable interface. To do that, the declaration for the Book class uses
the extends keyword to indicate that it inherits the Product class. Then, it uses
the implements keyword to indicate that it implements the Printable interface.
Finally, the Book class implements the print method specified by the Printable
interface. As a result, an object created from the Book class can be used
anywhere a Book, Product, or Printable object is required.
In figure 12-1, you saw a Product class that implements the Printable inter-
face. If the Book class inherits this version of the Product class, it automatically
implements the Printable interface, and it can use the print method implemented
by the Product class. If you want, however, you can include the implements
keyword on the declaration for the Book class to clearly show that this class
implements the Printable interface. In that case, though, you don’t need to
implement the print method since it’s already implemented in the Product class.
However, if you want, you can override this method. In this figure, for example,
the Book class overrides the print method to provide code that’s different than
the code provided by the print method of the Product class.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 317

The syntax for inheriting a class and implementing an interface

public class SubclassName extends SuperclassName implements Interface1
[, Interface2]...{}

A Book class that inherits Product and implements Printable

package murach.business;

public class Book extends Product implements Printable {

private String author;

public Book(String code, String description, double price,

String author) {
super(code, description, price);
this.author = author;
}

public void setAuthor(String author) {

this.author = author;
}

public String getAuthor() {

return author;
}

@Override
public void print() { // implement the Printable interface
System.out.println(super.getDescription() + " by " + author);
}
}

Description
•• A class can inherit another class and also implement one or more interfaces.
•• If a class inherits another class that implements an interface, the subclass automati-
cally implements the interface. However, you can code the implements keyword in
the subclass for clarity.
•• If a class inherits another class that implements an interface, the subclass has access
to any methods of the interface that are implemented by the superclass and can
override those methods.

Figure 12-5 How to inherit a class and implement an interface

318 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to use an interface as a parameter

Figure 12-6 shows how to code a method that uses an interface as the type
for one of its parameters. When you do that, the statement that calls the method
can pass any object that implements the interface to the method. Then, the
method can call any of the methods that are defined by the interface and imple-
mented by the object. You can use this type of code to create a flexible design
that provides for processing objects created from different classes.
The first example in this figure shows a method named printMultiple that
accepts two parameters. The first parameter is an object that implements the
Printable interface, and the second parameter is an integer value that specifies
the number of times to print the first parameter. Since the first parameter speci-
fies Printable as the type, the printMultiple method doesn’t know the type of
the object. However, it does know that the object contains a print method. As a
result, the code in the body of the method can call the print method.
In the second example, the code uses the printMultiple method to print two
copies of a Product object to the console. This works because the Product class
implements the Printable interface. Here, the first statement creates the Product
object and assigns it to a variable of the Product type. Then, the second state-
ment uses the printMultiple method to print two copies of the Product object.
The third example works like the second example. The only difference
is that it declares the variable using an interface as the type. In other words,
it declares the variable as being of the Printable type. Then, you can assign
any object that implements the interface to the variable, and you can pass the
variable to any method that accepts the interface as a parameter. This code yields
the same result as the second example, but it clearly shows that the Product
object implements the Printable interface.
The fourth example also works like the second example. However, it prints
one copy of an Employee object to the console. This is another way of showing
that the printMultiple method accepts any object that implements the Printable
interface.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 319

A method that accepts a Printable object

private static void printMultiple(Printable p, int count) {
for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
p.print();
}
}

Code that passes a Product object to the method

Product product = new Product("java", "Murach's Java Programming", 57.50);
printMultiple(product, 2);

Resulting output

Murach's Java Programming

Murach's Java Programming

Another way to pass a Product object to the method

Printable product = new Product("java", "Murach's Java Programming", 57.50);
printMultiple(product, 2);

Code that passes an Employee object to the method

Employee employee = new Employee(
DepartmentConstants.EDITORIAL, "Murach", "Joel");
printMultiple(employee, 1);

Resulting output

Joel Murach (Editorial)

Description
•• You can declare a parameter that’s used by a method as an interface type. Then, you
can pass any object that implements the interface to the parameter.
•• You can also declare a variable as an interface type. Then, you can assign an instance
of any object that implements the interface to the variable, and you can pass the
variable as an argument to a method that accepts the interface type.

Figure 12-6 How to use an interface as a parameter

320 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to use inheritance with interfaces

Figure 12-7 shows how one interface can inherit other interfaces. To
start, this figure presents three interfaces: ProductReader, ProductWriter, and
ProductConstants. Then, it presents a ProductDAO interface that inherits the
first three interfaces. This interface is named ProductDAO because it defines an
object that provides data access for products. In other words, DAO stands for
“Data Access Object.”
When an interface inherits other interfaces, any class that implements that
interface must implement all of the abstract methods declared by that interface
and the inherited interfaces. For example, if a class implements the ProductDAO
class, it must implement all of the methods defined by the ProductReader and
ProductWriter interfaces. If it doesn’t, the class must be declared as abstract so
that no objects can be created from it.
When a class implements an interface that inherits other interfaces, it can use
any of the constants stored in the interface or any of its inherited interfaces. For
example, any class that implements the ProductDAO interface can use any of the
constants in the ProductConstants interface.
When a class implements an interface that inherits other interfaces, you can
use an object created from that class anywhere any of interfaces in the inheri-
tance hierarchy are expected. If a class implements the ProductDAO interface,
for example, an object created from that class can be passed to a method that
accepts the ProductReader type as a parameter. Similarly, the object can be
passed to a method that accepts the ProductWriter type as a parameter. That’s
because any class that implements the ProductDAO interface must also imple-
ment the ProductReader and ProductWriter interfaces.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 321

The syntax for declaring an interface that inherits other interfaces

public interface InterfaceName
extends InterfaceName1[, InterfaceName2]... {
// the constants and methods of the interface
}

A ProductReader interface
public interface ProductReader {
Product getProduct(String code);
String getProducts();
}

A ProductWriter interface
public interface ProductWriter {
boolean add(Product p);
boolean update(Product p);
boolean delete(Product p);
}

A ProductConstants interface
public interface ProductConstants {
int CODE_SIZE = 10;
int DESCRIPTION_SIZE = 34;
int PRICE_SIZE = 10;
}

A ProductDAO interface that inherits these three interfaces

public interface ProductDAO extends ProductReader, ProductWriter,
ProductConstants {
// all methods and constants are inherited
}

Description
•• An interface can inherit one or more other interfaces by specifying the inherited
interfaces in an extends clause.
•• An interface can’t inherit a class.
•• A class that implements an interface must implement all abstract methods declared
by the interface as well as all abstract methods declared by any inherited interfaces
unless the class is defined as abstract.
•• A class that implements an interface can use any of the constants declared in the
interface as well as any constants declared by any inherited interfaces.

Figure 12-7 How to use inheritance with interfaces

322 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

New features for working

with interfaces
Now that you know how to work with interfaces using the features available
prior to Java 8, you’re ready to learn how to use the new features for interfaces
available with Java 8 and later.

How to work with default methods

Prior to Java 8, interfaces could only contain abstract methods. This was a
significant limitation and sometimes resulted in a lot of code duplication. For
example, the print method in the Printable interface may be virtually identical
for most classes. However, using the techniques you’ve seen up until now, you’d
still need to implement the print method for every class that implements the
Printable interface.
Fortunately, Java 8 provides a new feature that allows you to include
regular (non-abstract) methods in interfaces. These methods are known as
default methods. If a class implements an interface, it doesn’t have to override
the default methods of the interface. Instead, it can use these default methods.
However, whenever necessary, a class can override a default method to change
its functionality.
The first example in figure 12-8 shows an interface that declares a default
method named print. This method calls the toString method from the object that
implements the interface to get a String object that represents the object. Then, it
prints that String object to the console.
The second example shows a class that implements this interface and uses
the default print method. Since this method is included in the interface, this class
does not need to implement the print method. Instead, it can use the functionality
that’s provided by the default method in the interface. This works as if the class
had inherited the method from another class.
The third example shows a class that implements the interface in the first
example and overrides the print method. This allows the class to change the
functionality that’s provided by the default method. Again, this works as if the
class had overridden a method in another class.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 323

The syntax for declaring a default method (Java 8 and later)

default returnType methodName([parameterList]);

An interface that defines a default method

package murach.business;

public interface Printable {

default void print() {
System.out.println(toString());
}
}

A class that uses the default method

package murach.business;

public class Product implements Printable {

// This class doesn't override the print method.
// As a result, it uses the print method defined by the interface.
}

A class that overrides the default method

package murach.business;

public class Product implements Printable {

@Override
public void print() {
System.out.println(getDescription() + "|" + getPriceFormatted());
}
}

Description
•• With Java 8 and later, you can add regular (non-abstract) methods to an interface.
These methods are known as default methods.
•• To add a regular method to an interface, you can begin the declaration for the
method with the default keyword.
•• When you code a class that implements an interface, you don’t need to implement
its default methods. Instead, you can use the default methods defined in the inter-
face in your class. However, if you want to change the functionality of a default
method, you can override it.

Figure 12-8 How to work with default methods

324 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to work with static methods

With Java 8 and later, you can also code static methods in interfaces. Since
this works similarly to coding static methods in classes, you shouldn’t have
much trouble understanding how this works.
The first example in figure 12-9 shows an interface named Printer that
includes a static print method. This static method accepts a parameter of the
Printable type. This method contains a single statement that calls the print
method of the Printable object.
The second example shows code that uses the Printer interface. To start, the
first statement creates a Printable object named product. Then, the second state-
ment passes this object to the static print method of the Printer interface. As you
can see, this works much like calling a static method from a class.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 325

The syntax for declaring a static method (Java 8 and later)

static returnType methodName([parameterList]);

An interface that implements a static method

package murach.business;

public interface Printer {

static void print(Printable p) {
p.print();
}
}

Code that calls a static method from an interface

Printable product = new Product("java", "Murach's Java Programming", 57.50);
Printer.print(product);

Description
•• With Java 8 and later, you can include static methods in interfaces.
•• To call a static method from an interface, prefix the static method with the name of
the interface.

Figure 12-9 How to work with static methods

326 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

The Product Viewer application

This chapter finishes by presenting a Product Viewer application. This
application works like the Product Viewer application presented in chapter 4.
However, it uses the ProductReader interface presented earlier in this chapter.
When you use interfaces like this, you can minimize the linkage between the
presentation layer of the application and the database layer. That’s because the
presentation layer can use the methods of a ProductReader object to access the
database layer. Then, any class that implements the ProductReader object can
supply the code for the specified methods.

The console
Figure 12-10 shows the console for the Product Viewer application. From
the user’s perspective, this application works the same as earlier versions of the
Product Viewer application. In short, it allows the user to enter a product code.
Then, it displays the details of the product with the specified code.

The ProductReader interface

The ProductReader interface specifies the methods of the database layer
for reading products: getProduct and getProducts. As a result, it is stored in the
murach.db package with the ProductDB class that’s also shown in this figure.
Otherwise, it works like the ProductReader interface described earlier in this
chapter.

The ProductDB class

The ProductDB class in this figure is similar to the ProductDB class that’s
presented throughout this book. However, this ProductDB class implements the
ProductReader interface. To do that, it includes a regular getProduct method
that implements the abstract getProduct method specified by the ProductReader
interface.
In addition, this ProductDB class implements the abstract getProducts
method specified by the ProductReader interface. To do that, it just returns a
String literal that indicates that the operation isn’t supported yet. When you’re
developing classes that implement interfaces, it’s common to start methods with
code like this. Then, you can provide better implementations of these methods
later as you develop the application. In this case, the Product Viewer application
only needs the getProduct method, not the getProducts method. As a result, this
version of the ProductDB class doesn’t need to provide a better implementation
of the getProducts method.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 327

The console
Welcome to the Product Viewer

Enter product code: java

PRODUCT
Code: java
Description: Murach's Java Programming
Price: $57.50

Continue? (y/n): n

The ProductReader interface

package murach.db;

import murach.business.Product;

public interface ProductReader {

Product getProduct(String code);
String getProducts();
}

The ProductDB class

package murach.db;

import murach.business.Product;

public class ProductDB implements ProductReader {

@Override
public Product getProduct(String productCode) {
Product product = new Product();
product.setCode(productCode);
if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("java")) {
product.setDescription("Murach's Java Programming");
product.setPrice(57.50);
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("jsp")) {
product.setDescription("Murach's Java Servlets and JSP");
product.setPrice(57.50);
} else if (productCode.equalsIgnoreCase("mysql")) {
product.setDescription("Murach's MySQL");
product.setPrice(54.50);
} else {
product.setDescription("Unknown");
}
return product;
}

@Override
public String getProducts() {
return "This method hasn't been implemented yet.";
}
}

Figure 12-10 The console, ProductReader interface, and ProductDB class

328 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

The ProductApp class

Figure 12-11 shows the code for the ProductApp class. This code is similar
to versions of the ProductApp class that have been presented earlier in this book.
However, it declares a ProductReader variable named reader and assigns a new
ProductDB object to that variable. Then, it calls the getProduct method from the
ProductReader object to get a Product object.
Note that this code only uses the name of the ProductDB class once. In other
words, this is the only linkage between the ProductApp class and the ProductDB
class. As a result, if necessary, it would be easy to swap in any other class that
implements the ProductReader interface and use it instead of the ProductDB
class.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 329

The ProductApp class

package murach.ui;

import java.util.Scanner;
import murach.business.Product;
import murach.db.ProductDB;
import murach.db.ProductReader;

public class ProductApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message
System.out.println("Welcome to the Product Viewer");
System.out.println();

// create 1 or more line items

Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
// get input from user
System.out.print("Enter product code: ");
String productCode = sc.nextLine();

// Use a ProductReader object to get the Product object

ProductReader reader = new ProductDB();
Product product = reader.getProduct(productCode);

// display the output

String message = "\nPRODUCT\n" +
"Code: " + product.getCode() + "\n" +
"Description: " + product.getDescription() + "\n" +
"Price: " + product.getPriceFormatted() + "\n";
System.out.println(message);

// see if the user wants to continue

System.out.print("Continue? (y/n): ");
choice = sc.nextLine();
System.out.println();
}
System.out.println("Bye!");
}
}

Figure 12-11 The ProductApp class

330 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Perspective
In this chapter, you’ve learned how to use interfaces and how they can
be used to improve the design of an application. That means that you should
now be able to implement all types of classes that are commonly used in
business applications. In the next chapter, though, you’ll learn some additional
object-oriented skills that will round out your knowledge of object-oriented
programming.

Summary
•• An interface is a special type of coding element that can contain static
constants and abstract methods.
•• With Java 8 and later, an interface can also contain regular methods, known
as default methods, and static methods.
•• A class can only inherit one other class, but it can implement more than one
interface.
•• To implement an interface, a class must implement all the abstract methods
defined by the interface.
•• An interface can inherit other interfaces. Then, the implementing class must
also implement all the abstract methods of the inherited interfaces.
•• An interface defines a Java type. As a result, you can use an object that’s
created from a class that implements an interface anywhere that interface is
expected.
•• A class does not have to implement default methods provided by the inter-
face, but it can override them.

Exercise 12-1 Create and work with interfaces

In this exercise, you’ll create the DepartmentConstants interface presented in
this chapter. In addition, you’ll implement an interface named Displayable that’s
similar to the Printable interface presented in this chapter.

Create the interfaces

1. Import the project named ch12_ex1_DisplayableTest in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code.
2. Note that this code includes an interface named Displayable that contains a
single method named getDisplayText that returns a String.
3. Open the DisplayableTestApp class. Then, note that it includes a method
named display that accepts a Displayable object as an argument.
4. Add an interface named DepartmentConstants that contains the three
constants: ADMIN, EDITORIAL, and MARKETING.
 Chapter 12 How to work with interfaces 331

Implement the interfaces

5. Open the Product class. Then, edit it so it implements the Displayable inter-
face. To do that, add a getDisplayText method that returns a description of the
product.
6. Open the Employee class. Then, edit it so it implements the
DepartmentConstants and Displayable interfaces. To do that add a
getDisplayText method that uses the constants in the DepartmentConstants
interface to include the department name and the employee’s name in the
string that it returns.
Use the classes that implement the interfaces
7. Open the DisplayableTestApp class. Then, modify the variable that stores the
Employee object so it is of the Displayable type.
8. Add code that passes the Displayable object to the static display method that’s
coded at the end of this class.
9. Run the application to make sure that it displays the employee information.
10. Repeat the previous three steps for a Product object. When you’re done, the
console should look like this:

Welcome to the Displayable Test application

John Smith (Editorial)

Murach's Java Programming

Use a default method

11. In the Employee and Product classes, rename the getDisplayText methods to
toString methods so that they override the toString method of the Object class.
This should prevent the class from compiling and display an error message
that indicates that the classes don’t implement the getDisplayText method.
12. In the Displayable interface, modify the getDisplayText method so it’s a
default method. The code for this method should return the String object
that’s returned by the toString method. This should allow the Employeee and
Product classes to compile since they can now use the default method.
13. Run the application to make sure it works as before.
 13
How to work with inner
classes, enumerations,
and documentation
In this chapter, you’ll learn some other skills that are related to object-oriented
programming. In particular, you’ll learn how to work with inner classes, which
are often used in GUI programming. Then, you’ll learn how to work with
enumerations. Finally, you’ll learn how to generate API documentation for your
classes that looks and works like the documentation for the Java API.

How to work with inner classes.........................................334

An introduction to GUI programming.........................................................334
How to code an inner class...........................................................................336
How to code an anonymous class.................................................................338
How to work with enumerations........................................340
How to declare an enumeration................................................................... 340
How to use an enumeration......................................................................... 340
How to enhance an enumeration..................................................................342
How to work with static imports..................................................................342
How to document a class...................................................344
How to add javadoc comments to a class.................................................... 344
How to use HTML and javadoc tags in javadoc comments........................ 346
How to use Eclipse to generate documentation............................................348
How to view the documentation...................................................................348
Perspective..........................................................................350
334 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to work with inner classes

So far, all of the applications in this book have declared one class per file.
Most of the time, that’s how you want to code your classes. However, in some
situations, one class only makes sense within the context of another class. For
example, when coding a GUI (graphical user interface), it’s common to code
one class within another class. When you do that, the class that’s coded within
the other class is known as an inner class.

An introduction to GUI programming

Since inner classes are commonly used when coding graphical user inter-
faces (GUIs), figure 13-1 briefly introduces GUI programming. However,
don’t worry if you don’t understand all of the details of the GUI programming
presented in this figure and the next two. You’ll learn more about GUI program-
ming later in this book. Instead, focus on the code that’s related to inner classes.
This figure begins by showing the GUI that’s used in the next two figures.
From the user’s point of view, this GUI consists of a window named Test Frame
that contains a button named Test Button.
To create this GUI, the next two figures use Swing, which is the most
common Java library for creating GUIs. Its classes are stored in the javax.swing
package. With Swing, a window like the one shown in this figure is also known
as a frame.
When you write code for a GUI, you also write code that handles events that
occur on the components of the GUI. For example, you can handle the event that
occurs when a user clicks on a button. To do that, the next two figures use inter-
faces and classes from another Java library, the AWT (Abstract Window Toolkit).
This library is stored in the java.awt package.
When you develop a GUI with Swing, you typically begin by displaying a
frame that acts as the main window for the application. Then, you add compo-
nents such as buttons to the frame. Finally, you handle the events that occur
when the user interacts with these components.
When handling events, you typically code a class known as an event listener
that listens for the events. In Swing, you can do that by coding a class that imple-
ments the ActionListener interface. This class implements the actionPerformed
method that contains the code that’s executed when the event occurs. Since the
action listener only makes sense within the context of the class that defines the
frame, it’s common to code this class within the class that defines the frame. In
other words, it’s common to code the class for an event listener as an inner class
as shown in the next two figures.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 335

A GUI that displays a button

Three Swing classes that you can use to display a button

Class Description
javax.swing.JFrame A class that defines the window that contains the
other components.
javax.swing.JPanel A class that defines an invisible component that
contains other components.
javax.swing.JButton A class that defines a button that the user can click.

Two AWT classes that you can use to handle a button click
Interface/Class Description
java.awt.event.ActionListener An interface that defines the method that contains the
code that’s executed when a user clicks a button.
java.awt.event.ActionEvent A class that defines an object that contains information
about an event such as the event that occurs when a
user clicks a button.

The method that’s defined by the ActionListener interface

void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e);

Description
•• Most modern applications use a GUI (graphical user interface) that displays
windows and components, such as buttons, to interact with the user.
•• Swing is the most common Java library for creating GUIs. Its classes are stored in
the javax.swing package.
•• With Swing, a window is also known as a frame.
•• When you write code for a GUI, you can handle events that occur on it. For
example, you can handle the event that occurs when a user clicks on a button. To
do that, you typically code an event listener that contains the code that’s executed
when an event occurs.
•• To handle events, Swing uses interfaces and classes from another Java library, the
AWT (Abstract Window Toolkit). This library is stored in the java.awt package.

Figure 13-1 An introduction to GUI programming

336 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to code an inner class

Figure 13-2 begins by showing the syntax and scope rules for an inner class.
Here, the outer class follows the same rules as the rest of the classes that you’ve
been working with throughout this book. First, it’s declared using the public
keyword. Second, it can contain instance variables, static variables, methods, and
static methods.
The inner class, on the other hand, follows slightly different rules. First, an
inner class can’t be declared as public. Second, an inner class has direct access
to all private variables and methods of the outer class. Third, an inner class can
declare its own instance variables and methods. Fourth, an inner class can’t
contain any static variables or methods.
The code example in this figure shows a class named TestFrame that
contains an inner class named ClickListener. The TestFrame class defines a
window that displays a button. The ClickListener class definers a listener that
contains the code that’s executed when the user clicks on that button.
The TestFrame class starts by importing some classes from the java.awt and
javax.swing packages. Then, it extends the JFrame class.
The constructor for this class begins with some statements that set up the
frame. The first three statements set the title, size, and location of the frame. The
fourth statement sets the operation that’s executed when the user clicks the Close
button of the frame. The fifth and sixth statements create a panel and add it to the
frame.
The seventh statement creates a button. Then, the eighth statement creates
an object from the inner ClickListener class and assigns it to an ActionListner
variable. This is possible because the ClickListener class implements the
ActionListener interface and its actionPerformed method. Then, the ninth state-
ment passes the ActionListener object to the addActionListener method of the
button. As a result, the code within the inner class is executed if the user clicks
on this button. For now, this code just prints a message to the console. However,
later in this book, you can learn how to perform other operations.
The last two statements of the constructor add the button to the panel and
display the frame to the user. Without the last statement, the code would create
the frame, but it would not be visible to the user.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 337

An introduction to inner classes

public class ClassName {
// can contain instance variables and methods
// can contain static variables and methods
class InnerClassName {
// can access all variables and methods of OuterClass
// can contain instance variables and methods
// can't contain static variables or methods
}
}

A class that contains and uses an inner class

package murach.test;

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class TestFrame extends JFrame {

public TestFrame() {
// code that sets up the frame
this.setTitle("Test Frame");
this.setSize(400, 100);
this.setLocationByPlatform(true);
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

JPanel panel = new JPanel();

this.add(panel);

// code that creates the button and adds the listener

JButton button1 = new JButton("Test Button");
ActionListener listener = new ClickListener();
button1.addActionListener(listener);

// code that displays the frame

panel.add(button1);
this.setVisible(true);
}

// the inner class that implements the listener

class ClickListener implements ActionListener {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("The button was clicked!");
}
}
} // the end of the outer class

Description
•• An inner class is a class that’s coded within another class.

Figure 13-2 How to code and use an inner class

338 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to code an anonymous class

In the previous figure, the inner class that implemented the ActionListener
interface had a name. However, if you want, you can create an inner class that
implements this interface without specifying a name for the class as shown in
figure 13-3. When you do that, the inner class is known as an anonymous class.
The first example shows how to implement the ActionListener interface
without specifying a name for the class that implements the interface. Here,
the code defines a variable for an ActionListener object named listener. Then,
it creates a new ActionListener object, and it supplies all code for the class that
implements the interface within the braces ({}). Next, it calls the
addActionListener method of the button and passes the listener variable to it.
This adds the listener to the button.
The second example shows how to implement the ActionListener interface
without assigning the listener object to an instance variable. To do that, this code
calls the addActionListener method of the button. Within the parentheses of this
method, this code creates a new ActionListener object and supplies all code for
the class that implements this interface within the braces ({}).
If you want to use the object that’s created from the anonymous class more
than once, you can assign the object to a variable as shown in the first example.
In this figure, for example, you might want to use the same anonymous class for
more than one button. However, if you only want to use the object that’s created
from the inner class once, you don’t need to assign it to a variable. This results in
concise code and saves you the trouble of naming the variable.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 339

A class that contains and uses an anonymous class

public class TestFrame extends JFrame {

public TestFrame() {
// code that starts setting up the frame

// code that creates the button and adds the listener

JButton button1 = new JButton("Test Button");
ActionListener listener = new ActionListener() {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("The button was clicked!");
}
};
button1.addActionListener(listener);

// code that finishes setting up the frame

}
}

Another way to use an anonymous class

public class TestFrame extends JFrame {

public TestFrame() {
// code that starts setting up the frame

// code that creates the button and adds the listener

JButton button1 = new JButton("Test Button");
button1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Button 1 clicked! ");
}
});

// code that finishes setting up the frame

}
}

Description
•• An anonymous class is a type of inner class that doesn’t have a name.
•• You can code the braces for an anonymous class immediately after the parentheses
that attempt to create an object from an interface.
•• Within the braces for an anonymous class, you can supply the code that implements
the interface.
•• If you want to use the object that’s created from the inner class more than once, you
can assign that object to a variable.

Figure 13-3 How to code and use an anonymous class

340 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to work with enumerations

If you need to define a set of related constants, it’s typically considered a
best practice to use an enumeration. Enumerations have been available since
Java 5, and they have several advantages over storing related constants in a class
or interface. In chapter 7, you learned how to use the RoundingMode enumera-
tion of the Java API to set the rounding mode for a BigDecimal object. Now,
you’ll learn how to create and use your own enumerations.

How to declare an enumeration

Figure 13-4 shows how to declare an enumeration. To do that, you code the
public keyword, followed by the enum keyword, followed by the name of the
enumeration. Then, within the enumeration, you code the names of one or more
constants, separating each name with a comma.
Internally, each constant within the enumeration is assigned an integer value
beginning with zero. For instance, in the ShippingType enumeration shown in
the first example in this figure, the UPS_NEXT_DAY constant has a value of
zero, the UPS_SECOND_DAY constant has a value of one, and so on. In most
cases, though, you won’t use these integer values.
When coding your own enumerations, it’s common to store them in a
separate file. That way, the enumeration is available to all classes within the
application. To do that, you can add a file for a new class. Then, you can edit the
code for that file so it defines an enumeration instead.

How to use an enumeration

The next three examples in figure 13-4 show how you can use an enumera-
tion. The second example shows that you can declare a variable as an enumera-
tion type. Then, you can assign a constant in that enumeration to the variable.
In this case, the UPS_SECOND_DAY constant is assigned to a ShippingType
variable named secondDay.
The third example shows a getShippingAmount method that accepts a
ShippingType enumeration as a parameter. Then, the code within the method
compares the constant that’s passed to the method with two of the constants in
the enumeration to determine the shipping amount.
The fourth example shows a statement that calls the getShippingAmount
method. This statement passes the UPS_SECOND_DAY constant of the
ShippingType enumeration to the getShippingAmount method.
The statement that’s commented out in the fourth example illustrates that
you can’t use an integer, or any other type, in place of an enumeration even
though the constants in the enumeration are assigned integer values. In other
words, enumerations are type-safe. In contrast, if you didn’t code the constants
in an enumeration, you could use the constant name or its value wherever the
constant is expected. This is one of several reasons that enumerations are gener-
ally preferred to constants.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 341

The syntax for declaring an enumeration

public enum EnumerationName {
CONSTANT_NAME1[,
CONSTANT_NAME2]...
}

An enumeration that defines three shipping types

public enum ShippingType {
UPS_NEXT_DAY,
UPS_SECOND_DAY,
UPS_GROUND
}

A statement that uses the enumeration and one of its constants

ShippingType secondDay = ShippingType.UPS_SECOND_DAY;

A method that uses the enumeration as a parameter type

public static double getShippingAmount(ShippingType st) {
double shippingAmount = 2.99;
if (st == ShippingType.UPS_NEXT_DAY) {
shippingAmount = 10.99;
} else if (st == ShippingType.UPS_SECOND_DAY) {
shippingAmount = 5.99;
}
return shippingAmount;
}

A statement that calls the method

double shippingAmount = getShippingAmount(ShippingType.UPS_SECOND_DAY);
// double shippingAmount2 = getShippingAmount(1); // Wrong type, not allowed

Description
•• An enumeration contains a set of related constants. The constants are defined
with the int type and are assigned values from 0 to the number of constants in the
enumeration minus 1.
•• An enumeration defines a type. Because of that, you can’t specify another type
where an enumeration type is expected. That means that enumerations are type-safe.

Figure 13-4 How to declare and work with enumerations

342 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to enhance an enumeration

Most of the time, the skills presented in figure 13-4 are the only ones you’ll
need for working with enumerations. However, whenever necessary, you can
override methods that an enumeration inherits from the java.lang.Object and
java.lang.Enum classes. In addition, you can add your own methods. When you
do that, you may want to use methods of the enumeration constants. Two of
those methods are shown at the top of figure 13-5.
This figure also shows an enhanced version of the ShippingType enumera-
tion. This enumeration includes a toString method that overrides the toString
method of the Enum class. Without this method, the toString method of the
Enum class would return the name of the constant.
In this example, a semicolon is coded following the constants of the enumer-
ation. This semicolon lets the compiler know that there are no more constants.
Then, the toString method uses a series of if/else statements to return an appro-
priate string for each constant in the enumeration. To do that, it begins by using
the ordinal method to return an int value for the constant. Then, it compares
that value to integer values and returns a string that’s appropriate for the current
constant.

How to work with static imports

In addition to enumerations, Java 5 introduced a new feature known as
static imports. This feature lets you simplify references to the constants in an
enumeration.
To use the static import feature, you begin by coding a static import state-
ment. This statement is similar to a regular import statement, but you code the
static keyword after the import keyword, and you typically use the wildcard
character (*) to import all of the constants of an enumeration. In this figure,
for example, the static import statement specifies that all of the constants in the
ShippingType enumeration in the murach.business package should be imported.
(This assumes that the ShippingType enumeration has been stored in the
murach.business package.)
Once you code a static import statement, you no longer need to code the
name of the enumeration that contains the constants. In this figure, for instance,
the last example shows how to import the constants in the ShippingType enumer-
ation. Then, it shows a statement that refers to the UPS_GROUND constant
without coding the name of this enumeration.
In addition to using static imports to import enumerations, you can use them
to import the static fields and methods of a class. For example, you could use
a static import to import all the static fields and methods of the java.lang.Math
class. Then, you could refer to those fields and methods without qualification.
Although you can save some typing by using static imports, they often result
in code that’s more difficult to read. That’s because it may not be obvious where
the constants, fields, and methods that an application refers to are stored. Worse,
using static imports can result in name collisions. As a result, you should use
static imports only when they don’t cause confusion or name collisions.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 343

Two methods of an enumeration constant

Method Description
name() Returns a String for the enumeration constant’s name.
ordinal() Returns an int value that corresponds to the enumeration constant’s position.

How to add a method to an enumeration

An enumeration that overrides the toString method
public enum ShippingType {
UPS_NEXT_DAY,
UPS_SECOND_DAY,
UPS_GROUND;

@Override
public String toString() {
String s = "";
if (ordinal() == 0) {
s = "UPS Next Day (1 business day)";
} else if (this.ordinal() == 1) {
s = "UPS Second Day (2 business days)";
} else if (this.ordinal() == 2) {
s = "UPS Ground (5 to 7 business days)";
}
return s;
}
}

How to use an enumeration

ShippingType ground = ShippingType.UPS_GROUND;
System.out.println("Shipping type: " + ground.toString());

Resulting output

Shipping type: UPS Ground (5 to 7 business days)

How to use an enumeration with static imports

How to code a static import statement
import static murach.business.ShippingType.*;

How to use an enumeration after a static import

ShippingType ground = UPS_GROUND;
System.out.println("Shipping type: " + ground.toString());

Description
•• All enumerations inherit the java.lang.Object and java.lang.Enum classes and can
use or override the methods of those classes or add new methods.
•• By default, the toString method of an enumeration constant returns the same string
as the name method.
•• You can use a static import to import all of the constants of an enumeration or all of
the static fields and methods of a class.

Figure 13-5 How to enhance an enumeration and work with static imports
344 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to document a class

If you develop classes that are used by other programmers, you’ll typically
want to provide some documentation for them. That way, other programmers can
learn how to use the fields, constructors, and methods that are provided by your
classes. Fortunately, the JDK includes a utility named javadoc that makes it easy
to generate HTML-based documentation for your classes. This documentation
looks and works like the documentation for the Java API.

How to add javadoc comments to a class

Figure 13-6 shows how to add simple javadoc comments to a class. A
javadoc comment begins with /** and ends with */. Within a javadoc comment,
any additional asterisks are ignored. Because of that, asterisks are commonly
used as shown here to set the comments off from the rest of the code. For these
comments to work, though, they must be coded directly above the class, field,
constructor, or method that they describe.
If you’re using Eclipse, you’ll find that it makes it easy to enter javadoc
comments. To do that, you enter a slash (/) followed by two or more asterisks
on a blank line before the code for a class, field, constructor, or method. Then,
when you press the Enter key, Eclipse generates the starting comment for the
class or its member. That includes one line with a single asterisk where you can
start entering the comment, followed by a line with the */ characters that end the
comment. It can also include one or more of the javadoc tags you’ll learn about
in the next figure.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 345

The Product class with javadoc comments

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;

/**
* The Product class represents a product and is used by
* the LineItem and ProductDB classes.
*/
public class Product {

private String code;

private String description;
private double price;

/**
* Creates a new Product with default values.
*/
public Product() {
code = "";
description = "";
price = 0;
}

/**
* Sets the product code to the specified String.
*/
public void setCode(String code) {
this.code = code;
}

/**
* Returns a String that represents the product code.
*/
public String getCode() {
return code;
}

...

Description
•• A javadoc comment begins with /** and ends with */, and asterisks within the
comment are ignored. You can use javadoc comments to describe a class and its
public and protected fields, constructors, and methods.
•• A comment should be placed immediately above the class or member it describes.
For a class, that means that the comment must be placed after any import
statements.
•• If you enter a slash (/) followed by two or more asterisks on a blank line before the
code for a class, field, constructor, or method in Eclipse, Eclipse generates begin-
ning javadoc comments. That includes comments with some of the javadoc tags
you’ll learn about in the next figure.

Figure 13-6 How to add javadoc comments to a class

346 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to use HTML and javadoc tags

in javadoc comments
To help format the information that’s displayed in the documentation for
a class, you can include HTML and javadoc tags in your javadoc comments as
shown in figure 13-7. The HTML tag you’re most likely to use is the <code> tag.
This tag can be used to display text in a monospaced font. In the Product class in
this figure, for example, this tag is used to format the name of each class that’s
referred to in the class comment, and it’s used to format the name of any object
that’s referred to in the other comments. Although it’s not shown here, this tag is
also commonly used to format references to primitive types.
The four javadoc tags shown here should be self-explanatory. You typically
use the @author and @version tags in the class comment to document the author
and current version of the class. Note that by default, this information isn’t
displayed in the documentation that’s generated. Although you can specify that
you want to include this information when you generate the documentation,
that’s usually not necessary.
You use the @param tag to describe a parameter that’s accepted by a
constructor or public method. In this figure, for example, you can see that a
@param tag is used to document the code parameter used by the setCode
method. Similarly, if a method returns a value, you can use the @return tag to
describe that value. In this figure, the @return tag is used to document the String
that’s returned by the getCode method.
In addition to the tags shown here, you should realize that additional HTML
and javadoc tags are available. For example, you can use the <i> tag to italicize
text, and you can use the <b> tag to boldface text. To create a hyperlink, you can
use the javadoc @see tag. For more information on this tag and other javadoc
tags, see the online documentation for the javadoc utility.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 347

Common HTML tag used to format javadoc comments

HTML tag Description
<code></code> Displays the text between these tags with a monospaced font.

Common javadoc tags

Javadoc tag Description
@author Identifies the author of the class. Not displayed by default.
@version Describes the current version of the class. Not displayed by default.
@param Describes a parameter of a constructor or method.
@return Describes the value that’s returned by a method.

The Product class with comments that use HTML and javadoc tags
package murach.business;

/**
* The <code>Product</code> class defines a product and is used
* by the <code>LineItem</code> and <code>ProductDB</code> classes.
* @author Joel Murach
* @version 1.0.0
*/
public class Product {
private String code;
private String description;
private double price;

/**
* Creates a <code>Product</code> with default values.
*/
public Product() {
code = "";
description = "";
price = 0;
}

/**
* Sets the product code.
* @param code A <code>String</code> for the product code.
*/
public void setCode(String code) {
this.code = code;
}

/**
* Gets the product code.
* @return A <code>String</code> for the product code.
*/
public String getCode() {
return code;
}

...

Figure 13-7 How to use HTML and javadoc tags in javadoc comments
348 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

How to use Eclipse to generate documentation

After you add javadoc comments to the classes of a project, you can use
Eclipse to generate the documentation for those classes as described in figure
13-8. The first time you do this, you’ll need to use the Generate Javadoc dialog
to configure the javadoc command.
To do this, you can click the Configure button and navigate to the javadoc
command using the paths shown in this figure as a guide. However, the JDK
version number on your computer may be different, so the location of the
javadoc command on your system might not exactly match the location in the
figure.
Once you’ve configured the javadoc command, you can click the Finish
button to accept all of the defaults, which is usually what you want. The first
time you generate the javadoc for a project, Eclipse asks you to confirm the
folder where the documentation will be stored. By default, Eclipse stores the
documentation in the doc subfolder of the project’s root folder, which is usually
fine.
If you try to generate documentation for a project that already has documen-
tation, the top of the Generate Javadoc dialog warns you that it may overwrite
existing files. This is usually what you want, so you can ignore the warning most
of the time.

How to view the documentation

After Eclipse generates the documentation, it displays the doc folder in the
Package Explorer. To view the documentation, you can double-click the
index.html file. This opens the documentation in the main window and uses a
built-in browser to display it.
Of course, you can also view the documentation using any other web
browser by opening the index.html file in the browser. The main difference
between the Java API documentation and the documentation for user-defined
classes is that the index.html file is stored somewhere on your hard drive. In this
figure, for example, the documentation is stored in this folder:
murach/java_eclipse/book_apps/ch13_LineItem/doc
In this figure, I selected the murach.business package from the upper left
frame. When I did that, the two classes in that package were listed in the lower
left frame. Then, when I selected the Product class, the documentation for that
class was displayed in the right frame.
After that, I scrolled down to view the documentation for a constructor and
a method of this class. The descriptions in this documentation were generated
from the javadoc comments for the class.
Note that this documentation doesn’t expose the code that is encapsulated
within the class. As a result, the documentation makes it easy for other program-
mers to use your classes without knowing the details of how they’re coded.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 349

The API documentation that’s generated for the Product class

The location of the javadoc command on Windows

Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_45\bin

The location of the javadoc command on Mac OS X

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin

Description
•• To generate the documentation for a project from Eclipse, select the project in
the Package Explorer. Then, select the ProjectGenerate Javadoc command. This
displays a Generate Javadoc dialog that allows you to configure the javadoc
command.
•• The first time you generate documentation, you must use the Generate Javadoc
dialog to specify the location of the javadoc command. To do that, you can click the
Configure button and specify the location of the javadoc command. After that, you
can click the Finish button to accept the default options.
•• By default, Eclipse stores the documentation for a project in a subfolder named doc
and displays this subfolder in the Package Explorer.
•• To view the documentation for the project, use the Package Explorer to navigate to
the doc folder and double-click on the index.html file. This opens the documenta-
tion in the main Eclipse window and displays it using a built-in browser.
•• If the project already contains documentation, the top of the Generate JavaDoc
dialog warns you that the new documentation may overwrite existing files.

Figure 13-8 How to generate and view the documentation for a package
350 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Perspective
Now that you’ve finished this chapter, you should understand the concepts
for working with inner classes. You should be able to create and work with
enumerations. And you should be able to document your classes so other
programmers can use them. At this point, you have all of the object-oriented
programming skills you need to learn about more of the classes that are
available from the Java API such as the collection classes described in the
next chapter. In addition, you have a solid foundation for working with GUI
programming as described at the end of this book.

Summary
•• An inner class is a class that’s coded within another class. This is useful
when a class only makes sense within the context of another class.
•• An anonymous class is a type of inner class that doesn’t have a name. This
often results in more concise code than an inner class that has a name.
•• You can use an enumeration to define a set of related constants as a type.
Then, you can use the constants in the enumeration anywhere the enumera-
tion is allowed.
•• You can use static imports to import the constants of an enumeration or the
static fields and methods of a class. Then, you can refer to the constants,
fields, and methods without qualification.
•• You can use javadoc comments to document a class and its fields, construc-
tors, and methods. Then, you can generate HTML-based documentation for
your class.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 351

Exercise 13-1 Test an inner class

In this exercise, you’ll experiment with inner and anonymous classes.

Review the application

1. Import the project named ch13_ex1_InnerClassTester that’s stored in the
ex_starts folder. Review the code for the TestFrame class and the code for the
ClickListener class. Note that these classes are stored in separate files.
2. Run the application. It should display the Test Frame window. Then, click on
the button in this window. It should display a message to the console.
Create an inner class
3. Open the TestFrame and ClickListener classes and make the ClickListener
class an inner class of the TestFrame class. To do that, you can cut most of the
code from the ClickListener class and paste it into the TestFrame class.
4. Delete the public modifier from the declaration of the ClickListener class, add
the import statement for the ActionEvent class, and make any other modifica-
tions to this code that are necessary.
5. Delete the ClickListener.java file. At this point, the project should only
contain the TestFrame.java file and the Main.java file.
6. Run the application and click on the button. It should work as it did before.
Create an anonymous class
7. Open the TestFrame class and make the ClickListener class an anonymous inner
class. To do that, you can begin by cutting the code from the ClickListener class
starting with the opening brace and ending with the closing brace.
8. Delete the declaration of the ClickListener class, modify the code so it creates
an object from the anonymous ActionListener class, and make any other
modifications to this code that are necessary.
9. Run the application and click on the button. It should work as it did before.
352 Section 3 Object-oriented programming skills

Exercise 13-2 Create and use an enumeration

In this exercise, you’ll create an enumeration and use it in a test application.

Create an enumeration
1. Import the project named ch13_ex2_Enumeration that’s in the ex_starts
folder.
2. Create an enumeration named CustomerType. This enumeration should
contain constants that represent three types of customers: retail, trade, and
college.
Use an enumeration
3. Open the CustomerTypeApp class. Then, add a method to this class that
returns a discount percent (.10 for retail, .30 for trade, and .20 for college)
depending on the CustomerType variable that’s passed to it.
4. Add code to the main method that declares a CustomerType variable, assigns
one of the customer types to it, gets the discount percent for that customer
type, and displays the discount percent. It should display a message like this
to the console:

discountPercent: 0.3

5. Run the application to be sure that it works correctly.

Modify the toString method of an enumeration
6. Add a statement to the main method that displays the string returned by the
toString method of the customer type. Then, run the application again to see
the result of this method. Depending on the customer type, it should display
the name of the constant like this:

toString: TRADE

7. Add a toString method to the CustomerType enumeration. Depending on

the customer type, this method should return a string that contains “Retail,”
“Trade,” or “College” like this:

toString: Trade

8. Run the application again to view the results of the toString method.
 Chapter 13 How to work with inner classes, enumerations, and documentation 353

Exercise 13-3 Work with API documenation

This exercise guides you through the process of adding javadoc comments to
the classes in the murach.business package of the Line Item application. Then, it
shows you how to generate the API documentation for this application.

Review the existing javadoc comments for two business classes

1. Import the project named ch13_ex3_LineItem that’s stored in the ex_starts
folder.
2. Open the Product class that’s in the murach.business package. Then, view
the javadoc comments for this class. Note that this class contains javadoc
comments that don’t include the @param or @return tags.
3. Open the LineItem class that’s in the murach.business package. Note that this
class only includes a single javadoc comment at the beginning of this class.
Generate and view the API documentation
4. Generate the documentation for the project. Then, open the documentation
in a browser by navigating to the doc folder for the project and opening the
index.html page. Or, you can open it in Eclipse by double-clicking on the
index.html file in the doc folder of the Package Explorer.
5. View the documentation for the Product class. To do that, click on the link for
the murach.business package. Then, click on the link for the Product class.
Note that it includes descriptions of its constructors and methods.
6. View the details for the getCode and setCode methods. To do that, click on the
links for these methods. Note that these methods don’t include information
about the parameters and return values.
7. View the documention for the LineItem class by clicking on the link for the
LineItem class. Note that it doesn’t include descriptions of its constructors
and methods.
Improve the javadoc comments
8. Open the Product class. Modify the javadoc comments for this class so they
include @param and @return tags wherever those tags are appropriate.
9. Open the LineItem class. Add javadoc comments to all public constructors
and methods using the @param and @return tags wherever those tags are
appropriate.
Generate and view the improved API documentation
10. Generate the documentation for the project again.
11. View the documentation for the Product and LineItem classes again. This
time, this documentation should include descriptions for all of the construc-
tors and methods as well as information about all parameters and return
values. For example, the second constructor of the LineItem class should
include information about both of its parameters.
Section 4

More essential skills

as you need them
The five chapters in this section show you how to use more of the core Java features.
Chapter 14 shows how to work with collections, the generics feature introduced with Java
5, and the lambdas feature introduced with Java 8. Chapter 15 shows how to work with the
new date/time API introduced with Java 8. Chapter 16 shows how to work with exceptions.
Chapter 17 shows how to work with file input and output, which is also known as file I/O.
And chapter 18 shows the most important concepts and skills for working with threads.
Once you’ve read chapters 14 and 16, which present skills that are critical to most
Java applications, you can skip ahead to section 5. The chapters in this section show
how to develop a desktop application that uses a graphical user interface to work with
a database. Conversely, as you read section 5, you can skip back to the chapters in this
section whenever necessary.
 14
How to work
with collections, generics,
and lambdas
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to work with collections. As you’ll see,
collections are similar to arrays but provide more advanced features. Along
with collections, you’ll be introduced to generics, a feature that has been avail-
able since Java 5. Finally, you’ll learn how to use lambdas, a feature that was
introduced with Java 8.
This chapter assumes that you already know how to work with arrays. As
a result, you should read chapter 10 before reading this chapter.

An introduction to Java collections .................................358

A comparison of arrays and collections.......................................................358
An overview of the Java collection framework............................................360
An introduction to generics..........................................................................362
How to use the ArrayList class..........................................364
How to create an array list........................................................................... 364
How to add and get elements........................................................................366
How to replace, remove, and search for elements........................................368
How to store primitive types in an array list................................................370
The Invoice application.......................................................372
The user interface.........................................................................................372
The Invoice class..........................................................................................374
The InvoiceApp class....................................................................................376
How to work with lambda expressions.............................378
An introduction to lambdas..........................................................................378
A method that doesn’t use a lambda expression...........................................380
A method that uses a lambda expressions....................................................382
How to use the Predicate interface...............................................................384
Perspective..........................................................................386
358 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An introduction to Java collections

Like an array, a collection is an object that can hold one or more elements.
However, unlike arrays, collections aren’t a part of the Java language itself.
Instead, collections are classes that are available from the Java API.

A comparison of arrays and collections

Figure 14-1 presents a brief comparison of arrays and collections. This
shows that you can use arrays or collections to store multiple elements of the
specified type. In fact, some collection classes—most notably the ArrayList
class—actually use an array internally to store elements. However, this is trans-
parent to the programmer.
Although arrays and collections have some similarities, they also have many
differences. One important difference is that arrays are fixed in size. That means
that if you initially create an array with 100 elements and then need to add
another element, you must create a new array large enough to hold 101 elements,
copy the 100 elements from the first array to the new array, add the new element,
and discard the old array.
In contrast, a collection automatically increases its size when necessary.
Behind the scenes, a collection may copy elements between arrays, but this is
transparent to the programmer. As a result, when you create a collection, you
don’t need to specify the maximum size of the collection. Instead, you add as
many elements to the collection as you want. Then, if necessary, the collection
expands automatically to hold the new elements.
A second difference between arrays and collections is that arrays can store
primitive types such as int and double values, but collections must use wrapper
classes to store primitive types. Fortunately, with Java 5 and later, collections
automatically add and remove the wrapper classes whenever necessary using a
feature known as autoboxing.
A third difference is that you typically use the methods of a collection to set
and get the elements of a collection. Since you can’t call methods from an array,
you typically use its indexes to set and get its elements. The two code examples
in this figure show how this works. Here, the first example uses indexes to set
three values in an array, but the second example uses the add method of the
ArrayList class to set the elements in the collection. Then, both examples use an
enhanced for loop to get the elements and print them to the console.
By the way, don’t worry if you don’t understand all of the code in the second
example. You’ll learn the details of working with the ArrayList class later in this
chapter. This example is only meant to illustrate some of the differences between
working with arrays and collections.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 359

How arrays and collections are similar

•• Both can store multiple elements of the same type.

How arrays and collections differ

•• Arrays are fixed in size and require the programmer to increase the size if neces-
sary. Collections automatically increase their size if necessary.
•• Arrays can store primitive types without using wrapper classes. Collections must
use wrapper classes to store primitive types.
•• Arrays don’t provide methods for operations such as adding, replacing, and
removing elements. Collections often provide methods that perform these
operations.

Code that uses an array

String[] codes = new String[3];
codes[0] = "java";
codes[1] = "jsp";
codes[2] = "mysql";
for (String s : codes) {
System.out.println(s);
}

Code that uses a collection

ArrayList<String> codes = new ArrayList<>();
codes.add("java");
codes.add("jsp");
codes.add("mysql");
for (String s : codes) {
System.out.println(s);
}

Description
•• A collection is an object that can hold other objects. Collections are similar to
arrays, but are more flexible to use.
•• With Java 5 and later, collections use a feature known as autoboxing to automati-
cally add and remove the wrapper classes for primitive types whenever necessary.

Figure 14-1 A comparison of arrays and collections

360 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An overview of the Java collection framework

Figure 14-2 shows a simplified diagram of the Java collection framework.
This framework consists of a hierarchy of interfaces and classes. Here, the boxes
with darker shading (Collection, Set, List, and Map) represent interfaces that
define the basic collection types, and the boxes with lighter shading (ArrayList,
LinkedList, HashSet, HashMap, and TreeMap) represent classes that implement
these interfaces.
The collection framework provides two main types of collections repre-
sented by two distinct class hierarchies. The first hierarchy begins with an
interface named Collection. A collection is an object that can hold one or more
objects. The Set and List interfaces inherit the Collection interface and define
two distinct types of collections. A set is a collection of unique objects. In most
cases, sets are also unordered. That means that sets don’t retain information
about the order of elements added to the set.
On the other hand, a list is an ordered collection of objects. A list always
maintains some sort of order for the objects it contains. Depending on the type
of list, the order might be the order in which the items were added to the list, or
it might be a sorted order based on a key value. In addition, lists allow duplicate
elements.
The second main type of collection is called a map, and it’s defined by
the Map interface. A map is similar to a collection, but its elements consist of
key-value pairs in which each value element is associated with a unique key
element. Each key must be associated with one and only one value. For example,
a map might be used to store Customer objects mapped to customer numbers. In
that case, the customer numbers are the keys and the Customer objects are the
values. Even though the Map interface doesn’t inherit the Collection interface,
the term collection is often used to refer to both collections and maps.
Although Java provides more than 30 classes that implement the List, Set, or
Map interfaces, you don’t need to know how to use them all. The second table
in this figure lists five collection classes that are commonly used. However, to
get started, you can begin by learning how to use the ArrayList class as shown in
this chapter. This is the only collection that you need to be able to work with all
of the applications presented in this book. Once you learn how to use this class,
you shouldn’t have much trouble learning how to use other collection classes
if the need arises. If necessary, you can learn more about the other collection
classes by searching the Internet.
The ArrayList class is an implementation of the List interface. This class
defines an array list that works much like a standard array. In fact, the ArrayList
class uses an array internally to store the elements of the list. The ArrayList
class provides efficient access to the elements in the list. However, inserting an
element into the middle of a list can be inefficient because all of the elements
after the insertion point must be moved to accommodate the inserted element.
The LinkedList class is another implementation of the List interface. This
class uses a special structure called a linked list to store the list’s elements. The
LinkedList class provides an efficient way to insert elements into the middle of a
list. However, a linked list is less efficient when accessing elements.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 361

The collection framework

Collection interfaces
Interface Description
Collection Defines the basic methods available for all collections.
Set Defines a collection that does not allow duplicate elements.
List Defines a collection that maintains the sequence of elements in the list. It accesses
elements by their integer index and typically allows duplicate elements.
Map Defines a map. A map is similar to a collection. However, it holds one or more
key-value pairs instead of storing only values (elements). Each key-value pair
consists of a key that uniquely identifies the value, and a value that stores the data.

Common collection classes

Class Description
ArrayList More efficient than a linked list for accessing individual elements randomly.
However, less efficient than a linked list when inserting elements into the middle
of the list.
LinkedList Less efficient than an array list for accessing elements randomly. However, more
efficient than an array list when inserting items into the middle of the list.
HashSet Stores a set of unique elements. In other words, it does not allow duplicates
elements.
HashMap Stores key-value pairs where each key must be unique. In other words, it does not
allow duplicate keys, but it does allow duplicate values.
TreeMap Stores key-value pairs in a hierarchical data structure known as a tree. In addition,
it automatically sequences elements by key.

Description
•• The Java collection framework is interface based, which means that each class
in the collection framework implements one of the interfaces defined by the
framework.
•• The collection framework consists of two class hierarchies: Collection and Map. A
collection stores individual objects as elements. A map stores key-value pairs where
you can use a key to retrieve a value (element).

Figure 14-2 The Java collection framework and classes

362 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An introduction to generics
Prior to Java 5, the elements of a collection were defined as the Object type.
As a result, you could store any type of object as an element in a collection. At
first, this flexibility might seem like an advantage. But with it comes two disad-
vantages. First, there’s no way to guarantee that only objects of a certain type are
added to a collection. For example, you can’t limit an ArrayList so it can hold
only Product objects. Second, you must use casting whenever you retrieve an
object from a collection. That’s because an element can be any type of object.
For example, to retrieve a Product object from a collection, you must cast the
object to the Product type.
Java 5 introduced a new feature called generics that addresses these two
problems. The generics feature lets you specify the element type for a collection.
Then, Java can make sure that it only adds objects of the specified type to the
collection. Conversely, Java can automatically cast any objects you retrieve from
the collection to the correct type.
Figure 14-3 shows how the generics feature works. To specify a type when
you declare a collection, you code the type in angle brackets immediately
following the name of the collection class (such as ArrayList or LinkedList).
Prior to Java 7, you had to do this twice: once when you use the collection class
to declare the collection, and again when you use the constructor of the collec-
tion class to create an instance of the collection. However, Java 7 introduced
a feature that lets you simplify this code as shown by the last example in this
figure.
The first example shows a statement that declares and instantiates an
instance of an array list collection named codes that holds String objects. Here,
<String> is specified following the ArrayList class name to indicate that the
elements of the array list must be String objects.
The second and third examples are similar, but they create collections that
can hold integers and Product objects. Here, the second example uses a wrapper
class (the Integer class) instead of the primitive type (the int type). This allows
the collection to store an array of integer values. That’s necessary because it’s
illegal to declare a collection with a primitive type like this:
ArrayList<int> numbers = new ArrayList<int>(); // illegal!
If you’re using Java 7 or later, you can omit the type from the brackets
that follow the constructor as long as the compiler can infer the type from the
context. The fourth example shows how this works. Here, the code accomplishes
the same task as the first example but without duplicating the collection type.
Since this feature results in shorter and simpler code, it’s used throughout the
rest of this chapter.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 363

The syntax for specifying the type of elements in a collection

CollectionClass<Type> collectionName = new CollectionClass<Type>();

A statement that creates an array list of String objects

ArrayList<String> codes = new ArrayList<String>();

A statement that creates an array list of integers

ArrayList<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<Integer>();

A statement that creates an array list of Product objects

ArrayList<Product> products = new ArrayList<Product>();

The syntax for using type inference with Java 7 or later

CollectionClass<Type> collectionName = new CollectionClass<>();

A statement that creates an array list of String objects

ArrayList<String> codes = new ArrayList<>();

Description
•• Generics refers to a feature that lets you create typed collections. A typed collection
is a collection that can hold only objects of a certain type. This feature was intro-
duced with Java 5.
•• To declare a variable that refers to a typed collection, you list the type in angle
brackets (<>) following the name of the collection class.
•• When you use a constructor for a typed collection, you can specify the type
variable in angle brackets following the constructor name. The type variable can’t
be a primitive type such as int or double, but it can be a wrapper class such as
Integer or Double. It can also be a user-defined class such as Product.
•• Beginning with Java 7, you can omit the type from within the brackets that follow
the constructor if the compiler can infer the type from the context. This empty set
of brackets is known as the diamond operator.
•• If you do not specify a type for a collection, the collection can hold any type of
object. However, the Java compiler will issue warning messages whenever you
access the collection to warn you that type checking can’t be performed for the
collection.

Figure 14-3 An introduction to generics

364 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to use the ArrayList class

The ArrayList class is one of the most commonly used collections in Java.
You can use this class to create a type of collection called an array list. An
array list uses an array internally to store list elements. As a result, an array
list is similar to an array in many ways. However, unlike an array, an array list
automatically adjusts its size as you add elements to it. As a result, you don’t
have to write any special code to make sure that you don’t exceed the capacity of
an array list.

How to create an array list

Figure 14-4 shows two constructors that you can use to create an array list.
These constructors use a capital letter E to indicate that you must specify the
type of element that you want to store in the collection within the angle brackets.
The first example in this figure creates an array list named codes that
can store String objects. Since this code uses the default constructor for the
ArrayList class, this example creates an array list that has an initial capacity of
10 elements. Then, if necessary, the array list automatically increases capacity to
be able to store more elements.
Unfortunately, increasing the capacity of an array list is not an efficient
operation, especially if the array list is large. First, the ArrayList class must
create a new array of the expanded size. Then, the elements of the old array must
be copied to the new array. Next, the new element must be added to the new
array. Finally, the old array must be removed from memory.
As a result, if you know the number of elements that you’re going to need to
store, it’s more efficient to create an array list that has an initial capacity that’s
slightly larger than the number of elements. To do that, you can use code like
the code shown in the second example. This code creates an array list that has an
initial capacity of 200 elements.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 365

The ArrayList class

java.util.ArrayList

Common constructors of the ArrayList class

Constructor Description
ArrayList<E>() Creates an empty array list of the specified
type with the default capacity of 10 elements.
ArrayList<E>(intCapacity) Creates an empty array list of the specified
type with the specified capacity.

Code that creates an array list of String objects

With the default starting capacity of 10 elements
ArrayList<String> codes = new ArrayList<>();

With a specified starting capacity of 200 elements

ArrayList<String> codes = new ArrayList<>(200);

Description
•• The ArrayList class uses an array internally to store the elements in the list.
•• The capacity of an array list automatically increases whenever necessary.
•• When you create an array list, you can use the default starting capacity of 10
elements, or you can specify the starting capacity.
•• If you know the number of elements that your list needs to be able to store, you can
improve the performance of the ArrayList class by specifying a starting capacity
that’s just over that number of elements.

Figure 14-4 How to create an array list

366 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to add and get elements

The first example of figure 14-5 shows how to add elements to an array list.
More specifically, it adds three String objects to the array list named codes. To
do that, it uses the add method of the ArrayList class. Here, the third statement
specifies an index of 0. As a result, this statement adds the string (“java”) as the
first element in the array list. Then, the array list automatically moves the other
strings in the list (“jsp” and “mysql”) back by one index.
The second example gets an element from the array list named codes. More
specifically, it gets the last element in the list. To do that, it calculates the index
for the last element by subtracting a value of 1 from the size. Then, it uses this
index to get the last element in the array list.
Although you may need to get one element from an array list, it’s more
common to need to process all elements of an array list. To do that, it’s common
to use an enhanced for loop as shown in the third example. This example prints
each element in the array list to the console. However, if necessary, you could
perform more complex processing on each element.
The fourth example shows another way to get and display the values in
a collection. To do that, you specify the name of the collection in the println
method. This implicitly calls the collection’s toString method, which returns a
string that lists the value of each element. Since this displays all elements on the
same line and enclosed in brackets, this technique is useful only for small collec-
tions. However, this technique is often useful when developing and debugging
applications.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 367

Common methods of the ArrayList class

Method Description
add(object) Adds the specified object to the end of the list.
add(index, object) Adds the specified object at the specified index position.
get(index) Returns the object at the specified index position.
size() Returns the number of elements in the list.

Code that adds three elements to an array list

codes.add("jsp");
codes.add("mysql");
codes.add(0, "java");

Code that gets the last element

int lastIndex = codes.size() - 1;
String lastCode = codes.get(lastIndex); // "mysql"

Code that gets and displays each element of an array list

for (String code : codes) {
System.out.println(code);
}

Resulting output

java
jsp
mysql

An easy way to display the contents of a collection

System.out.println(codes);

Resulting output

[java, jsp, mysql]

Description
•• You can use the methods of the ArrayList class to add elements to an array list and
to get elements from an array list.

Figure 14-5 How to add and get the elements of an array list
368 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to replace, remove, and search for elements

The first example in figure 14-6 shows how to replace an element in an array
list. To do that, the first statement calls the set method to replace the element
that’s stored at the index of 2 with “android.” In other words, it changes the third
element of the array list to “android”.
The second example shows how to remove an element from an array list.
To do that, this code calls the remove method and specifies an index of 1. As a
result, this code removes the second element from the array list and stores it in
the String variable named code.
The output for this example shows that second element (“jsp”) was removed
and all elements after it have shifted forward. In other words, the third element
(“android”) shifted forward and is now the second element.
The third example shows how to search for an element in an array list. To
do that, this code calls the contains method and specifies the object that it’s
searching for. If this object exists, the code in this example prints a message to
the console that indicates that the object exists. However, once you know an
object exists in the array list, you can perform any type of processing on it.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 369

More methods of the ArrayList class

Method Description
clear() Removes all elements from the list.
contains(object) Returns true if the specified object is in the list.
indexOf(object) Returns the index position of the specified object.
isEmpty() Returns true if the list is empty.
remove(index) Removes the object at the specified index position and
returns that object.
remove(object) Removes the specified object and returns a boolean value
that indicates whether the operation was successful.
set(index, object) Sets the element at the specified index to the specified object.
toArray() Returns an array containing the elements of the list.

Code that replaces an element

codes.set(2, "android");
System.out.println(codes);

Resulting output

[java, jsp, android]

Code that removes an element

String code = codes.remove(1); // removes "jsp"
System.out.println("'" + code + "' was removed.");
System.out.println(codes);

Resulting output

'jsp' was removed.

[java, android]

Code that searches for an element

String searchCode = "android";
if (codes.contains(searchCode)) {
System.out.println("This list contains: '" + searchCode + "'");
}

Resulting output

This list contains: 'android'

Description
•• You can use the methods of the ArrayList class to replace, remove, and search the
elements of an array list.

Figure 14-6 How to replace, remove, and search the elements of an array list
370 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to store primitive types in an array list

Figure 14-7 shows how to store primitive types such as int values in an array
list. To do that, you can use a wrapper class to specify the type of element that
can be stored by the array list.
In this figure, for instance, the first example creates an array list of Integer
objects. Then, it adds int values such as 1, 2, and 3 to the array list. This works
because the compiler automatically converts the int values to Integer objects
before it stores them in the array list.
Conversely, the second and third examples get int values such as 1, 2, and
3 from the array list, even though this list stores Integer objects. Again, that’s
possible because the compiler automatically converts the Integer objects to int
values.
This feature is known as autoboxing, and it is available with Java 5 and later.
Prior to Java 5, it was necessary to write extra code to store primitive types in
their wrapper classes and to get them out of their wrapper classes. Fortunately,
that’s not necessary with recent versions of Java.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 371

Code that stores primitive types in an array list

ArrayList<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<>();
numbers.add(1);
numbers.add(2);
numbers.add(3);
System.out.println(numbers);

Resulting output

[1, 2, 3]

Code that gets a primitive type from an array list

int firstNumber = numbers.get(0); // 1

Code that gets a primitive type from an array list

for (int number : numbers) {
System.out.println(number);
}

Resulting output

1
2
3

Description
•• All primitive types have corresponding wrapper classes. For example, the Integer
class is the wrapper class for the int type, the Double class is the wrapper class for
the double type, and so on.
•• To store a primitive type in a collection, you can specify its wrapper class as the
type for the collection. Then, the compiler automatically converts the primitive
value to its wrapper type when adding values to the collection. This feature is
known as autoboxing.
•• To get a primitive type from a collection, you don’t need to do anything because the
compiler automatically gets the primitive value from the wrapper class for you.

Figure 14-7 How to store primitive types in an array list

372 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

The Invoice application

Now that you know how to work with an array list, this chapter shows how
to use an array list within the context of the Invoice application that’s presented
in the next few figures.

The user interface

Figure 14-8 presents the console for the Invoice application. This console
works much like the Line Item application presented in earlier chapters.
However, it adds each line item to the invoice. Then, when the user finishes
adding line items, the Invoice application displays each line item and the total
for the invoice. To do that, it uses the Invoice class presented in figure 14-9.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 373

The console
Welcome to the Invoice application

Enter product code: java

Enter quantity: 2
Another line item? (y/n): y

Enter product code: jsp

Enter quantity: 1
Another line item? (y/n): n

Description Price Qty Total

Murach's Java Programming $57.50 2 $115.00
Murach's Java Servlets and JSP $57.50 1 $57.50

Invoice total: $172.50

Description
•• This application allows you to enter one or more line items for the invoice. When
you’re done, it displays all of the line items that you entered. In addition, it displays
the total amount for the invoice.
•• To enter a line item, enter the product code and quantity for the line item. Then,
you can enter “y” to enter another line item, or you and enter “n” to complete the
invoice.

Figure 14-8 The console for the Invoice application

374 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

The Invoice class

The Invoice class begins by defining one instance variable, an array list of
LineItem objects named lineItems. This array list stores the line items for the
invoice. The default constructor for the Invoice class creates this array list but
doesn’t add any line items to it. However, the addItem method provides a way
to add line items to the invoice. This method defines a LineItem object as a
parameter. Then, it calls the add method of the lineItems array list and adds the
LineItem object to the array list.
The getLineItems method provides a way to get the lineItems array list. The
return type for this method (ArrayList<LineItem>) uses generics to specify that
the array list can only store LineItem objects, which is what you want.
The getTotal method uses an enhanced for loop to process each LineItem
element in the lineItems array list. Within this loop, the code calls the getTotal
method of the current line item and adds that total to the invoiceTotal variable.
After this loop, the getTotal method returns the invoiceTotal variable.
The getTotalFormatted method formats the invoice total as a currency string.
To do that, this method calls the getTotal method of the invoice. That way, the
getTotalFormatted method doesn’t duplicate any code in the getTotal method.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 375

The Invoice class

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Invoice {

// the instance variable

private ArrayList<LineItem> lineItems;

// the constructor
public Invoice() {
lineItems = new ArrayList<>();
}

// a method that adds a line item

public void addItem(LineItem lineItem) {
lineItems.add(lineItem);
}

// the get accessor for the line item collection

public ArrayList<LineItem> getLineItems() {
return lineItems;
}

// a method that gets the invoice total

public double getTotal() {
double invoiceTotal = 0;
for (LineItem lineItem : lineItems) {
invoiceTotal += lineItem.getTotal();
}
return invoiceTotal;
}

// a method that returns the invoice total in currency format

public String getTotalFormatted() {
NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
return currency.format(getTotal());
}
}

Figure 14-9 The Invoice class

376 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

The InvoiceApp class

Figure 14-10 shows the code for the InvoiceApp class. This class contains
a main method that begins by declaring a variable that stores an Invoice object.
Then, it passes this object to the other two static methods in this class.
The static getLineItems method contains the code that prompts the user
to enter the product code and quantity for the line item. To do that, it uses the
Console class presented earlier in this book. Then, this method creates a new
LineItem object from the user input and adds that object to the Invoice object.
The displayInvoice method contains the code that displays the Invoice object
after the user has finished entering line items. This code uses the StringUtil class
described earlier in this book to pad the strings used by the application to create
columns that are the specified number of characters wide.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 377

The InvoiceApp class

package murach.ui;

import murach.db.ProductDB;
import murach.business.Invoice;
import murach.business.LineItem;
import murach.business.Product;

public class InvoiceApp {

public static void main(String args[]) {

System.out.println("Welcome to the Invoice application\n");
Invoice invoice = new Invoice();
getLineItems(invoice);
displayInvoice(invoice);
}

public static void getLineItems(Invoice invoice) {

String choice = "y";
while (choice.equalsIgnoreCase("y")) {
String productCode = Console.getString("Enter product code: ");
int quantity = Console.getInt("Enter quantity: ");

Product product = ProductDB.getProduct(productCode);

invoice.addItem(new LineItem(product, quantity));

choice = Console.getString("Another line item? (y/n): ");

System.out.println();
}
}

public static void displayInvoice(Invoice invoice) {

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.append(StringUtil.pad("Description", 34));
sb.append(StringUtil.pad("Price", 10));
sb.append(StringUtil.pad("Qty", 5));
sb.append(StringUtil.pad("Total", 10));
sb.append("\n");

for (LineItem lineItem : invoice.getLineItems()) {

Product product = lineItem.getProduct();
sb.append(StringUtil.pad(product.getDescription(), 34));
sb.append(StringUtil.pad(product.getPriceFormatted(), 10));
sb.append(StringUtil.pad(lineItem.getQuantityFormatted(), 5));
sb.append(StringUtil.pad(lineItem.getTotalFormatted(), 10));
sb.append("\n");
}
sb.append("\nInvoice total: ");
sb.append(invoice.getTotalFormatted());
sb.append("\n");
System.out.println(sb);
}
}

Figure 14-10 The InvoiceApp class

378 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to work with lambda expressions

Lambda expressions are the most important new feature of Java 8. They are
similar in some ways to a method in an anonymous class. However, they allow
you to eliminate the enclosing method and the anonymous class. In other words,
lambda expressions allow you to pass the functionality of a method as a param-
eter. As a result, they are sometimes called anonymous functions.

An introduction to lambdas
In the previous chapter, you learned how to use an anonymous class to
implement a method that contains the code that’s executed when an event occurs.
Then, you learned how to pass this anonymous class to another method as a
parameter. Lambda expressions allow you to do something similar, but with a
much cleaner syntax. In particular, lambda expressions allow you to specify
the code that’s executed without having to create the anonymous class and its
method to store this code. In other words, lambda expressions allow you to store
functionality of a method and pass it to another method as a parameter.
This ability to treat functionality as if it were data can result in the benefits
listed in figure 14-11. It can allow you to write methods that are more flexible.
This can greatly reduce code duplication, which can make your code easier to
maintain.
However, lambda expressions do have some drawbacks as summarized in
this figure. As a result, you might not always want to use them. Most of these
drawbacks stem from the fact that the Java virtual machine doesn’t support
lambdas. Instead, the Java compiler rewrites lambdas into “normal” Java code.
This rewriting by the compiler results in three drawbacks. First, lambda
expressions can be difficult to debug because you can’t step through them with
the debugger like normal methods. Second, when a lambda throws an exception,
the stack trace can be difficult to understand. Third, methods that use lambdas
can sometimes be inefficient compared to methods that accomplish the same task
without using lambdas.
A fourth drawback is that lambda expressions can result in code that’s
confusing and difficult to maintain. This is especially true if you use lambda
expressions in situations where they aren’t necessary.
So, when should you avoid using a lambda expression? If you find yourself
needing to perform the same task more than once, you probably want to avoid
using a lambda expression. In that case, you probably want to store the code in a
normal method so that it is reusable.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 379

Lambdas expressions…
•• Are anonymous functions that can be passed as arguments to methods.
•• Allow you to treat functions like data.

Some benefits of lambda expressions

•• They can reduce code duplication.
•• They can allow you to write methods that are more flexible and easier to maintain.

Some drawbacks of lambda expressions

•• They don’t work well with the integrated debugger.
•• They can be inefficient.
•• They can result in stack traces that are very difficult to understand.
•• They can result in code that’s difficult to understand.
•• They can result in code duplication for commonly used functionality.

Description
•• Like a method, a function has parameters and returns a value. An anonymous
function is a function that doesn’t have a name.

Figure 14-11 An introduction to lambda expressions

380 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

A method that doesn’t use a lambda expression

To understand how lambdas can be helpful, figure 14-12 shows a method
that doesn’t use a lambda expression that could benefit from the use of a lambda
expression. This method accepts a list of Contact objects as a parameter, and
returns a new list of Contact objects consisting only of the people from the
original list who have a null phone number.
To accomplish this task, the code within this method creates a new list of
Contact objects to store the Contact objects that have null phone numbers. Then
it, uses a loop to check each Contact in the list that’s passed in as a parameter.
Within this loop, an if statement checks whether the Contact object’s phone
number is null. If so, this code adds the Contact object to the new list. After the
loop, this code returns the new list.
This method has several advantages. First, there’s nothing tricky about this
code. As a result, it’s easy to read and understand. Second, since this method is
easy to read and understand, it should be easy to maintain.
However, this method also has several drawbacks. First, it’s inflexible. For
example, suppose you wanted to find all of the people who had a null email
address instead of a null phone number? This method can’t do it. To do that,
you’d have to write a new method that checks for a null email address instead.
However, most of the code in the new method would be duplicate code. You’d
only need to change the condition inside the if statement.
And what if you wanted to find a list of people who had a null phone number
and a null email address? To do that, you’d have to write a third method. Once
again, the code in the third method would be almost identical to the code in the
first two methods.
At this point, the code duplication begins to make it difficult to maintain
these methods. For example, if you need to change the Contact class, you might
need to change the code in all three methods to reflect that change. In this situa-
tion, it makes sense to use a lambda expression because it can make the method
more flexible, which reduces code duplication and makes your code easier to
maintain.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 381

The Contact class

public class Contact {
private String name;
private String email;
private String phone;

// constructor and get / set methods here ...

}

Code that creates a list of contacts

List<Contact> contacts = new ArrayList<>();
contacts.add(new Contact("John Doe", "[email protected]", "555-1212"));
contacts.add(new Contact("Jane Doe", null, null));
contacts.add(new Contact("George Doe", "[email protected]", null));

A method that returns contacts that don’t have phone numbers

public List<Contact> filterContactsWithoutPhone(List<Contact> contacts) {
List<Contact> contactsWithoutPhone = new ArrayList<>();
for (Contact c : contacts) {
if (c.getPhone() == null) {
contactsWithoutPhone.add(c);
}
}
return contactsWithoutPhone;
}

Code that gets contacts that don’t have phone numbers

List<Contact> contactsWithoutPhone = filterContactsWithoutPhone(contacts);

Code that prints contacts to the console

for (Contact p : contactsWithoutPhone) {
System.out.println(p.getName());
}

The output

Jane Doe
George Doe

Description
•• The filterContactsWithoutPhone method accepts a list of Contact objects, finds all
the contacts in the list that have a null phone number, adds these contacts to a new
list, and returns this list to the caller.
•• In the filterContactsWithoutPhone method, the code that filters the list is hard-coded.
As a result, this method is inflexible and fragile.

Figure 14-12 A method that doesn’t use lambda expressions

382 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

A method that uses a lambda expressions

Figure 14-13 shows how to perform the same task as the previous figure
with a method that uses a lambda expression. This results in a flexible method
that you can use to filter the list of Contact objects in multiple ways.
Before you can code a lambda expression, you need to define the parameters
and return type for the lambda expression. To do that, you can use a functional
interface. A functional interface works like a normal interface except that it can
only contain one method.
The first example in this figure shows a functional interface named
TestContact that contains one method. This method accepts a Contact object as
its only parameter and returns a boolean value.
The second example shows a method named filterContacts that accepts the
functional interface as its second parameter. This works the same as coding a
method that accepts any other type of interface as a parameter. So, this method
accepts a list of Contact objects as its first parameter and a TestContact object as
its second parameter.
Within this method, most of the code is similar to the code in the previous
figure. However, the condition for the if statement checks whether the Contact
object should be added to the list by calling the test method of the TestContact
object. This is the key. In other words, this method doesn’t include the test
condition, nor does it care what the test condition is. All it cares about is that the
test method of the TestContact object returns a boolean value.
The third example shows how to call the filterContacts method and pass it
a lambda expression that specifies the test condition. To start, the first argument
that’s passed to the filterContacts method is the list of Contact objects. The
second argument is the lambda expression, which is also known as an anony-
mous function. To define the lambda expression, you begin with a placeholder
variable, followed by the lambda operator (->), followed by the functionality
of the lambda. Here, the lambda operator (->) is a new operator that’s available
from Java 8 and later. In this example, the method call passes a lambda expres-
sion that checks whether the contact’s phone number is null.
The fourth example shows how to pass a lambda expression that checks
whether the contact’s email list is null. This shows that the method in this figure
is more flexible than the method in the previous figure. If you want, you could
code more complex lambda expressions to filter the list in other ways. For
example, you could check for Contact objects that have a null or empty phone
number by using this lambda expression:
c -> c.getPhone() == null || c.getPhone().isEmpty()
Although this figure presents a simple example of lambda expressions, it
should already be clear how lambdas can make methods more flexible, reduce
code duplication, and make code easier to maintain by replacing multiple
methods that perform almost identical functions with a single method that allows
the functionality to be passed in at runtime as a lambda expression.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 383

A functional interface
public interface TestContact {
boolean test(Contact c);
}

A method that uses a functional interface to specify the filter condition

public List<Contact> filterContacts(List<Contact> contacts,
TestContact condition) {
List<Contact> filteredContacts = new ArrayList<>();
for (Contact c : contacts) {
if (condition.test(c)) {
filteredContacts.add(c);
}
}
return filteredContacts;
}

Code that gets contacts that don’t have phone numbers

List<Contact> contactsWithoutPhone = filterContacts(contacts,
c -> c.getPhone() == null);

The list after it’s printed to the console

Jane Doe
George Doe

Code that gets contacts that don’t have email addresses

List<Contact> contactsWithoutEmail = filterContacts(contacts,
c -> c.getEmail() == null);

The list after it’s printed to the console

Jane Doe

Description
•• A functional interface can only contain one method.
•• A method can specify a functional interface as the type for a parameter. Then,
within the method, you can call the method of the functional interface from the
parameter.
•• You can pass a lambda expression to a method that accepts a functional interface
as a parameter. To code a lambda expression, you code the variable name, followed
by the lambda operator (->), followed by an anonymous function. The anonymous
function can use the variable name to call methods from the object type that’s used
by the method.

Figure 14-13 A method that uses lambda expressions

384 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to use the Predicate interface

Figure 14-14 shows how to perform the same task as the previous figure with
a method that uses the Predicate interface, a functional interface that’s available
from the java.util.function package. This interface defines a method named test
that works much like the test method in the TestContact functional interface
that’s presented in the previous figure.
However, the Predicate interface has two advantages over the TestContact
interface. First, it’s already available from the Java API. As a result, you don’t
need to write the code to define this interface. Second, the Predicate interface
uses generics to specify the type of object that’s passed to its test method. As
a result, its test method can accept an object of any type. By contrast, the test
method of the TestContact interface can only accept a Contact object.
In this figure, the second parameter of the filterContacts method defines a
parameter of the Predicate<Contact> type. As a result, the lambda expressions
that are passed to this method can call methods of the Contact object.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 385

The Predicate interface that’s available from the java.util.function package

public interface Predicate<T> {
boolean test(T t);
}

A method that uses the Predicate interface to specify the condition

public static List<Contact> filterContacts(List<Contact> contacts,
Predicate<Contact> condition) {
List<Contact> filteredContacts = new ArrayList<>();
for (Contact c : contacts) {
if (condition.test(c)) {
filteredContacts.add(c);
}
}
return filteredContacts;
}

Description
•• The Predicate interface is a functional interface that’s available from the java.util.
function package.
•• The Predicate interface uses generics to specify the type of object that’s passed to
its test method.

Figure 14-14 How to use the Predicate interface

386 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Perspective
Now that you’ve finished this chapter, you should know how to work with
array lists, one of the most commonly used Java collections. This includes
knowing how to use generics to specify the type of object that’s stored by
a collection. This is a good foundation for learning how to work with other
collections.
You should also understand that many collections are available from the
Java API. Each of these collections provides functionality that’s useful in
certain situations. As a result, if the collections presented in this chapter don’t
provide the functionality that your application requires, there’s a good chance
that the Java API already includes a collection that does provide this function-
ality. To find that collection and to learn how it works, you can start by looking
in the documentation for the java.util package or by searching the Internet.
Finally, you should have a general idea of how lambda expressions work.
As you might expect, there’s plenty more to learn about lambda expressions. To
do that, you can search the Internet for a tutorial or get a more advanced book
about Java programming.

Summary
•• A collection is an object that’s designed to store other objects.
•• The most commonly used collection class is the ArrayList class. An array
list uses an array internally to store its data.
•• The generics feature, which became available with Java 5, lets you specify
the type of elements a collection can store. This feature also lets you create
generic classes that work with variable data types.
•• The diamond operator, which became available with Java 7, allows you to
code an empty set of brackets (<>) in the constructor of a typed collection
instead of having to code the type within those brackets.
•• A functional interface is an interface that only contains one method.
•• A lambda expression (also known as an anonymous function) can be passed
as an argument to a method that accepts a functional interface as a param-
eter. This allows you to treat functions like data.
 Chapter 14 How to work with collections, generics, and lambdas 387

Exercise 14-1 Use an array list

This exercise guides you through the process of adding an array list to the
Future Value application. This array list stores the values for each calculation
that the user makes. When the application ends, it prints a summary of those
calculations to the console. This summary should that looks something like this:

Future Value Calculations

Inv/Mo. Rate Years Future Value

$100.00 8.0% 10 $18,416.57
$125.00 8.0% 10 $23,020.71
$150.00 8.0% 10 $27,624.85

1. Import the project named ch14_ex1_FutureValue in the ex_starts folder. Then,

review the code for this application and run it to make sure it works correctly.
2. Declare a variable at the beginning of the main method for an array list that
stores strings.
3. After the code that calculates, formats, and displays the results for each
calculation, add code that formats a string with the results of the calculation
and then stores the string in the array list.
4. Add code to print the elements in the array list to the console when the user
exits the application. Then, test the application by making at least 3 future
value calculations.
388 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Exercise 14-2 Use a lambda expression

In this exercise, you’ll use a lambda expression to reduce code duplication when
searching a book catalog for certain types of books
1. Import the project named ch14_ex2_BookCatalog in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code for this application and run it to make sure it works
correctly. It should print lists of books filtered by title, category, and format
like this:

BOOKS BY TITLE:
[Java Programming, Java, Paperback]
[Java Programming, Java, Electronic]

BOOKS BY CATEGORY:
[Java Servlets and JSP, Java, Paperback]
[Java Servlets and JSP, Java, Electronic]
[Java Programming, Java, Paperback]
[Java Programming, Java, Electronic]

BOOKS BY FORMAT:
[MySQL, Database, Paperback]
[Java Servlets and JSP, Java, Paperback]
[Java Programming, Java, Paperback]
[Android Programming, Mobile, Paperback]

2. Open the BookManager class and examine these three methods:

getBooksByTitle, getBooksByTech, and getBooksByFormat. Note that the
code for these methods is almost identical, except for the condition at the
beginning of the if statement.
3. Add a functional interface named TestBook that includes a method named test
that accepts a Book object as a parameter and returns a boolean value.
4. In the BookManager class, add a single method named getBooksByLambda
that accepts a TestBook object as a parameter and uses its test method in the
condition at the beginning of the if statement.
5. Open the Main class and replace the old calls to the methods of the
BookManager class with three calls to the new getBooksByLambda method.
To do that, you’ll need to pass a lambda expression as an argument to this
method. For example, here’s the lambda expression to test the title of a book:
b -> b.getTitle().equals("Java Programming")
6. In the BookManager class, delete the getBooksByTitle, getBooksByTech,
and getBooksByFormat methods. Note how this reduces code duplication and
increases the flexibility of your code.
7. Run the application and test it to make sure it works correctly. It should print
the same list to the console as in step 1.
 15
How to work
with dates and times
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to work with dates and times, which are neces-
sary for many types of Java applications. To start, this chapter introduces you to
the date/time API that was available prior to Java 8 as well as the new date/time
API that’s available with Java 8 and later.
Oracle recommends the new date/time API for new development. As a
result, this chapter only shows how to use the new date/time API. However,
if you need to use the older date/time API, you can learn more about it by
searching the Internet or by consulting a more comprehensive book such as
Murach’s Java Programming.

An introduction to date/time APIs.....................................390

The date/time API prior to Java 8................................................................390
The date/time API for Java 8 and later.........................................................390
How to use the new date/time API.....................................392
How to create date and time objects.............................................................392
How to get date and time parts.....................................................................394
How to compare dates and times..................................................................396
How to adjust date/time objects...................................................................398
How to add or subtract a period of time...................................................... 400
How to format dates and times.................................................................... 402
An Invoice class that includes an invoice date............................................ 404
Perspective..........................................................................406
390 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An introduction to date/time APIs

Figure 15-1 summarizes the two date/time APIs that are available with
Java 8. The first was available prior to Java 8 and is included with Java 8 for
backwards compatibility. The second is a new and improved date/time API
that was added to Java 8. Oracle recommends this date/time API for new
development.

The date/time API prior to Java 8

If you need your application to work with older versions of Java, you can
use the Date, Calendar, and GregorianCalendar classes of the java.util package
to work with dates and times. These classes are available to all modern versions
of Java. To format these dates and times, you can use the DateFormat or
SimpleDateFormat classes of the java.text package. These classes are also avail-
able to all modern versions of Java.
However, these classes have some design flaws. To start, they are not
thread-safe. In addition, most programmers consider the design of these classes
to be unintuitive. For example, in the Date class, years start at 1900, months
start at 1, and days start at 0. Finally, these classes don’t make it easy to localize
your application for parts of the world that don’t use the Gregorian calendar. For
example, when using these classes, it isn’t easy to write code that supports the
Lunar calendar.

The date/time API for Java 8 and later

To fix these problems, Java 8 introduced a new date/time API. All of the
classes and enumerations for this new API are stored in the java.time package.
This API is thread-safe because all of the classes are immutable. In other
words, the methods of these objects always return a new object instead of
modifying the existing one. In addition, most programmers consider the design
to be more intuitive than the old API. Finally, the new API supports separate
calendars, which makes it easier to localize your application for parts of the
world that don’t use the Gregorian calendar.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 391

The date/time API prior to Java 8

Package Description
java.util An older package that contains the Date, Calendar, and
GregorianCalendar classes. Prior to Java 8, programmers
commonly used these classes to work with dates and times.
java.text An older package that contains the DateFormat and
SimpleDateFormat classes. Prior to Java 8, programmers
used these classes to format dates and times.

Pros
-- Works with older versions of Java.
Cons
-- Not thread-safe.
-- Not intuitive.
-- Not easy to localize for parts of the world that don’t use the Gregorian calendar.

The date/time API with Java 8 and later

Package Description
java.time A newer package that contains the LocalDate, LocalTime,
LocalDateTime, and DateTimeFormatter classes as well as
the Month and DayOfWeek enumerations. With Java 8 and
later, you can use these classes and enumerations to work
with dates and times.

Pros
-- Thread-safe.
-- Intuitive.
-- Easier to localize for parts of the world that don’t use the Gregorian calendar.
Cons
-- Doesn’t work with versions of Java prior to Java 8.

Description
•• Java 8 introduces a new date/time API that fixes some of the problems with the old
date/time API that was used prior to Java 8.

Figure 15-1 A summary of Java date/time APIs

392 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to use the new date/time API

The rest of this chapter shows how to use the new date/time API that was
introduced with Java 8. As a result, this code only works with Java 8 and later.
For new development, this is usually fine. However, if you need your application
to work with older versions of Java, or if you need to modify code for an old
application, you may want to use the old date/time API.

How to create date and time objects

With the new date and time API, you typically begin by using one of these
three classes: LocalDate, LocalTime, or LocalDateTime. As the name implies,
the LocalDate class stores a date but not the time. Conversely, the LocalTime
class stores the time but not the date. And the LocalDateTime class stores both
the date and time.
All three of these classes work from the observer’s perspective. In other
words, they use time zone and location information from the system the applica-
tion is running on and work with the local date and time.
Figure 15-2 shows how you can create date and time objects using these
classes. All of these classes use static methods that return dates and times.
The now method works the same for all three classes. It returns the current
local time, date, or date and time. In this figure, for example, the first statement
returns the current local date, the second returns the current local time, and the
third returns the current local date and time.
The of method takes different parameters depending on whether it’s called
from a LocalDate, LocalTime, or LocalDateTime class. To create a LocalDate
object, you can call the of method from the LocalDate class and pass it the year,
month, and day as parameters. To specify the month, you can use the constants
from JANUARY through DECEMBER that are available from the Month
enumeration. Or, you can specify an int value for the month where January is 1,
February is 2, and so on.
To create a LocalTime object, you can call the of method from the
LocalTime class and pass it integer values for the hours, minutes, seconds, and
nanoseconds. These parameters are in 24-hour format. This means they start at
00:00, which is midnight, and go to 23:59, which is 11:59 PM. Of these param-
eters, the hours and minutes are required. However, you can specify seconds
and nanoseconds if you need to as shown in this figure. For most applications,
you don’t need to specify seconds and nanoseconds, but the new date/time API
supports them if necessary.
To create a LocalDateTime object, you can call the of method of the
LocalDateTime class and pass it values for the year, month, day, hour, minute,
second, and nanosecond. This works like a combination of the LocalDate and
LocalTime classes.
The parse method allows you to create a date, time, or date/time
from a string. For a LocalDate object, you specify the date in this format
YYYY-MM-DD. For a LocalTime object, you specify the time in this format
HH:MM:SS.NNNNNNNNN. Here, the seconds and nanoseconds are optional.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 393

The java.time package

Class Description
LocalDate A class for working with dates but not times.
LocalTime A class for working with times but not dates.
LocalDateTime A class for working with dates and times.
Enumeration Description
Month An enumeration that contains the months in
the year (JANUARY through DECEMBER).
DayOfWeek An enumeration that contains the days of the
week (MONDAY through SUNDAY).

Static methods of the LocalDate, LocalTime, and LocalDateTime classes

Method Description
now() Returns an appropriate object for the current local date, time, or date/time.
of(parameters) Return an appropriate object for the specified date, time, or date/time
parameters.
For a date, you can specify the year, month, and day parameters.
For a time, you can specify the hour, minute, second, and nanosecond
parameters. However, the second and nanosecond parameters are optional
and default to 0.
For a date/time, you can specify all of the parameters.
parse(string) Returns an appropriate object for the specified string.
For a date, you specify a string in the form of YYYY-MM-DD.
For a time, you specify a string in the form of HH:MM:SS.NNNNNNNNN.
However, the seconds and nanoseconds are optional and default to 0.
For a date/time, the date and time are separated by a “T”.

Code that creates date/time objects

LocalDate currentDate = LocalDate.now();
LocalTime currentTime = LocalTime.now();
LocalDateTime currentDateTime = LocalDateTime.now();

LocalDate halloween1 = LocalDate.of(2015, Month.OCTOBER, 31);

LocalDate halloween2 = LocalDate.of(2015, 10, 31);
LocalTime startTime1 = LocalTime.of(14, 32); // minutes
LocalTime startTime2 = LocalTime.of(14, 32, 45); // seconds
LocalTime startTime3 = LocalTime.of(14, 32, 45, 123456789); // nanoseconds
LocalDateTime startDateTime = LocalDateTime.of(2015, 10, 31, 14, 32);

LocalDate halloween3 = LocalDate.parse("2015-10-31");

LocalTime startTime4 = LocalTime.parse("02:32:45");
LocalDateTime startDateTime2 =
LocalDateTime.parse("2015-10-31T02:32:45.123456789");

Description
• These classes represent the local date and time from the observer’s perspective.
• The LocalDateTime class is a combination of the LocalDate and LocalTime classes.

Figure 15-2 How to create LocalDate, LocalTime, and LocalDateTime objects

394 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

For a LocalDateTime object, you separate the strings for the date and time with a
T. This indicates the start of the time part of the string.
If any of the values are out of range, these methods typically throw a
DateTimeException. For example, if you specify a day of 32, these methods
throw this exception since no month has 32 days. Similarly, if you specify 25
hours or 61 seconds, these methods throw this exception.
All of these classes have several more static methods for creating dates and
times, but the ones presented in figure 15-2 are the most common. For more
information, you can look at the API documentation for these classes.

How to get date and time parts

Figure 15-3 shows several methods you can use to access the various parts
of the date and time. The getMonth and getMonthValue methods return the same
information, but in different formats. For example, if the date is set to October
31, 2015, the getMonth method returns the OCTOBER constant of the Month
enumeration. On the other hand, the getMonthValue method returns an int
value of 10. This value corresponds with the OCTOBER constant of the Month
enumeration.
The toString method of the Month enumeration returns the name of the
constant in all caps. As a result, if you print a constant of the Month enumeration
to the console, it displays the name of the month in all caps.
The LocalDateTime class supports all of the methods shown in this figure.
However, the LocalDate class only supports the methods for getting date parts,
and the LocalTime class only supports the methods for getting time parts. This
is logical since it doesn’t make sense to call the getHour method on a LocalDate
object because that object doesn’t store the time. Similarly, it doesn’t make sense
to call the getYear method on a LocalTime object because that object doesn’t
store the date.
Unlike most classes, these get methods do not have corresponding set
methods. That’s because, as mentioned previously, the objects of these classes
are immutable. In other words, you can’t change them once they have been
constructed.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 395

Methods for getting parts of date and time objects

Method Description
getYear() Returns the current year as an in integer.
getMonth() Returns the current month as a Month object.
getMonthValue() Returns the current month as an integer between 1 and 12.
getDayOfMonth() Returns the current day of the month as an integer.
getDayOfYear() Returns the current day of the year as an integer.
getDayOfWeek() Returns the current day of the week as a DayOfWeek object.
getHour() Returns the current hour of the day as an integer in 24-hour format.
getMinute() Returns the current minute of the hour as an integer.
getSecond() Returns the current second of the minute as an integer.
getNano() Returns the current nanosecond of the second as an integer.

Code that gets the parts of a LocalDateTime object

// Assume a current date/time of October 31, 2015 14:32:45.898000000

int year = currentDateTime.getYear(); // 2015

Month month = currentDateTime.getMonth(); // OCTOBER
int monthValue = currentDateTime.getMonthValue(); // 10
int day = currentDateTime.getDayOfMonth(); // 31

int dayOfYear = currentDateTime.getDayOfYear(); // 304

DayOfWeek dayOfWeek = currentDateTime.getDayOfWeek(); // SATURDAY

int hour = currentDateTime.getHour(); // 14

int minute = currentDateTime.getMinute(); // 32
int second = currentDateTime.getSecond(); // 45
int nano = currentDateTime.getNano(); // 898000000

Description
•• The LocalDateTime class supports all of the get methods.
•• The LocalDate class only supports the get methods relevant to getting dates.
•• The LocalTime class only supports the get methods relevant to getting times.
•• LocalDate, LocalTime, and LocalDateTime objects are immutable. As a result,
these get methods do not have corresponding set methods.

Figure 15-3 How to get date and time parts

396 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to compare dates and times

Figure 15-4 shows several ways that you can compare dates and times. To
determine whether a date or time is before another date or time, you can use the
isBefore method. In this figure, for instance, the first example checks whether
the current date is before October 31, 2015. If so, it prints an appropriate
message to the console.
To do that, this code compares two LocalDate objects. However, you could
use similar techniques with two LocalDateTime objects or two LocalTime
objects. When you compare date/time objects, you can only compare objects of
the same type. For example, you can’t compare a date to a time.
Conversely, you can use the isAfter method to determine whether a date or
time object is after another date or time. In this figure, for instance, the second
example checks whether the current time is after 15:30, which is 3:30PM. If so,
it prints an appropriate message to the console. To do that, this code compares
two LocalTime objects.
In most cases, you only need to use the isBefore or isAfter methods to
compare dates. However, in some cases, you may need to use the compareTo
method to determine whether a date/time is before, after, or equal to another
date/time. This works because the compareTo method returns a negative value
if a date/time is before another date/time, a positive value if a date/time object
is after another date/time object, and 0 if the two date/time objects are equal.
In this figure, for instance, the third example checks whether the current date is
before, after, or equal to October 31, 2015.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 397

Methods for comparing dates and times

Method Description
isBefore(dateTime) Returns true if the date or time is before the other specified
date or time. Otherwise, this method returns false.
isAfter(dateTime) Returns true if date or time is after the other specified date
or time. Otherwise, this method returns false.
compareTo(dateTime) Returns a negative value if the date or time is before the
other specified date or time, a positive value if the date or
time is after, and 0 if they are equal.

Code that uses the isBefore method

LocalDate currentDate = LocalDate.now();
LocalDate halloween = LocalDate.of(2015, Month.OCTOBER, 31);
if (currentDate.isBefore(halloween)) {
System.out.println("Current date is before Halloween.");
}

Code that uses the isAfter method

LocalTime currentTime = LocalTime.now();
LocalTime startTime = LocalTime.of(15, 30);
if (currentTime.isAfter(startTime)) {
System.out.println("Current time is after start time.");
}

Code that uses the compareTo method

LocalDate currentDate = LocalDate.now();
LocalDate halloween = LocalDate.of(2015, Month.OCTOBER, 31);
if (currentDate.compareTo(halloween) < 0) {
System.out.println("Current date is BEFORE Halloween.");
}
else if (currentDate.compareTo(halloween) > 0) {
System.out.println("Current date is AFTER Halloween.");
}
else if (currentDate.compareTo(halloween) == 0) {
System.out.println("Current date is Halloween.");
}

Description
•• You can use these methods to compare LocalTime, LocalDate, and LocalDateTime
objects.

Figure 15-4 How to compare dates and times

398 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to adjust date/time objects

Sometimes you might need to create a new date time object by adjusting an
existing date time object. To do this, you can use the methods shown in figure
15-5.
In the first example, for instance, the first statement creates a LocalDate
object that’s set to October 20, 2015. Then, the second statement creates a new
LocalDate object set to October 31, 2015. To do that, this statement calls the
withDayofMonth method on the first LocalDate object to change the day of the
month from 20 to 31.
As usual, the LocalDateTime class supports all of these methods. However,
the LocalDate and LocalTime classes only support the methods that are relevant
to them. For example, the LocalTime class doesn’t support the withMonth
method, which makes sense.
When you use these methods, there are some potential inconsistent
behaviors to be aware of. To start, if you a call a method and pass it an invalid
value, the method typically throws a DateTimeException. For instance, the
second example calls the withDayOfMonth method and passes it a value of 29.
However, in this case, the month is February, and the year is 2015, which is not
a leap year. As a result, February 2015 only has 28 days. So, this code throws a
DateTimeException. This is what most programmers would expect.
However, what happens if you set the date to October 31, 2015 and then
call the withMonth method to set the month to February as shown in the third
example? This time, the class quietly adjusts the day to the last day of February.
In other words, it sets the day to February 28. This might not be what most
programmers would expect. As you develop applications, it’s important to keep
this in mind. If you don’t, it could cause bugs in your application.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 399

Methods for adjusting dates and times

Method Description
withDayOfMonth(day) Returns a new object based on the original with
the day of month changed to day.
withDayOfYear(dayOfYear) Returns a new object based on the original with
the month and day set to dayOfYear (1 to 365).
withMonth(month) Returns a new object based on the original with
the month changed to month.
withYear(year) Returns a new object based on the original with
the year changed to year.
withHour(hour) Returns a new object based on the original with
the hour changed to hour.
withMinute(minute) Returns a new object based on the original with
the minute changed to minute.

An example that changes the day of the month

LocalDate date = LocalDate.of(2015, 10, 20);
LocalDate newDate = date.withDayOfMonth(31);

An example that throws an exception due to an invalid day of month

LocalDateTime dateTime1 = LocalDateTime.parse("2015-02-28T15:30");
LocalDateTime newDateTime1 = dateTime.withDayOfMonth(29);
// Throws a DateTimeException because 2015 is not a leap year.
// As a result, February only has 28 days

An example that quietly changes the day of month

LocalDateTime dateTime2 = LocalDateTime.parse("2015-10-31T15:30");
LocalDateTime newDateTime2 = dateTime.withMonth(2);
// Does not throw an exception, but quietly changes the day to 28
// because there are only 28 days in February 2015.

Description
 To adjust a date/time object, you can use the with methods.
 These methods create a new object from the existing date/time object. In other
words, they don’t alter the existing date/time object.
 The LocalDateTime class supports all of the methods in the table.
 The LocalDate class only supports the methods relevant to dates.
 The LocalTime class only support the methods relevant to times.
 These methods can throw a DateTimeException for arguments that are out of range.
 The withMonth method may change the day if the current day stored in the object
is out of range for the new month.

Figure 15-5 How to adjust dates and times

400 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to add or subtract a period of time

Figure 15-6 shows another way you can create new date and time objects
using a concept called adjusters. Unlike the with methods shown in the previous
figure, adjusters return a new date or time based on the current one, after it has
been adjusted by the specified time period. For example, you can create a new
date by adding or subtracting a specified time period from an existing date.
The most general way to add or subtract a period of time from an existing
date or time is to use the plus or minus methods. These methods take two
parameters. The second parameter uses a ChronoUnit constant to specify the unit
of time. The first parameter specifies the number of units. For instance, the first
example in this figure creates a new date/time by using the plus method to add 3
weeks to the current date. Conversely, the second example creates a new
date/time by using the minus method to subtract 3 weeks from the current
date. To do that, these examples use the WEEKS constant of the ChronoUnit
enumeration.
The third example creates a new LocalTime object by using the plus method
to add 3 hours to the current time. To do that, this example uses the HOURS
constant of the ChronoUnit enumeration.
All of the ChronoUnit constants shown in this figure also have shortcut
methods. For example, you can call the plusWeeks or minusWeeks methods
to adjust the date by the specified number of weeks as shown in this figure.
Similarly, you can call the plusHours or minusHours methods to adjust a time by
the specified number of hours.
The last example in this figure shows how you can use method chaining
when adjusting dates and times. Here, the code creates a new LocalDateTime
object that is three weeks and three hours after the current date and time.
As you may have guessed, the LocalDate class doesn’t support the
ChronoUnit constants or shortcut methods that work with times. Conversely, the
LocalTime class doesn’t support the ChronoUnit constants or shortcut methods
that work with dates.
A common mistake among new programmers, especially since these
methods are called adjusters, is to assume that these methods change the date or
time stored in the existing object. However, like all of the methods in the new
date/time API, these methods return new objects and don’t change the existing
objects. As a result, using these methods in loops can be inefficient since it can
result in a very large number of objects being created and destroyed.
This figure only lists the most commonly used ChronoUnit constants. There
are others available. However, you probably won’t need them unless you are
working in scientific fields that need to deal with very small or large units of
time.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 401

Methods for adding or subtracting time

Method Description
plus(long, chronoUnit) Returns a new object after adding the specified amount of time.
minus(long, chronoUnit) Returns a new object after subtracting the specified amount of time.

Common constants of the ChronoUnit enumeration

ChronoUnit.YEARS
ChronoUnit.MONTHS
ChronoUnit.WEEKS
ChronoUnit.DAYS
ChronoUnit.HOURS
ChronoUnit.MINUTES
ChronoUnit.SECONDS

Code that adds three weeks to the current date/time

LocalDateTime newDateTime = currentDateTime.plus(3, ChronoUnit.WEEKS);

Code that subtracts three weeks from the current date/time

LocalDateTime newDateTime = currentDateTime.minus(3, ChronoUnit.WEEKS);

Code that adds three hours to the current time

LocalTime newTime = currentTime.plus(3, ChronoUnit.HOURS);

Shortcut methods for adding or subtracting weeks

Method Description
plusWeeks(long) Returns a new object after adding the specified number of weeks.
minusWeeks(long) Returns a new object after subtracting the specified number of weeks.

Shortcut methods for the previous three examples

LocalDateTime newDateTime = currentDateTime.plusWeeks(3);
LocalDateTime newDateTime = currentDateTime.minusWeeks(3);
LocalTime newTime = currentTime.plusHours(3);

Code that uses method chaining

LocalDateTime newDateTime = currentDateTime.plusWeeks(3).plusHours(3);

Description
•• To adjust the date or time forward or backward, you can use the plus and minus methods
with the ChronoUnit enumeration to specify a period of time. However, it’s usually
easier to use the shortcut methods such as the plusWeeks or minusWeeks methods.
•• Shortcut methods exist for all of the ChronoUnit constants shown in this figure.
•• The LocalDateTime class supports all of the methods and ChronoUnit constants.
The LocalDate and LocalTime classes only support the methods and constants that
are relevant to them.
• All of the plus and minus methods return new objects of the same type. In other
words, they do not alter the existing objects.
• You can use method chaining to perform multiple calculations in a single statement.

Figure 15-6 How to add or subtract a period of time

402 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to format dates and times

If necessary, you could format dates and times by using the get methods
presented earlier to build a string containing the date and time formatted the
way you want. However, this approach has one major disadvantage: It doesn’t
account for local formatting preferences. Fortunately, the new date/time
API includes a DateTimeFormatter class that accounts for local formatting
preferences.
Figure 15-7 shows several static methods you can call on the
DateTimeFormatter class to get different format styles for dates and times. These
formatters automatically present the date in a format that’s appropriate for the
current locale. So, depending on your locale, the format might look different
than the format shown in this figure.
For example, suppose you have a LocalDate object set to October 31, 2015,
and you use the SHORT format style to format it. In the United States, it’s
customary to start with the month, followed by the day. As a result, in the United
States this formats the date as:
10/31/15
However, in many European countries, it is customary to start with the day,
followed by the month. As a result, in those countries, the same formatter
formats the date as:
31/10/15

The same is true with the time formatter. For example, suppose you have a
LocalTime object set to 14:30, and you use the SHORT format style to format it.
In the United States, the 12-hour AM/PM clock is the norm. As a result, in the
United States, this formats that time as:
2:30 PM
However, in countries where the 24-hour clock is the norm, this formats the time
as:
14:30
The FormatStyle enumeration provides for four format styles: SHORT,
MEDIUM, LONG, and FULL. Dates support all four of these format styles.
However, times only support the SHORT and MEDIUM styles. As a result, if
you want to use the same format style for both the date and time as shown in
the first example, you must use the SHORT or MEDIUM styles. Otherwise, the
compiler throws a DateTimeException. However, if you want, you can specify
one format style for the date and another style for the time as shown in the
second example.
There are several other formatters available, but they are beyond the scope of
this chapter. Also, if you can’t find a formatter that does what you need, you can
write your own. For more information on how to do this, see the API documenta-
tion for the DateTimeFormatter class.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 403

A class and an enumeration for formatting dates and times

java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter
java.time.format.FormatStyle

Common static methods of the DateTimeFormatter class

Method Description
ofLocalizedDate(dateStyle) Returns a DateTimeFormatter object
for the date, but not time.
ofLocalizedTime(timeStyle) Returns a DateTimeFormatter object
for the time, but not date.
ofLocalizedDateTime(dateTimeStyle) Returns a DateTimeFormatter object
for the date and time.
ofLocalizedDateTime(dateStyle, timeStyle) Returns a DateTimeFormatter object
for the date and time, but with different
formatting styles used for each.

A common method of the DateTimeFormatter class

Method Description
format(dateTime) Returns a String object for the formatted date/time.

Constants of the FormatStyle enumeration

Constant Date example Time example
FormatStyle.SHORT 10/31/15 6:30 PM
FormatStyle.MEDIUM Oct 31, 2015 6:30:00 PM
FormatStyle.LONG October 31, 2015 DateTimeException
FormatStyle.FULL Saturday, October 31, 2015 DateTimeException

Code that uses the same style to format both the date and time
DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDateTime(
FormatStyle.MEDIUM);
String currentDateTimeFormatted = dtf.format(currentDateTime);

Code that uses a separate style for the date and time
DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDateTime(
FormatStyle.LONG, FormatStyle.SHORT);
String currentDateTimeFormatted = dtf.format(currentDateTime);

Description
•• You can use the ofLocalized methods to format a date and time for the locale of the
system that the application is running on.
•• You can use the FormatStyle constants to specify the format style for the date and time.
•• If you attempt to use the LONG or FULL style to format a time, the compiler
throws a DateTimeException.
• If none of the formats included with the API meets your needs, you can write your
own custom formatters.

Figure 15-7 How to format dates and times

404 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An Invoice class that includes an invoice date

Figure 15-8 shows how to add a date to the Invoice class that was presented
in the previous chapter. To start, this class declares a LocalDateTime instance
variable to store the invoice date. As a result, the invoice date includes both a
date and a time.
The constructor for this class sets the invoice date to the current date and
time. To do that, it uses the now method of the LocalDateTime class.
If you don’t want to store the time, you can use a LocalDate object to store
the date. In this figure, for example, you could use a LocalDate object to store
the invoice date. However, it’s entirely possible that you may also want to know
what time an invoice was created. As a result, in most cases, it makes sense to
store the extra data as shown by the class in this figure.
This class includes three methods that provide access to the invoice date.
First, the setInvoiceDate method provides a method that allows you to set the
invoice date. For example, if you get the data for an Invoice object from a
database, you can use this method to set the invoice date. Second, the
getInvoiceDate method returns the invoice date as a LocalDateTime object.
Third, the getInvoiceDateFormatted method returns a String object for the
invoice date after the code has applied formatting to the LocalDateTime object
for the invoice date. Within this method, the first statement creates a formatter
for the date only that uses the SHORT format style. Then, the second statement
uses this formatter to format the invoice date and return the resulting String
object. As a result, this method only displays the date the invoice was created,
even though the Invoice object also stores the time the invoice was created. If
that’s not what you want, you can add more methods to this class that get the
date and time in other formats.
 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 405

An Invoice class that includes a date

package murach.business;

import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.time.format.FormatStyle;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Invoice {

private ArrayList<LineItem> lineItems;

private LocalDateTime invoiceDate;

public Invoice() {
lineItems = new ArrayList<>();
invoiceDate = LocalDateTime.now();
}

public void addItem(LineItem lineItem) {

lineItems.add(lineItem);
}

public ArrayList<LineItem> getLineItems() {

return lineItems;
}

public double getTotal() {

double invoiceTotal = 0;
for (LineItem lineItem : lineItems) {
invoiceTotal += lineItem.getTotal();
}
return invoiceTotal;
}

public String getTotalFormatted() {

NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
return currency.format(getTotal());
}

public void setInvoiceDate(LocalDateTime invoiceDate) {

this.invoiceDate = invoiceDate;
}

public LocalDateTime getInvoiceDate() {

return invoiceDate;
}

public String getInvoiceDateFormatted() {

DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(
FormatStyle.SHORT);
return dtf.format(invoiceDate);
}
}

Figure 15-8 An Invoice class that includes an invoice date

406 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Perspective
Now that you’ve finished this chapter, you should understand some of the
differences between the old date/time API that was available prior to Java 8 and
the new date/time API that’s available with Java 8 and later. In addition, you
should be able to use the classes provided by the new date/time API to work
with dates and times.

Summary
•• Prior to Java 8, it was common to use classes in the java.util and java.text
packages to work with and format dates and times.
•• With Java 8 or later, you can use the classes in the java.time package to work
with and format dates and times. This package has several advantages over
the older classes for working with dates and times.

Exercise 15-1 Add a due date

to the Invoice application
For this exercise, you’ll modify the Invoice class that’s shown at the end of this
chapter so it contains methods that return a due date, calculated as 30 days after
the invoice date.
1. Import the project named ch15_ex1_Invoice that’s in the ex_starts folder.
Then, review the code in the Invoice and InvoiceApp classes.
2. In the Invoice class, modify the getInvoiceDateFormatted method so it returns
the due date using the MEDIUM format style.
3. In the Invoice class, add a method named getDueDate. This method should
calculate and return a LocalDateTime object that’s 30 days after the invoice
date.
4. In the Invoice class, add a method named getDueDateFormatted. This method
should return the due date using the MEDIUM format style.
5. In the InvoiceApp class, modify the displayInvoice method so it displays the
invoice date and the due date before it displays the line items like this:

Invoice date: Jul 1, 2015

Invoice due date: Jul 31, 2015

Description Price Qty Total

Murach's Java Programming $57.50 2 $115.00

Invoice total: $115.00

6. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.

 Chapter 15 How to work with dates and times 407

Exercise 15-2 Calculate the user’s age

In this exercise, you’ll write an application that gets the user’s date of birth,
calculates the user’s age in years, and displays the user’s age. When you’re
done, the console should look something like this:

Welcome to the Age Calculator

Enter your date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD): 1968-02-04

Your date of birth is Feb 4, 1968

The current date is Apr 8, 2015
Your age is 47

1. Import the project named ch15_ex2_AgeCalculator that’s in the ex_starts

folder. Then, review the code in the AgeCalculatorApp class.
2. Add code to this class that parses the string entered by the user to create a
LocalDate object.
3. Add code to format and print the user’s date of birth.
4. Add code to format and print the current date.
5. Add code to calculate and print the user’s age in years.
6. Run the application and test it to make sure it works correctly for a date in the
correct format.
7. Run the application and test it with a date in an invalid format such as “Feb 4,
1968”. This should cause an exception to occur.
8. Run the application and test it with a date that’s after the current date. This
date doesn’t make sense, but that’s OK for now. If necessary, you can add data
validation code to prevent the user from entering such a date later.
 16
How to handle exceptions
In chapter 8, you learned how to use a try statement to catch exceptions.
However, there’s more to exceptions than what was covered in that chapter. In
this chapter, you’ll learn the rest of what you need to know to develop profes-
sional applications that handle all kinds of exceptions.

An introduction to exceptions........................................... 410

The exception hierarchy............................................................................... 410
How exceptions are propagated....................................................................412
How to work with exceptions............................................. 414
How to use the try statement........................................................................ 414
How to use the try-with-resources statement............................................... 416
How to use the methods of an exception...................................................... 418
How to use a multi-catch block....................................................................420
How to use the throws clause.......................................................................422
How to use the throw statement...................................................................424
How to work with custom exception classes...................426
How to create your own exception class.......................................................426
How to use exception chaining.....................................................................428
Perspective..........................................................................430
410 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An introduction to exceptions
All applications can encounter errors when they run. For example, a user
may enter data that’s not appropriate, or a file that your application needs may
get moved or deleted. These types of errors may cause a poorly-coded applica-
tion to crash and cause the user to lose data. In contrast, when an error occurs in
a well-coded application, the application notifies the user and attempts to recover
from the error. If it can’t recover, it saves as much data as possible, cleans up
resources, and exits the application as smoothly as possible.
In the old days of programming, this was rather difficult to do because
programming languages had no easy way to check for errors. Even worse, they
had no easy way to communicate those errors to other parts of the application
that might need to know about them. To address this problem, most modern
programming languages, including Java, support an error handling mechanism
known as exceptions. Exceptions allow you to write robust code that can handle
errors more easily and reliably. Before you learn how to handle errors, though,
you need to learn about the exception hierarchy and the exception handling
mechanism.

The exception hierarchy

In Java, an exception is an object that’s created from the Exception class or
one of its subclasses. An exception represents an error that has occurred, and it
contains information about the error. All exception classes are derived from the
Throwable class as shown by the diagram in figure 16-1.
As this diagram shows, two classes directly inherit the Throwable class:
Error and Exception. The classes that inherit the Error class represent internal
errors that you usually can’t do anything about, such as problems with the Java
runtime environment. As a result, you can ignore these errors most of the time
(or in some cases, file a bug report with the JVM vendor). In contrast, you need
to handle most of the exceptions that are derived from the Exception class.
The classes in the Exception hierarchy are divided into two categories: (1)
exceptions that are derived from the RuntimeException class and (2) all other
exceptions. The exceptions that are derived from the RuntimeException class are
called unchecked exceptions because the compiler doesn’t force you to explicitly
handle them. On the other hand, the compiler requires that you explicitly handle
all the other exceptions that are derived from the Exception class. As a result,
these exceptions are known as checked exceptions.
Unchecked exceptions often occur because of coding errors. For
example, if an application attempts to access an array with an invalid index,
Java throws an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, which is a type of
IndexOutOfBoundsException. If you’re careful when you write your code, you
can usually prevent these types of exceptions from being thrown.
Checked exceptions, on the other hand, usually occur due to circumstances
that are beyond the programmer’s control, such as a missing file or a bad
network connection. Although you can’t avoid these exceptions, you can write
code that handles them when they occur.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 411

The Throwable hierarchy

Common checked exceptions

ClassNotFoundException
IOException
EOFException
FileNotFoundException

Common unchecked exceptions

ArithmeticException
IllegalArgumentException
NumberFormatException
IndexOutOfBoundsException
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
StringIndexOutOfBoundsException
NullPointerException

Description
•• An exception is an object of the Exception class or any of its subclasses. It repre-
sents a condition that prevents a method from successfully completing.
•• The Exception class is derived from a class named Throwable. Two types of excep-
tions are derived from the Exception class: checked exceptions and unchecked
exceptions.
•• Checked exceptions are checked by the compiler. As a result, you must write code
that handles all checked exceptions before you can compile your code.
•• Unchecked exceptions are not checked by the compiler, but they can occur at
runtime. It’s generally considered a good practice to write code that handles
unchecked exceptions. If an unchecked exception occurs and isn’t handled by your
code, your application terminates.
•• Like the Exception class, the Error class is also derived from the Throwable class.
However, the Error class identifies internal errors that are rare and can’t usually be
recovered from. As a result, you can usually ignore the Error class.

Figure 16-1 The exception hierarchy

412 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How exceptions are propagated

Figure 16-2 shows how the exception handling mechanism works in Java.
To start, when a method encounters a problem that can’t be solved within that
method, it throws an exception. Most of the time, exceptions are thrown by
methods from classes in the Java API. Then, any method that calls a method that
throws a checked exception must either throw the exception again or catch it
and handle it. The code that catches and handles the exception is known as the
exception handler. You’ll learn the details of throwing, catching, and handling
exceptions in this chapter.
Once a method throws an exception, the runtime system begins looking for
the appropriate exception handler. To do this, it searches through the execution
stack trace, also called the call stack. The stack trace is the list of methods that
have been called in the reverse order that they were called. In this diagram,
for example, the stack trace when the code in MethodD executes is: MethodD,
MethodC, MethodB, and MethodA.
This figure shows how MethodA calls MethodB, which calls MethodC,
which calls MethodD. Here, MethodD may throw an exception. If it does,
MethodD throws the exception up to MethodC, which throws it to MethodB,
which throws it to MethodA, which catches it in a catch clause.
If you throw a checked exception all the way out of the application by
coding a throws clause on each method in the call stack, including the main
method, the application terminates when the exception occurs. Then, Java
displays information about the exception at the console.
Note that unchecked exceptions work the same way, except that you don’t
have to explicitly list unchecked exceptions in the throws clause of a method
declaration. For example, suppose the try statement in MethodA also includes
a catch clause that catches a runtime exception such as ArithmethicException.
Then, if the code in MethodD throws ArithmeticException, the exception
propagates up through MethodC and MethodB and is handled by the exception
handler in MethodA, even though none of the method declarations include a
throws clause that lists ArithmeticException.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 413

How Java propagates exceptions

Two ways to handle checked exceptions

•• Throw the exception to the calling method
•• Catch the exception and handle it

Description
•• When a method encounters a condition it can’t handle, that method should throw an
exception. This allows users of the method to handle the exception in a way that’s
appropriate for their applications. Many methods in the Java API throw exceptions.
•• When a method calls another method that throws a checked exception, the method
must either throw the exception to its caller or catch the exception and handle it
directly. Code that catches an exception is known as an exception handler.
•• When an exception occurs, the runtime system looks for the appropriate exception
handler. To do that, it looks through the stack trace, or call stack, which lists the
methods that have been called until it finds a method that catches the exception.

Figure 16-2 How exceptions are propagated

414 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to work with exceptions

In the topics that follow, you’ll learn some additional techniques for using
the try statement. You’ll also learn how to throw an exception and how to use
some of the constructors and methods of the Throwable class.

How to use the try statement

Figure 16-3 starts by showing the syntax for coding a try statement that
catches exceptions. This syntax shows that a try statement begins with a try
block that’s coded around any statements that may throw an exception. The try
block is followed by a catch block for each type of exception that may be thrown
in the try block.
When you add catch blocks, you should be sure to code them in sequence
from the most specific class in the Throwable hierarchy to the least specific
class. For example, the FileNotFoundException inherits IOException, so
FileNotFoundException must be coded before IOException. Otherwise, the
code won’t compile. For exceptions that are at the same level in the exception
hierarchy, such as FileNotFoundException and EOFException, the order doesn’t
matter.
After the catch blocks, you can code a finally block to free any system
resources that are used by the try statement. For example, you might close files
or release database connections in a finally block. The finally block is optional,
but if you code it, it is always executed. This is true whether or not an exception
has been thrown, and it’s true even if a return statement has been executed.
The code example shows a method named readFirstLine that contains a
try statement that includes two catch blocks and a finally block. This method
accepts a String that specifies the path to a file, and it returns a String for the
first line of the file. Within the body of the method, the first statement initializes
a variable that can store a BufferedReader object. This object lets you read data
from a file in an efficient way.
Within the try block, the first statement creates a BufferedReader object
by passing it a new FileReader object for the file at the specified path. If the
file doesn’t exist, this constructor throws a FileNotFoundException, and code
execution jumps into the first catch block. However, if the file exists, the second
statement calls the readLine method of the BufferedReader object to read the
first line of the file. If this method isn’t able to read the first line, it throws an
IOException and code execution jumps into the second catch block. Otherwise,
the return statement in the try block returns a String object for the first line to the
calling method.
Both catch blocks work similarly. To start, the first statement prints a
message to the console that briefly describes the error. Then, the second state-
ment returns a null to the calling method. This return value is appropriate since
the method was unable to read the first line of the file.
Within the finally block, the code attempts to close the BufferedReader
object by calling its close method. Unfortunately, if the code in the try block
doesn’t execute successfully, the BufferedReader object may be null. As a result,
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 415

The syntax of the try statement

try {statements}
[catch (MostSpecificExceptionType e) {statements}] ...
[catch (LeastSpecificExceptionType e) {statements}]
[finally {statements}]

A method that catches two types of exceptions and uses a finally clause
public static String readFirstLine(String path) {
BufferedReader in = null;
try {
in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(path)); // may throw FileNotFoundException
String line = in.readLine(); // may throw IOException
return line;
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("File not found.");
return null;
} catch(IOException e) {
System.out.println("I/O error occurred.");
return null;
} finally {
try {
if (in != null) {
in.close(); // may throw IOException
}
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("Unable to close file.");
}
}
}

Description
•• You can code a try block around any statements that may throw an exception.
•• You can code one catch block for each type of exception that may be thrown in the
try block. You should code the catch clauses in sequence from the most specific
class in the Throwable hierarchy to the least specific class.
•• You can code a finally block to free any system resources that are used by objects
created in the try block. The code in the finally block is always executed.

Figure 16-3 How to use the try statement

416 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

this code checks that this object is not null before it calls its close method. In
addition, the close method may throw an IOException, so you need to code a try
statement within the finally block that catches this exception.
When you code try statements, it’s often tempting to create empty catch
clauses for checked exceptions just to get your code to compile. However, this
can make debugging difficult because if an exception is thrown, you never find
out about it. Instead, your code doesn’t work correctly and gives no indication
of what went wrong. Furthermore, it’s all too easy to forget to code the excep-
tion handler later. In that case, the exception never gets handled. Instead, the
empty catch clause catches the exception and ignores it. This is sometimes called
swallowing an exception, or eating an exception, and it’s rarely an acceptable
coding practice.

How to use the try-with-resources statement

Prior to Java 7, you had to use a finally block to release system resources
as you saw in the previous figure. That required including additional excep-
tion handling code in case the code in the finally block threw exceptions.
Unfortunately, the length of this exception handling code can make it difficult to
read and maintain your code.
That’s why Java 7 introduced the try-with-resources statement that’s
described in figure 16-4. This is a special type of try statement that declares and
instantiates one or more objects that use system resources and automatically
closes those objects and releases the resources after the try statement finishes
executing. This allows you to write less error handling code and to focus on
the logic of your code. For example, the readFirstLine method in this figure
accomplishes the same task as the method in the previous figure, but without the
unwieldy finally clause. As a result, the code is easier to read and to maintain.
To use the try-with-resources statement, you begin by coding a set of paren-
theses after the try keyword but before the braces for the try block. Then, within
the parentheses, you can code one or more statements that declare and instantiate
objects that use system resources. In this figure, for example, the statement that
creates the BufferedReader object is coded within these parentheses. To create
multiple objects, you just separate the statements that declare and instantiate
them with a semicolon.
Note that you can only use the try-with-resources statement with objects that
implement the java.lang.AutoCloseable interface. However, as of Java 7, most of
the classes in the Java API that work with system resources have been retrofitted
to implement this interface. That includes all of the classes for working with files
and databases that are described in this book.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 417

The syntax of the try-with-resources statement

try (statement[;statement] ...) {statements}
[catch (MostSpecificExceptionType e) {statements}] ...
[catch (LeastSpecificExceptionType e) {statements}]

A method that catches two types of exceptions

and automatically closes the specified resource
public static String readFirstLine(String path) {
try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(path))) {
String line = in.readLine();
return line;
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.err.println("File not found.");
return null;
} catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println("I/O error occurred.");
return null;
}
}

Description
•• The try-with-resources statement is a special type of try statement that declares and
instantiates one or more objects that use system resources and automatically closes
those objects and releases the resources after the try statement finishes executing.
•• The try-with-resources statement was introduced with Java 7.
•• Any object that implements the java.lang.AutoCloseable interface can be created
using the try-with-resources statement.
•• As of Java 7, most of the classes in the Java API that use system resources have
been retrofitted to implement the AutoCloseable interface.
•• If an object doesn’t implement the AutoClosable interface, Eclipse warns you if
you attempt to use try-with-resources with it. It also causes a compile-time error.

Figure 16-4 How to use the try-with-resources statement

418 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to use the methods of an exception

Figure 16-5 shows how to use the methods of an exception to get more infor-
mation about the exception. Since the Throwable class provides these methods,
they are available to all exception objects.
The first example uses the first three methods in the table to print increasing
amounts of information about an exception. In this case, the catch block catches
an IOException object and assigns it to a variable named e. Within the catch
block, the first statement uses the getMessage method to get the exception’s
message, and it prints this message to the console. Then, the second statement
uses the toString method to get the exception’s class and message, and it prints
this data to the console. Next, the third statement uses the printStackTrace
method to print the exception’s class, message, and stack trace to the console.
When you write code that handles exceptions, you need to decide how much
information is the right amount to display. For example, in some cases, you
only want to use the getMessage method to display the exception’s message.
However, not all exceptions include messages. Because of that, it’s often helpful
to use the toString method to display the exception’s class name and message.
Other times, you may want to use the printStackTrace method to display a
complete stack trace for the exception. This can help you debug your applica-
tions when you’re testing them. However, it’s generally considered a good
practice to remove the printStackTrace method from production applications or
replace it with a better way of logging exceptions.
In the first example, the statements in the catch block use the System.err
object to print data to the standard error output stream. This works the same
as using the System.out object to print data to the standard output stream. In
Eclipse, for example, both of these objects print data to the Console window.
However, the error output stream is displayed in red, which is consistent with
how Eclipse displays exceptions. As a result, it’s common to use the error output
stream for displaying information about exceptions. You can also direct the
standard output stream to one source (such as the console) and the standard error
output stream to another source (such as a log file).
If you don’t supply an argument for the printStackTrace method, it prints its
data to the error output stream (System.err). However, if you want to print this
data to another output stream such as the standard output stream
(System.out), you can specify that output stream as an argument of the method.
In this figure, for example, all of the statements in the second example print data
to the standard output stream.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 419

Four methods available from all exceptions

Method Description
getMessage() Returns the exception’s message, if one is available.
toString() Returns the exception’s class name and message, if
one is available.
printStackTrace() Prints the exception’s class name, message, and stack
trace to the standard error output stream (System.err).
printStackTrace(outputStream) Prints the exception’s class name, message, and stack
trace to the specified output stream.

How to print exception data to the error output stream

catch(IOException e) {
System.err.println(e.getMessage() + "\n");
System.err.println(e.toString() + "\n");
e.printStackTrace();
return null;
}

Resulting output for a FileNotFoundException

c:\murach\java_eclipse\produx.txt (The system cannot find the

file specified)

java.io.FileNotFoundException:
c:\murach\java_eclipse\produx.txt (The system cannot find the
file specified)

java.io.FileNotFoundException:
c:\murach\java_eclipse\produx.txt (The system cannot find the
file specified)
at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)
at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:131)
at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:87)
at java.io.FileReader.<init>(FileReader.java:58)
at ProductApp.readFirstLine(ProductApp.java:70)
at ProductApp.main(ProductApp.java:10)

How to print exception data to the standard output stream

catch(IOException e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage() + "\n");
System.out.println(e.toString() + "\n");
e.printStackTrace(System.out);
return null;
}

Description
•• The Throwable class provides methods that are available to all exceptions.
•• The System.err object works like the System.out object, but it prints data to the
standard error stream instead of the standard output stream.
•• It’s generally considered a good practice to remove the printStackTrace method
from production applications or replace it with a better way of logging exceptions.
Figure 16-5 How to use the methods of an exception
420 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to use a multi-catch block

Figure 16-6 shows how to use the multi-catch block feature that was
introduced with Java 7. This feature allows you to use a single catch block for
multiple exceptions that are at the same level in the inheritance hierarchy. To
do that, you separate the exceptions with a pipe character (|) as shown in the
syntax at the top of this figure.
To illustrate how the multi-catch block works, the first example in this
figure shows how you would catch both the FileNotFoundException and the
EOFException prior to Java 7. Here, a separate catch clause is coded for each
exception. Because these exceptions are at the same level in the inheritance
hierarchy, though, and because the code in the catch blocks for these exceptions
are identical, you can catch them in a multi-catch block as shown in the second
example.
On a related note, both FileNotFoundException and EOFException
are subclasses of IOException. As a result, if you want to execute the same
code for all three exceptions, you only need to code a catch block for the
IOException like this:
try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path))) {
String line = in.readLine(); // may throw IOException
return line;
} catch(IOException e) {
System.err.println(e.toString());
return null;
}
In this case, the same code is executed for IOException and all of its
subclasses, including the FileNotFoundException and EOFException.
Although this technique doesn’t provide as much flexibility as the multi-catch
block feature, it’s commonly used and works for all versions of Java.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 421

The syntax of the multi-catch block

catch (ExceptionType | ExceptionType [| ExceptionType]... e) {statements}

A method that does not use a multi-catch block

public static String readFirstLine(String path) {
try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(path))) {
String line = in.readLine(); // may throw IOException
return line;
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.err.println(e.toString());
return null;
} catch (EOFException e) {
System.err.println(e.toString());
return null;
} catch(IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
return null;
}
}

A method that uses a multi-catch block

public static String readFirstLine(String path) {
try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(path))) {
String line = in.readLine(); // may throw IOException
return line;
} catch (FileNotFoundException | EOFException e) {
System.err.println(e.toString());
return null;
} catch(IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
return null;
}
}

Description
•• The multi-catch block allows you to use a single catch block for multiple excep-
tions that are at the same level in the inheritance hierarchy.
•• The multi-catch block was introduced with Java 7.

Figure 16-6 How to use a multi-catch block

422 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to use the throws clause

When you call a method from the Java API that throws a checked exception,
you must either rethrow the exception or catch it. If you decide that you can’t
handle the exception properly in the method that you’re coding, you can code
a throws clause on the method declaration as shown in figure 16-7. This throws
the exception up to the calling method, which can handle it with an exception
handler or throw it up to its calling method.
The first example shows a readFirstLine method that’s similar to the
other readFirstLine methods that you’ve seen in this chapter. However, this
method throws the exception instead of catching it. Here, the first statement in
this method calls the constructor of the FileReader class, which may throw a
FileNotFoundException. Then, the next statement calls the readLine method
of the BufferedReader object, which may throw an IOException. Since the
FileNotFoundException class inherits the IOException class, this method
can throw both types of exceptions by using a throws clause to throw an
IOException.
If the first example throws a FileNotFoundException, that exception is
implicitly cast to an IOException. As a result, the calling method can catch or
throw either exception. That’s true even though the throws clause of the readLine
method doesn’t explicitly throw the FileNotFoundException.
The second example shows how to explicitly throw both exceptions. To
do that, you use commas to separate the exceptions in the throws clause. The
advantage of this approach is that it clearly identifies all exceptions that can be
thrown by the method. The disadvantage of this approach is that it requires more
code for the same functionality that’s provided by the first example.
This figure also shows an example of an error message that the compiler
generates if you don’t catch or throw a checked exception. More specifically, the
compiler generates an error message like this if you call the readLine method
and don’t catch or throw the IOException.
At this point, you may be wondering when you should throw an exception
and when you should handle an exception. In general, you should throw excep-
tions early and catch them late. In other words, if you are at a low level in your
application where you aren’t able to handle the exception, you should throw
it. Then, the exception propagates up to a higher level where you can catch the
exception and handle it in a way that makes sense for your application. For
example, you can ask the user how to handle the exception. You can display a
user-friendly error message. Or, if necessary, you can save data, close resources,
and exit the application as gracefully as possible.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 423

The syntax for the declaration of a method that throws exceptions

modifiers returnType methodName([parameterList]) throws exceptionList {}

A method that throws an IOException

public static String readFirstLine(String path) throws IOException {
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(path));
String line = in.readLine();
return line;
}

A method that throws two exceptions

public static String readFirstLine(String path)
throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(path));
String line = in.readLine();
return line;
}

Compiler error if you don’t catch or throw a checked exception

error: unreported exception IOException; must be caught or
declared to be thrown

Description
•• Any method that calls a method that throws a checked exception must either catch
the exception or throw the exception. Otherwise, the application won’t compile.
•• To throw a checked exception, you code a throws clause in the method declara-
tion. The throws clause must name each checked exception that’s thrown up to the
calling method. If you list multiple exceptions, you can separate each exception
with a comma.
•• Although you can specify unchecked exceptions in the throws clause, the compiler
doesn’t force you to handle unchecked exceptions.

Figure 16-7 How to use the throws clause

424 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to use the throw statement

When you’re coding a method, you may sometimes need to throw an excep-
tion. For example, you may need to throw an exception when a method encoun-
ters a problem that prevents it from completing its task, such as when the method
is passed unacceptable argument values. You may also need to throw an excep-
tion to test an exception handler. Finally, you may need to throw an exception
when you want to catch an exception, perform some processing, and then throw
the exception again so it can be handled by the calling method.
Figure 16-8 shows how to throw an exception. To do that, you code a throw
statement that throws an object of an exception class. To do that, you usually use
the new keyword to create an object from the exception class. Since all exception
classes inherit the Throwable class, you can use either of the constructors shown
in this figure to create an exception. If you use the first constructor, no message
is assigned to the exception. If you use the second constructor, the message you
specify is assigned to the exception.
The first example in this figure shows a method named calculateFutureValue
that accepts three parameters and throws an IllegalArgumentException if any
of these parameters are less than or equal to zero. In general, it’s a good coding
practice for any public method to throw an IllegalArgumentException if the
method is passed any parameters that have unacceptable values.
The second example shows how you might throw an exception to
test an exception handler. This technique is useful for exceptions that are
difficult to force otherwise. For example, you can easily test a handler for
FileNotFoundException by providing a file name that doesn’t exist. But testing
a handler for IOException can be difficult. Sometimes, the easiest way is to
explicitly throw the exception at the point you would expect it to occur.
When you throw an exception for testing, the throw statement must be
the last statement of the try clause, or it must be coded within an if statement.
Otherwise, the code won’t compile, and the compiler will display a message that
indicates that the code contains unreachable statements. In the second example,
because a statement is coded after the throw statement, the throw statement is
coded within an if statement. Notice that this if statement is coded so its condi-
tion is always true, so the exception is always thrown. However, this if statement
allows the code to compile.
The third example shows code that rethrows an exception after processing it.
Here, the exception handler prints an error message that indicates an exception
has occurred. Then, it rethrows the exception so the calling method can handle it.
To do that, the throw statement throws the IOException object named e that was
declared in the catch clause.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 425

The syntax of the throw statement

throw throwableObject;

Common constructors of the Throwable class

Constructor Description
Throwable() Creates a new exception with a null message.
Throwable(message) Creates a new exception with the specified message.

A method that throws an unchecked exception

public double calculateFutureValue(double monthlyPayment,
double monthlyInterestRate, int months) {
if (monthlyPayment <= 0) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Monthly payment must be > 0");
}
if (monthlyInterestRate <= 0) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Interest rate must be > 0");
}
if (months <= 0) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Months must be > 0");
}

// code to calculate and return future value goes here

}

Code that throws an IOException for testing purposes

try {
// code that reads the first line of a file

if (true) {
throw new IOException("I/O exception test");
}
return firstLine;
} catch (IOException e) {
// code to handle IOException goes here
}

Code that rethrows an exception

try {
// code that throws IOException goes here
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("IOException thrown in readFirstLine method.");
throw e;
}

Description
•• You use the throw statement to throw an exception. You can throw any object that’s
created from a subclass of the Throwable class.
•• You can use the constructors of the Throwable class to create a new exception.
Then, you can throw that exception. To throw an existing exception, you must first
catch it.
Figure 16-8 How to use the throw statement
426 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to work with custom exception

classes
Although the Java API contains a wide range of exceptions, you may
encounter a situation where none of those exceptions describes your exception
accurately. In other cases, you may want to wrap an exception with a different
exception in order to make code more abstract. In either case, you can code a
class that defines a custom exception as described in the following topics. Then,
you can throw your exception just as you would throw any other exception.

How to create your own exception class

Figure 16-9 shows how to create your own custom exception class. To do
that, you inherit the Exception class or one of its subclasses to create a checked
exception. To illustrate, the first example in this figure shows an exception class
named DBException that inherits the Exception class. As a result, DBException
is a checked exception. However, you can also code a class that defines an
unchecked exception by inheriting the RuntimeException class or one of its
subclasses.
By convention, all exception classes should have a default constructor that
doesn’t accept any arguments and another constructor that accepts a string
argument. As a result, if you code these constructors for your exception classes,
they will behave like the rest of the exception classes in the Java API. The first
example shows how to code these two constructors. Here, the second constructor
uses the super keyword to call the constructor of the Exception class and passes
the message parameter to it.
The second example shows code that throws the custom DBException.
This example defines a method named getProduct, which calls a method named
readProduct to retrieve a Product object for a specified product code. The
readProduct method throws an IOException, which is caught by the catch clause.
The catch clause then throws a DBException.
The third example shows code that catches the custom exception. Here, the
getProduct method is called in a try statement and the DBException is caught by
the catch clause. In the exception handler for the DBException, an error message
is displayed at the console.
At first glance, it might seem that the custom exception defined by these
examples isn’t necessary. After all, couldn’t the getProduct method simply
throw an IOException if an IO error occurs? Although it could, that would result
in a poor design because it would expose too many details of the getProduct
method’s operation. An IOException can occur only when file I/O operations are
used. As a result, throwing IOException would reveal that the getProduct method
uses file I/O to access the product data.
What if the application is changed so the product data is kept in a database
instead of a file? In that case, the getProduct method would throw some type of
database exception instead of an IOException. Then, any methods that call the
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 427

Code for the DBException class

public class DBException extends Exception {
public DBException() {}

public DBException(String message) {

super(message);
}
}

A method that throws the DBException

public static Product getProduct(String productCode) throws DBException {
try {
Product p = readProduct(productCode); // may throw IOException
return p;
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new DBException(
"An error occurred while reading the product.");
}
}

Code that catches the DBException

try {
Product p = getProduct("1234");
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}

When to define your own exceptions

•• When a method requires an exception that isn’t provided by any of Java’s exception
types.
•• When using a built-in Java exception would inappropriately expose details of a
method’s operation.

Description
•• To define a checked exception, inherit the Exception class or any of its subclasses.
•• To define an unchecked exception, inherit the RuntimeException class or any of its
subclasses.
•• By convention, each exception class should contain a default constructor that
doesn’t accept any arguments and another constructor that accepts a string
argument.

Figure 16-9 How to create your own exception class

428 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

getProduct method would have to be changed to handle the new exception. By

creating a custom DBException for the getProduct method, you can hide the
details of how the getProduct method works from methods that call it. So even
if the application is changed to use a database, the getProduct method can still
throw DBException if an error occurs while retrieving a product object.

How to use exception chaining

You’ll often throw custom exceptions in response to other exceptions that
occur. For example, in the previous figure, DBException was thrown in response
to IOException. Unfortunately, in that figure, information about the underlying
error that led to the DBException was lost. And that information might prove
invaluable to determining what caused the DBException to occur.
Figure 16-10 shows how you can throw a custom exception without losing
the details of the original exception that was thrown. This feature is called excep-
tion chaining because it lets you chain exceptions together. Whenever you create
a custom exception type, it’s a good practice to use exception chaining to avoid
losing valuable debugging information.
To use exception chaining, you use an exception constructor that lets you
specify an exception object as the cause for the new exception you’re creating.
In the first example, for instance, the DBException class lets you specify a cause
via the constructor. Here, the second constructor accepts a Throwable object as a
parameter. Then, it passes this parameter on to the Exception constructor.
The second example shows code that throws a DBException in response
to an IOException. Here, the IOException object is passed to the DBException
constructor as an argument. That way, all of the information contained in the
original IOException is saved as part of the DBException object.
The third example shows code that catches a DBException and displays
information about the exception. Here, an error message is displayed that
indicates that a DBException has occurred, that the DBException was caused
by a FileNotFoundException, and it includes the message that’s stored in the
FileNotFoundException. In most cases, that should be all the information you
need to determine the cause of this exception.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 429

A constructor of the Throwable class for exception chaining

Constructor Description
Throwable(cause) Creates a new exception with the specified exception object as its cause.

A custom exception class that uses exception chaining

public class DBException extends Exception {
public DBException() {}

public DBException(Exception cause) {

super(cause);
}
}

Code that throws a DBException with chaining

catch (IOException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
}

Code that catches a DBException

catch (DBException e) {
System.err.println(e);
}

Resulting output

DBException: java.io.FileNotFoundException:
c:\murach\produx.txt (The system cannot find the file specified)

Description
•• Exception chaining lets you maintain exception information for exceptions that are
caught when new exceptions are thrown. Exception chaining uses the cause field,
which represents the original exception that caused the current exception to be
thrown.

Figure 16-10 How to use exception chaining

430 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Perspective
In this chapter, you learned the most important techniques for handling
exceptions in Java. Exceptions can help you write more robust, more error free
code by allowing an error to be propagated up the call stack where it can be
handled better than at the low level where the error occurred. For example, a
getProduct method that retrieves Product objects probably has no idea what
should be done if an error occurs. So this low-level method throws an exception
that’s handled by a higher-level method, which can write the exception to an
error log, display an error message, or even terminate the application. In short,
exception handling usually affects every level of an application’s design.

Summary
•• In Java, an exception is an object that’s created from a class that’s derived
from the Exception class or one of its subclasses. When an exception occurs,
a well-coded application notifies its users of the exception and minimizes
any disruptions or data loss that may result from the exception.
•• Exceptions derived from the RuntimeException class and its subclasses are
unchecked exceptions because they aren’t checked by the compiler. All other
exceptions are checked exceptions.
•• Any method that calls a method that throws a checked exception must either
throw the exception by coding a throws clause or catch it by coding
try/catch/finally blocks as an exception handler.
•• The try-with-resources statement is a special type of try statement that
declares and instantiates one or more objects that use system resources and
automatically closes the objects and releases the resources after the try state-
ment finishes executing.
•• The multi-catch block allows you to use a single catch block for multiple
exceptions that are at the same level in the inheritance hierarchy.
•• When coding your own methods, if you encounter a potential error that can’t
be handled within that method, you can code a throw statement that throws
the exception to another method. If you can’t find an appropriate exception
class in the Java API, you can code your own exception class.
•• You can create custom exception classes to represent exceptions your
methods might throw. This is often useful to hide the details of how a
method is implemented.
•• When you create custom exceptions, you can use exception chaining to save
information about the cause of an exception.
 Chapter 16 How to handle exceptions 431

Exercise 16-1 Throw and catch exceptions

In this exercise, you’ll experiment with ways to throw and catch exceptions.
1. Import the project named ch16_ex1_ExceptionTester in the ex_starts folder.
Then, open the Main class and review its code. Run this class to get a feel for
how it works.
2. Add code to Method3 that throws an unchecked exception by attempting to
divide an integer by zero. Compile and run the application and note where the
exception is thrown.
3. Delete the code you just added to Method3. Then, add a statement to
this method like the one in figure 16-7 that creates an object from the
BufferedReader class, but use the string “products.ran” in place of the path
variable. The constructor for this class throws a checked exception named
FileNotFoundException. Note the error message that indicates that you
haven’t handled the exception. If this error message isn’t shown, compile the
class to display the error message.
4. Add throws clauses to all of the methods including the main method. Then,
run the application to see how a checked exception can propagate all the way
out of an application.
5. Add the code necessary to handle the FileNotFoundException in Method1. To
do that, you’ll need to remove the throws clauses from the main method and
Method1, and you’ll need to add a try statement to Method1 that catches the
exception. The catch block should display an appropriate error message. Run
the application to make sure the exception handler works.

Exercise 16-2 Release system resources

In this exercise, you’ll get a chance to use try and a try-with-resources state-
ments to release the system resources used by an object.
1. Import the project named ch16_ex2_ResourcesTester in the ex_starts folder.
Then, open the Main class. Note that the main method calls two other
methods that open a BufferedReader object but don’t close it.
2. Modify the method named readLineWithResources so it uses a
try-with-resources statement to close the BufferedReader object. Run the
application to make sure it works correctly. If it does, the try-with-resources
statement is working correctly too.
3. Modify the method named readLineWithFinally so it uses a finally block to
close the BufferedReader object. To do that, you’ll need to declare this object
outside the try block. Add statements to the finally block that print informa-
tion to the console to indicate whether the file was closed (this is typical for
normal operations), never opened (which happens if the file can’t be found),
or unable to close (which happens only in rare cases).
432 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

4. Run the application to make sure the finally clause works as expected. To test
what happens if the file is never opened, you can change the name of the file
to cause a FileNotFoundException. To test what happens if the close method
doesn’t work, you can throw an IOException just before the statement that
closes the resource.

Exercise 16-3 Create a custom class

In this exercise, you’ll experiment with custom classes and chained exceptions.
1. Import the project named ch16_ex3_CustomTester in the ex_starts folder.
Then, create a custom checked exception class named TestException that
contains two constructors: one that accepts no parameters and one that accepts
a message.
2. Open the Main class. Then, add a statement to Method3 that throws a
TestException without a message. Add the code necessary to catch this excep-
tion in Method2. The catch block should print a message of your choice at the
console. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
3. Modify your solution so that a custom message of your choice is passed to the
TestException and is then displayed in the catch block. Run the application to
make sure the custom message is displayed correctly.
4. Add another constructor to the TestException class that accepts a Throwable
object as a parameter.
5. Add a try statement to Method3 of the Main class. The try clause should
throw an IOException, and the catch clause should throw a TestException,
passing the IOException to its constructor.
6. Modify the catch block in Method2 that catches the TestException so it prints
a message that gives information about the exception and its underlying cause.
Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
 17
How to work with file I/O
In this chapter, you’ll be introduced to two types of files: text files and binary
files. Although binary files are required for some applications, text files are
preferred whenever possible because they are more portable and less platform
dependent. That’s why this chapter only shows how to work with text files.
However, many of the same skills and concepts apply to working with binary
files. As a result, if you need to work with binary files, you can learn more
about them by searching the Internet or by getting a more comprehensive book
such as Murach’s Java Programming.
When you work with files, you frequently use arrays or collections
(chapters 10 and 14). You need to be able to handle the exceptions thrown by
I/O operations (chapter 16). And you may need to parse strings (chapter 9). As
a result, you may want to review those chapters as you progress through this
chapter.

An introduction to directories and files............................434

A package for working with directories and files........................................434
Code examples that work with directories and files.....................................436
An introduction to file input and output...........................438
How files and streams work..........................................................................438
A file I/O example....................................................................................... 440
How to work with I/O exceptions.................................................................442
How to work with text files.................................................444
How to connect a character output stream to a file..................................... 444
How to write to a text file............................................................................ 446
How to connect a character input stream to a file....................................... 448
How to read from a text file..........................................................................450
A class that works with a text file.................................................................452
The Product Manager application.....................................456
The console...................................................................................................456
The Main class..............................................................................................456
Perspective..........................................................................460
434 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An introduction to directories and files

Prior to Java 7, it was common to use the File class from the java.io package
to perform some basic operations on directories and files. However, this class has
many limitations. That’s why Java 7 introduced the java.nio.file package (also
known as NIO.2). This package provides an improved way to access the default
file system. As a result, it’s generally considered a best practice to use the classes
and interfaces of this package to work with directories and files.

A package for working with directories and files

Figure 17-1 begins by presenting the static get method of the Paths class
in the java.nio.file package. You can pass one or more strings to this method to
return a Path object that represents a path to a directory or a file. A Path object
includes name elements that represent the directories and file in the path. For
example, here’s a typical path on a Windows system:
c:\murach\java_eclipse\files\products.txt
This path includes name elements for three directories (murach, java_eclipse,
and files) and one file (products.txt). In addition, it includes the root component
(the C drive).
Once you have a Path object, you can use the methods of the Path interface
to get information about the path. For example, you can use the getName method
to get a Path object for the name element at the specified index. The index refers
to the position of the name element in the path, where the first element is at
index 0.
You can also use the static methods of the Files class to get information
about a path. For example, you can use the first four methods to check whether
a path exists and whether you can read from or write to a path. Similarly, you
can use the next two methods to test whether the path refers to a directory or a
file. Finally, if the path refers to a file, you can use the size method to return the
number of bytes in the file.
To display the contents of a directory, you can use the newDirectoryStream
method with a Path object. This method returns a DirectoryStream<Path> object.
Then, you can use this object to loop through all of the subdirectories and files
within that directory. You’ll see an example of how this works in the next figure.
Finally, you can use the last four methods of the Files class to create and
delete directories and files. If these methods aren’t able to create or delete a file
or directory, they throw exceptions that should give you a good idea of why they
failed. For example, if you try to create a file that already exists, Java throws
a FileAlreadyExistsException. Similarly, if you try to delete a directory that
contains files, Java throws a DirectoryNotEmptyException.
As you review these methods, you should know that they’re only some of
the most commonly used methods of the java.nio.file package. So, if you need to
perform other file-handling tasks, you can consult the Java API documentation
for this package.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 435

A package for working with directories and files

java.nio.file

A static method of the Paths class

Method Description
get(String[, String]...) Returns a Path object for the string or
series of strings that specify the path.

Methods of the Path interface

Method Description
getFileName() Returns a Path object for the name of the file or directory.
getName(int) Returns a Path object for the element at the specified index.
getNameCount() Returns an int value for the number of name elements in the path.
getParent() Returns a Path object for the parent path if one exists. Returns a null value if a
parent does not exist.
getRoot() Returns a Path object for the root component of the path. Returns a null value if
a root does not exist.
toAbsolutePath() Returns a Path object for the absolute path to the file or directory.
toFile() Returns a File object for the path to the file.

Static methods of the Files class

Method Description
exists(Path) Returns a true value if the path exists.
notExists(Path) Returns a true value if the path does not exist.
isReadable(Path) Returns a true value if the path exists and is readable.
isWritable(Path) Returns a true value if the path exists and is writable.
isDirectory(Path) Returns a true value if the path exists and refers to a directory.
isRegularFile(Path) Returns a true value if the path exists and refers to a regular file.
size(Path) Returns a long value for the number of bytes in the file.
newDirectoryStream(Path) Returns a DirectoryStream<Path> object that you can use to loop
through all files and subdirectories of the directory.
createFile(Path) Creates a new file for the specified Path object if one doesn’t already
exist. Returns a Path object for the file.
createDirectory(Path) Creates a new directory for the specified Path object if the directory
doesn’t already exist and all parent directories do exist. Returns a Path
object for the directory.
createDirectories(Path) Creates a new directory represented by the specified Path object
including any necessary but non-existent parent directories. Returns a
Path object for the directory.
delete(Path) Deletes the file or directory represented by the Path object. A direc-
tory can only be deleted if it’s empty.

Description
• To work with a directory or file, you use a Path object. A Path object can include a
root component as well as directory names and a file name.
Figure 17-1 How to work with directories and files (part 1 of 2)
436 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Code examples that work with directories

and files
The first example in part 2 of figure 17-1 shows how to create a new direc-
tory. To do this, the first statement creates a string that refers to a directory. In
this case, the directory is the murach/java_eclipse/files directory on the C drive.
Then, the second statement uses the Paths class to get a Path object for this
directory. Finally, an if statement checks whether this directory already exists. If
it doesn’t, the last statement calls the static createDirectories method of the Files
class to create the directory and any necessary parent directories.
The second example shows how to create a new file. To do this, the first
statement creates a string that contains the name of the file. Then, the second
statement gets a Path object that refers to the directory and file. In this case, the
file is named products.txt and the directory is c:\murach\java_eclipse\files. If the
file doesn’t already exist, the last statement calls the static createFile method of
the Files class to create the file.
Notice that the get method of the Paths class in this example includes two
arguments: one for the directory and one for the file. When you code the get
method like this, the arguments are joined together and separated by a separator
character. In most cases, the separator character is the same as the character
that’s used to separate the name elements in the arguments. In this case, the
separator character is a front slash.
In this example, the Path object contains an absolute path name. In other
words, this example specifies the entire path and file name for the file. However,
if you want to create a Path object contains a relative path name, you can do
that too. Then, the path is relative to the current working directory (CWD). For
example, if you just specify the name of the file, the file is stored in the current
working directory. This directory is usually the directory that the application was
started from, which may or may not be the same directory where the applica-
tion is located. In addition, on some operating systems, such as Windows, it’s
possible to set the working directory in the application’s shortcut icon.
The third example shows how to get information about the Path object that
was created in the previous example. First, the getFileName method returns the
name of the file. Then, the toAbsolutePath method returns a Path object for the
full path. Finally, the static isWritable method of the Files class returns a true
value to show that the file is not read-only, which is the default.
The fourth example shows how to list the names of the files in a directory. To
start, an if statement checks whether the path exists and whether it is a directory.
If both are true, the first statement in the if block prints the name of the directory,
and the second statement prints a string. Then, the static newDirectoryStream
method of the Files class returns a DirectoryStream<Path> object. Finally, this
code loops through all of the Path objects in this stream, checks if the Path object
is a file, and prints the file name if it is.
If you’re used to working with Windows, you may be surprised to find that
you use a front slash (/) instead of a backslash (\) to separate the parts of a path.
That’s because Java uses the backslash to identify escape characters. This makes
it cumbersome to use backslashes when specifying paths.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 437

Code that creates a directory if it doesn’t already exist

String dirString = "c:/murach/java_eclipse/files";
Path dirPath = Paths.get(dirString);
if (Files.notExists(dirPath)) {
Files.createDirectories(dirPath);
}

Code that creates a file if it doesn’t already exist

String fileString = "products.txt";
Path filePath = Paths.get(dirString, fileString);
if (Files.notExists(filePath)) {
Files.createFile(filePath);
}

Code that displays information about a file

System.out.println("File name: " + filePath.getFileName());
System.out.println("Absolute path: " + filePath.toAbsolutePath());
System.out.println("Is writable: " + Files.isWritable(filePath));

Resulting output

File name: products.txt

Absolute path: c:\murach\java_eclipse\files\products.txt
Is writable: true

Code that displays the files in a directory

if (Files.exists(dirPath) && Files.isDirectory(dirPath)) {
System.out.println("Directory: " + dirPath.toAbsolutePath());
System.out.println("Files: ");
DirectoryStream<Path> dirStream = Files.newDirectoryStream(dirPath);
for (Path p: dirStream) {
if (Files.isRegularFile(p))
System.out.println(" " + p.getFileName());
}
}

Description
•• Java 7 introduced the java.nio.file package (also known as NIO.2). This package
provides an improved way to access the default file system and is designed to
replace the functionality that was available from the java.io.File class.
•• The java.nio.file package provides support for many features that aren’t provided
by the java.io.File class.
•• When coding paths, you can use a front slash to separate directory names. This
works equally well for Windows and other operating systems.
•• To identify the name and location of a file, you can use an absolute path name to
specify the entire path for a file. You can also use a relative path name to specify
the path of the file relative to the current working directory (CWD). This is usually
but not always the directory that the application was started from.
•• Although the java.nio.file package was introduced with Java 7, the java.nio package
was introduced with Java 4.

Figure 17-1 How to work with directories and files (part 2 of 2)

438 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An introduction to file input and output

This topic introduces the types of files and streams that you can use for file
input and output. Then, it presents an example that introduces the code that’s
needed to perform input and output operations on a file. Finally, it shows how to
handle the exceptions that occur most frequently when you perform input and
output operations.

How files and streams work

Figure 17-2 presents the two types of files and the two types of streams that
you use when you perform I/O operations (or file I/O). In a text file, all of the
data is stored as Unicode characters on disk. Often, the fields and records in
this type of file are separated by delimiters like tabs and new line characters. In
this figure, for example, the fields in the text file are separated by tabs and the
records by new line characters. Other types of text files include XML and HTML
files. An XML file uses special tags to structure the data that’s stored in the file.
And an HTML file uses special tags to tell a web browser how to format text,
display images, and so on.
In contrast, the data in a binary file is stored in a different format that can
read and write the primitive data types. In this figure, for example, some of the
bytes in this format can’t be read by a text editor. Here, two non-character bytes
are written before the code and description fields of each product record, and
the price field is written in a non-character format that isn’t readable by a text
editor. Also, since the records in a binary file don’t end with new line characters,
all records are displayed on a single line when a binary file is opened by a text
editor. Other types of binary files include image, audio, video, and application
files.
To handle I/O operations, Java uses streams. You can think of a stream as
the flow of data from one location to another. For instance, an output stream
can flow from the internal memory of an application to a disk file, and an input
stream can flow from a disk file to internal memory. When you work with a text
file, you use a character stream. When you work with a binary file, you use a
binary stream.
Although this chapter shows you how to use streams with disk files, Java
also uses streams with other types of devices. For instance, you can use an
output stream to send data to the console or to a network connection. In fact, the
System.out and System.err objects are the standard output streams that are used
for printing data to the console. Similarly, you can use an input stream to read
data from a source like a keyboard or a network connection. In fact, the
System.in object that’s used by the Scanner class is a standard input stream that
is used for reading data from the keyboard.
When you save a text or binary file, you can use any extension for the file
name. In this book, we have used txt as the extension for all text files and bin for
all binary files. For instance, the text file in this figure is named products.txt, and
the binary file is named products.bin.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 439

A text file that’s opened by a text editor

A binary file that’s opened by a text editor

Two types of files

File Description
Text A file that contains characters. The fields and records in this
type of file are often delimited by special characters like tab and
new line characters. Web pages are also plain text files that use
a special markup language known as HTML.
Binary A file that may contain characters as well as other non-character
data types that can’t be read by a text editor. Common binary
file types include images, movies, and applications.

Two types of streams

Stream Description
Character Used to transfer text data to or from an I/O device.
Binary Used to transfer binary data to or from an I/O device.

Description
 An input file is a file that is read by an application. An output file is a file that is
written by an application. Input and output operations are often referred to as I/O
operations or file I/O.
 A stream is the flow of data from one location to another. To write data to a file
from internal storage, you use an output stream. To read from a file into internal
storage, you use an input stream.
 To read and write text files, you use character streams. To read and write binary
files, you use binary streams.
 Streams are not only used with disk devices, but also with input devices like
keyboards and network connections and output devices like PC monitors and
network connections.

Figure 17-2 How files and streams work

440 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

A file I/O example

To give you an overview of file I/O, figure 17-3 shows code you can use to
read from and write to a text file. To start, the first example shows the import
statements for two packages for working with file I/O. Because most of the
classes for working with file I/O are stored in the java.io package, any class
that works with file I/O typically imports all of the classes in this package. In
addition, the import statement for the java.nio.file package is typically included
to make it easy to work with the classes (Paths and Files) and interfaces (Path)
described in the previous figures.
The second example shows how to create a File object that refers to a file
named products.txt. To start, the first statement creates a Path object that refers
to the file. Since no directory is specified for the file, the Path object refers to a
file that’s stored in the working directory, which is usually, but not always, the
directory the application was started from. Then, the second statement calls the
toFile method of the Path object to convert it to a File object. This is necessary
because many of the classes in the file.io package were created before the Path
object was introduced. As a result, they are designed to work with a File object
and don’t work directly with a Path object.
The third example shows how to write data to a file. To start, you create an
output stream. In this example, the output stream is created in the try clause of a
try-with-resources statement.
To create a stream that has all the functionality that you need for an applica-
tion, you can layer two or more streams into a single stream. To layer streams
in Java, you use an object of one class as the argument for the constructor of
another class. In this example, a BufferedWriter object is used as the argument
of the PrintWriter constructor, and a FileWriter object is used as the argument of
the BufferedWriter constructor.
The BufferedWriter object adds a block of internal memory known as a
buffer to the stream. This causes the data in the stream to be stored in a buffer
before it is written to the output device. Then, when the buffer is full or the
stream is closed, all of the data in the buffer is flushed to the disk file in a single
I/O operation. Similarly, when you use a buffer for input, a full buffer of data is
read in a single I/O operation.
After creating the output stream, the statement in the try block uses the
println method of the output stream to write the data to a file. Then, when the try
block finishes executing, the try-with-resources statement automatically closes
the stream and flushes any data that’s in the buffer to the file.
The fourth example reads the data that was written by the third example. To
start, it uses the try clause of a try-with-resources statement to create a buffered
input stream for the products file. Within the try block, the two statements
read the first line of that file and print that line to the console. Finally, once the
try-with-resources statement finishes executing, it automatically closes the input
stream, which flushes the buffer and frees all system resources associated with
the input stream.
The benefit of buffering is that it reduces the number of I/O operations that
are done by a disk device. If, for example, a buffer can hold 4000 bytes of data,
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 441

Import all necessary packages

import java.io.*;
import java.nio.file.*;

Get a Path object for the file

Path productsPath = Paths.get("products.txt");
File productsFile = productsPath.toFile();

Write data to the file

try (PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter(productsFile)))) {
out.println("java\tMurach's Beginning Java\t57.50");
}
catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}

Read data from the file

try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(productsFile))) {
String line = in.readLine();
System.out.println(line);
}
catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}

Resulting output

java Murach's Beginning Java 57.50

Description
•• The java.io package contains dozens of classes that can be used to work with
different types of streams that have different functionality.
•• To get the functionality you need for a stream, you often need to combine, or layer,
two or more streams.
•• To make disk processing more efficient, you can use a buffered stream that adds a
block of internal memory called a buffer to the stream.
•• When working with buffers, you often need to flush the buffer. This sends all data
in the buffer to the I/O device. One way to do that is to use a try-with-resources
statement to automatically close the I/O stream after you use it.

Figure 17-3 A file I/O example

442 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

only one write or read operation is required to flush or fill the buffer. In contrast,
if the data is written or read one field at a time, 4000 bytes might require
hundreds of I/O operations. For each I/O operation, the disk has to rotate to the
starting disk location. Since this rotation is extremely slow relative to internal
operations, buffering dramatically improves the performance of I/O operations.
Because this figure is only intended to give you an idea of how file I/O
works, you shouldn’t worry if you don’t understand it completely. As you
progress through this chapter, you’ll learn about all of the classes and methods
shown here in more detail.

How to work with I/O exceptions

If you read the previous chapter, you are familiar with the basic skills for
handling exceptions. In fact, you have already been introduced to some of the
exceptions that are thrown by I/O operations.
Now, figure 17-4 summarizes three types of checked exceptions that must
be handled when you’re working with file I/O. To start, all exceptions that are
thrown by classes that perform file I/O operations inherit the IOException class.
In particular, an EOFException may be thrown when code attempts to read
beyond the end of a file, and a FileNotFoundException is thrown when code
attempts to open a file that doesn’t exist.
The code in this figure prevents a FileNotFoundException. To do that, this
code gets a Path object for a file. Then, it uses the exists method of the Files
class to check if a file exists for that path. If so, the code within the if block
executes. Otherwise, this code prints an error message to the console.
This code also handles the IOException that might occur while reading the
file. To do that, the code within the if block begins by converting the Path object
to a File object. Then, it uses a try-with-resources statement to create an input
stream for the file, and it uses the corresponding catch block to handle any I/O
exceptions that might occur while reading that input stream. To do that, this code
prints the exception it to the console.
Finally, this code prevents the EOFException. To do that, the while loop
within the try block checks if the end of the file has been reached. If so, it exits
the loop. To do that, the first statement within the try block declares a string
variable named line and uses the readLine method to read a line from the input
stream. Then, the while loop checks whether this line is null. If not, the code
within the loop displays the line and uses the readLine method to read the next
line. This continues as long as the line isn’t null. If the line is null, it indicates
that the end of the file has been reached and the loop ends.
The last code example shows another way to code the loop that prevents
the EOFException. Here, the condition in while loop reads the line and checks
whether the line is null. To do that, it uses parentheses to make sure this code
reads the line before it checks if it is null. If the line is not null, the loop
continues. Otherwise, the loop ends. The advantage of this approach is that it is
easier to maintain since it doesn’t duplicate the readLine call. The disadvantage
is that it is more difficult to read. When you review other programmer’s code,
you may encounter either approach, so you should be familiar with both.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 443

A subset of the IOException hierarchy

IOException
EOFException
FileNotFoundException

Common I/O exceptions

Exception Description
IOException Thrown when an error occurs in I/O processing.
EOFException Thrown when code attempts to read beyond the end of a file.
FileNotFoundException Thrown when code attempts to open a file that doesn’t exist.

Code that handles I/O exceptions

Path productsPath = Paths.get("products.txt");
if (Files.exists(productsPath)) { // prevent the FileNotFoundException
File productsFile = productsPath.toFile();
try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(productsFile))) {
String line = in.readLine();
while(line != null) { // prevent the EOFException
System.out.println(line);
line = in.readLine();
}
}
catch (IOException e) { // catch the IOException
System.out.println(e);
}
}
else {
System.out.println(
productsPath.toAbsolutePath() + " doesn't exist");
}

The loop that prevents the EOFException

String line = in.readLine();
while(line != null) {
System.out.println(line);
line = in.readLine();
}

Another way to code this loop

String line;
while((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(line);
}

Figure 17-4 How to work with I/O exceptions

444 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to work with text files

When working with text files, you need to layer two or more classes to
create a character input or output stream. You’ll learn how to do that in the topics
that follow. In addition, you’ll learn how to use the methods of these classes to
work with text files. Then, you’ll see a complete class that you can use to read
and write Product objects to a text file.

How to connect a character output stream to a file

Before you can write to a text file, you need to create a character output
stream, and you need to connect that stream to a file. To do that, you must layer
two or more of the classes in the Writer hierarchy as shown in figure 17-5. Then,
you use the methods of the PrintWriter class to write data to the output stream,
you use the BufferedWriter class to create a buffer for the output stream, and you
use the FileWriter class to connect the stream to a file.
Although it’s typically a good coding practice to use a buffer, the first
example in this figure shows how to connect to a file without using a buffer.
Here, the first statement creates a FileWriter object by passing a String object for
a path name to the constructor of the FileWriter class. Alternately, this statement
could pass a File object for a file to this constructor. Either way, the second
statement creates a PrintWriter object by passing the FileWriter object to the
constructor of the PrintWriter class.
The second example shows a more concise way to write the first example.
Here, you don’t assign the FileWriter object to a named variable. Instead, you
nest the call to the constructor of the FileWriter class within the constructor of
the PrintWriter class. You can align these nested constructor calls any way you
like. In this example, the whole statement is coded on one line, but it’s often
easier to read if each constructor call is coded on a separate line as shown in the
next three examples.
The third example shows how to include a buffer in the output stream. To do
that, you use a BufferedWriter object in addition to a FileWriter and PrintWriter
object.
The fourth example shows how to append data to an existing file. To do that,
you set the second argument of the FileWriter constructor to true. If you don’t
code a value for this argument, the existing data in the file is overwritten.
By default, the data in an output stream is flushed from the buffer to the
disk when the buffer is full. However, if you set the second argument of the
PrintWriter constructor to true, the autoflush feature is turned on. Then, the
buffer is flushed each time the println method is executed.
The constructors in this figure should help you understand how to layer
output streams. Here, the PrintWriter constructor accepts any class derived
from the Writer class. As a result, you can supply a BufferedWriter object or a
FileWriter object as an argument of the PrintWriter constructor. Similarly, since
the BufferedWriter constructor also accepts any Writer object, you can supply a
FileWriter object as an argument of the BufferedWriter constructor.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 445

A subset of the Writer hierarchy

Writer <<abstract>>
BufferedWriter
PrintWriter
OutputStreamWriter
FileWriter

Classes used to connect a character output stream to a file

PrintWriter contains the methods for writing data to a text stream
→BufferedWriter creates a buffer for the stream
→FileWriter connects the stream to a file

Constructors of these classes

Constructor Throws
PrintWriter(Writer[, booleanFlush]) None
BufferedWriter(Writer) None
FileWriter(File[, booleanAppend]) IOException
FileWriter(StringPathName[, booleanAppend]) IOException

How to connect without a buffer (not recommended)

FileWriter fileWriter = new FileWriter("products.txt");
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(fileWriter);

A more concise way to code the previous example

PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter("products.txt"));

How to connect to a file with a buffer

PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter("products.txt"));

How to connect for an append operation

PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter("products.txt", true)));

How to connect with the autoflush feature turned on

PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter("products.txt")), true);

Description
•• The Writer class is an abstract class that’s inherited by all of the classes in the Writer
hierarchy. To learn more about the Writer hierarchy, see the Java API documentation.
•• If the output file doesn’t exist when the FileWriter object is created, it’s created automat-
ically. If it does exist, it’s overwritten by default. If that’s not what you want, you can
specify true for the second argument of the constructor to append data to the file.
•• If you specify true for the second argument of the PrintWriter constructor, the
autoflush feature flushes the buffer each time the println method is called.

Figure 17-5 How to connect a character output stream to a file

446 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to write to a text file

Figure 17-6 shows how to write to a text file. To do that, you use the print
and println methods of a PrintWriter object to print data to the file. These
methods work like the print and println methods of the System.out object.
However, they print data to a file instead of printing data to the console.
As you saw earlier in this chapter, you can use a try-with-resources state-
ment to create a stream. Then, the stream is automatically flushed and closed
when the try statement ends. If you don’t use a try-with-resources statement,
though, you can use the close method to manually close the output stream. This
flushes the buffer and frees any system resources that are being used by the
output stream. Or, if you want to keep the output stream open, you can use the
flush method to flush all the data in the stream to the file. Either way, you need to
throw or catch the IOException that can be thrown by these methods.
The first example in this figure shows how to append a string and an
object to a text file named log.txt. To start, the FileWriter constructor creates a
FileWriter object that can append data to the file. If no file named log.txt exists
in the current directory, this statement creates the file. Then, the print method
prints a string, and the println method prints a LocalDateTime object that
represents the current date and time. For this to work, the toString method of the
LocalDateTime object is called automatically to convert the date to a string.
The second example in this figure shows how to write the data that’s stored
in a Product object to a delimited text file. In this type of file, one type of
delimiter is used to separate the fields (or columns) that are written to the file,
and another type of delimiter is used to separate the records (or rows). In this
example, the tab character (\t) is used as the delimiter for the fields, and the
new line character is used as the delimiter for the records. That way, the code,
description, and price for one product are stored in the same record separated by
tabs. Then, the new line character ends the data for that product, and the data for
the next product can be stored in the next record.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 447

Common methods of the PrintWriter class

Method Throws Description
print(argument) None Writes the character representation of the
argument type to the file.
println(argument) None Writes the character representation of the
argument type to the file followed by the new
line character. If the autoflush feature is turned
on, this also flushes the buffer.
flush() IOException Flushes any data that’s in the buffer to the file.
close() IOException Flushes any data that’s in the buffer to the file
and closes the stream.

Code that appends a string and an object to a text file

// open an output stream for appending to the text file
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter("log.txt", true)));

// write a string and an object to the file

out.print("This application was run on ");
LocalDateTime currentDateTime = LocalDateTime.now();
out.println(currentDateTime);

// flush data to the file and close the output stream

out.close();

Code that writes a Product object to a delimited text file

// open an output stream for overwriting a text file
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter(productsFile)));

// write the Product object to the file

out.print(product.getCode() + "\t");
out.print(product.getDescription() + "\t");
out.println(product.getPrice());

// flush data to the file and close the output stream

out.close();

Description
•• To write a character representation of a data type to an output stream, you use the
print and println methods of the PrintWriter class. If you supply an object as an
argument, these methods call the toString method of the object.
•• To create a delimited text file, you delimit the records or rows in the file with one
delimiter, such as a new line character, and you delimit the fields or columns of
each record with another delimiter, such as a tab character.
•• To flush all data to the file, you can use a try-with-resources statement to automati-
cally close the stream when you’re done using it. You can also use the flush or close
methods of the stream to manually flush all data to the file.

Figure 17-6 How to write to a text file

448 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to connect a character input stream to a file

Before you can read characters from a text file, you must connect the
character input stream to a file. Figure 17-7 shows how to do that with a buffer
and a File object. As you can see in the example in this figure, you supply the
FileReader class as the argument of the constructor of the BufferedReader class.
This creates a stream that uses a buffer and has methods that you can use to read
data.
If you look at the constructors for the BufferedReader and FileReader
classes, you can see why this code works. Since the constructor for the
BufferedReader object accepts any object in the Reader hierarchy, it can
accept a FileReader object that connects the stream to a file. However, the
BufferedReader object can also accept an InputStreamReader object, which can
be used to connect the character input stream to the keyboard or to a network
connection rather than to a file.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 449

A subset of the Reader hierarchy

Reader <<abstract>>
BufferedReader
InputStreamReader
FileReader

Classes used to connect to a file with a buffer

BufferedReader contains the methods for reading data from the stream
→FileReader connects the stream to a file

Constructors of these classes

Constructor Throws
BufferedReader(Reader) None
FileReader(File) FileNotFoundException
FileReader(StringPathName) FileNotFoundException

How to connect a character input stream to a file

BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader("products.txt"));

Description
•• The Reader class is an abstract class that’s inherited by all of the classes in the
Reader hierarchy. To learn more about the Reader hierarchy, check the documenta-
tion for the Java API. All classes in the java.io package that end with Reader are
members of the Reader hierarchy.
•• Although you can read files with the FileReader class alone, the BufferedReader
class improves efficiency and provides better methods for reading character input
streams.

Figure 17-7 How to connect a character input stream to a file

450 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to read from a text file

The two examples in figure 17-8 show how to read the two text files that are
written by the examples in figure 17-6. In the first example, a while loop reads
each line and then prints it to the console. When the readLine method attempts to
read past the end of the file, it returns a null, which causes the while loop to end.
Then, the close method is called to flush the buffer and close the input stream.
The second example shows how to read a row from the products file. To do
that, it uses the readLine method. Then, because this file is a delimited text file, it
parses the string into its individual columns. To do that, it uses the split method
of the String class to split the string into an array of strings. In this example, the
tab character is supplied as the argument of the split method since this is the
character that’s used to divide the columns in the row.
This example continues by creating a Product object from the data in the
columns array. Since the product code and description are strings, the columns
that contain these values can be passed directly to the constructor of the Product
object. However, the price column must be converted from a String object to a
double value. In this example, the parseDouble method of the Double class is
used to do that.
The last statement in this example calls the close method. That flushes the
buffer and frees any system resources.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 451

Common methods of the BufferedReader class

Method Throws Description
readLine() IOException Reads a line of text and returns it as a string.
close() IOException Closes the input stream and flushes the buffer.

Code that reads the records in a text file

// read the records of the file
String line;
while((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(line);
}

// close the input stream

in.close();

Sample output

This application was run on 2015-05-28T12:06:55.084

This application was run on 2015-05-28T12:07:28.041

A method of the String class

Method Description
split(delimiter) Splits the current String object on the specified
delimiter and returns an array of String objects.

Code that reads a Product object from a delimited text file

// read the next line of the file
String line = in.readLine();

// parse the line into its columns

String[] columns = line.split("\t");
String code = columns[0];
String description = columns[1];
String price = columns[2];

// create a Product object from the data in the columns

Product p = new Product(code, description, Double.parseDouble(price));

// print some Product object data

System.out.println(p.getDescription() + " (" + p.getPriceFormatted() + ")");

// close the input stream

in.close();

Sample output

Murach's Beginning Java ($57.50)

Figure 17-8 How to read from a text file

452 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

A class that works with a text file

Figure 17-9 shows a complete class named ProductIO that you can use
to read and write products to a text file. To start, the static constant named
productsPath stores the Path object for the text file named products.txt that’s
stored in the current working directory. Then, the static constant named
productsFile stores the File object that corresponds with that path. Next, the
static constant named FIELD_SEP specifies that the tab character is used to
separate the fields in the file. Finally, the static variable named products stores a
List of Product objects for the products in the file. To do that, this statement calls
the static getAll method that’s defined later in the class.
The private constructor for the ProductIO class prevents anyone from
creating an object form this class. That’s a good practice since this class only
contains static methods.
The getAll method returns a List of Product objects for all products in the
file. This method starts by checking whether the products list has been created.
If so, it returns that list. This increases efficiency by reading the file only when
necessary.
If the products list hasn’t been created, this code creates it. To do that, it
begins by creating an empty ArrayList of Product objects. Then, it checks if
the products file exists. If so, it uses a try-with-resources statement to create a
buffered input stream. To create the Product objects, this method uses a while
loop to read and process the lines in the file until the end of the file is reached.
As you learned earlier in this chapter, you can test for an end-of-file condition by
checking the string that’s returned by the readLine method for a null.
Within the while loop, the first statement uses the FIELD_SEP constant to
split the line into its three columns (code, description, and price). Then, this loop
creates a Product object, sets its data from the values in these columns, and adds
the Product object to the products list. Then, control returns to the top of the loop
and the next line is read.
If an IOException is thrown somewhere in the getAll method, this method
returns a null. That way, any method that calls the getAll method can test
whether it executed successfully by checking the whether list it returns is
null. Whether or not an exception is thrown, the try-with-resources statement
automatically closes the input stream.
In this class, the catch clauses print the exception to the console. This is
useful when you’re testing and debugging an application, but it might not be
appropriate when you put an application into production. As a result, before
putting a class like this into a production environment, you might want to change
the way that exceptions are handled. For example, you might want to write an
error message to a log file. Or, you might want to throw a custom exception that
indicates that a generic access error has occurred. For more information on how
to create a custom exception, see chapter 16.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 453

The code for the ProductIO class Page 1

package murach.io;

import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.nio.file.*;
import murach.business.Product;

public class ProductIO {

private static final Path productsPath = Paths.get("products.txt");
private static final File productsFile = productsPath.toFile();
private static final String FIELD_SEP = "\t";
private static List<Product> products = getAll();

// prevent instantiation of class

private ProductIO() {}

public static List<Product> getAll() {

// if the products file has already been read, don't read it again
if (products != null) {
return products;
}

products = new ArrayList<>();

if (Files.exists(productsPath)) {
try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(productsFile))) {
// read all products stored in the file into the array list
String line = in.readLine();
while(line != null) {
String[] columns = line.split(FIELD_SEP);
String code = columns[0];
String description = columns[1];
String price = columns[2];

Product p = new Product();

p.setCode(code);
p.setDescription(description);
p.setPrice(Double.parseDouble(price));
products.add(p);

line = in.readLine();
}
}
catch(IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
return null;
}
}
return products;
}

Figure 17-9 A class that works with a text file (part 1 of 2)

454 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

The get method returns a Product object for a product that matches the
specified product code. To search for the product, this method loops through
each product in the products list until it finds one with the specified product
code. Finally, it returns that product. If no product has the specified code, this
method returns a null.
The saveAll method accesses the list of products and writes all of the
Product objects to the file. If this operation is successful, it returns a true value.
If an IOException is thrown, this method returns a false value. This indicates that
the save operation wasn’t successful.
The saveAll method starts by creating a buffered output stream that connects
to the products file. Then, this method uses a loop to write each product in the
list to the file. To do that, it uses the FIELD_SEP constant to separate each field
in a product record, and it uses the println method to insert a new line character
at the end of each product record.
The add method starts by calling the add method of the List interface to add
the product to the list of products. Then, it calls the saveAll method to save the
modified list to the products file so that the list and the file contain the same data.
Here, the add method returns the boolean value that’s returned by the saveAll
method. That way, if the saveAll method returns a true value, the add method
also returns a true value.
The delete method works similarly. It starts by calling the getAll method to
return a products list. Then, it calls the remove method of the List interface to
remove the product from the list. Finally, it calls the saveAll method to save the
list to the products file, and it returns the boolean value that’s returned by that
method.
The update method works a little differently. This method updates the data
for an existing product with the data in a new Product object. To start, this
method uses the get method to get the old Product object with the same product
code as the new Product object. Then, it gets the index for the old product and
removes that product from the list. Next, it inserts the new product into the list
where the old product used to be. Finally, it calls the saveAll method to save
the list to the products file, and it returns a value that indicates whether the save
operation was successful.
It’s important to note that this class won’t work correctly for multiple
users. For example, suppose user A and user B read the products file, and user
A modifies that file. Then, suppose user B also modifies the file. At this point,
user B’s changes overwrite user A’s changes. This is known as a concurrency
problem.
One way to reduce concurrency problems would be to read the data from the
file each time the getAll, get, add, update, and delete methods are called. That
way, the data is more likely to be current. However, this would be inefficient,
particularly if the file contained thousands of records, and it still wouldn’t be
thread-safe. The easiest and most professional way to solve this problem is to
use a database as described in chapters 19 and 20.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 455

The code for the ProductIO class Page 2

public static Product get(String code) {
for (Product p : products) {
if (p.getCode().equals(code))
return p;
}
return null;
}

private static boolean saveAll() {

try (PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
new BufferedWriter(
new FileWriter(productsFile)))) {
// write all products in the array list to the file
for (Product p : products) {
out.print(p.getCode() + FIELD_SEP);
out.print(p.getDescription() + FIELD_SEP);
out.println(p.getPrice());
}
}
catch(IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
return false;
}

return true;
}

public static boolean add(Product p) {

products.add(p);
return saveAll();
}

public static boolean delete(Product p) {

products.remove(p);
return saveAll();
}

public static boolean update(Product newProduct) {

// get the old product and remove it
Product oldProduct = get(newProduct.getCode());
int i = products.indexOf(oldProduct);
products.remove(i);

// add the updated product

products.add(i, newProduct);

return saveAll();
}
}

Figure 17-9 A class that works with a text file (part 2 of 2)

456 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

The Product Manager application

This chapter finishes by showing the Product Manager application. This
application uses the ProductIO class described in the previous figure to work
with the product data that’s stored in a text file. In addition, it uses the Product,
Console, and StringUtil classes described earlier in this book.

The console
Figure 17-10 shows the console for the Product Manager application. When
it starts, this application displays a welcome message and a menu of commands.
Then, it prompts the user to enter one of those commands. In this figure, for
example, the user started by entering the list command. This displayed a list of
the products that are stored in the text file.
After displaying the products, the user used the add command to add a
new product to the text file. Then, the user used the del command to delete that
product. Finally, the user entered the exit command to end the application.

The Main class

Figure 17-11 shows the code for the Main class. This class contains the main
method that’s executed when the application starts. To start, this method displays
a welcome message. Then, it calls the displayMenu method to display the menu
of commands for working with this application. After that, the main method
enters a loop that continues until the user enters the exit command.
Within this loop, the first statement prompts the user for a command. If the
user enters “list”, this code calls the displayAllProducts method shown in part
2 of figure 17-11. This method displays a list of products. To do that, it calls the
getAll method of the ProductIO class to get a list of Product objects. Then, it
loops through these Product objects and builds a string that displays them. To do
that, this code uses the StringUtil class presented earlier in this book to align the
columns with the specified number of spaces.
If the user enters “add”, this code calls the addProduct method shown in part
2 of figure 17-11 to add a product to the text file. To do that, this method creates
a Product object from the data that’s entered by the user and passes this object to
the add method of the ProductIO class.
If the user enters “del” or “delete”, this code calls the deleteProduct method
shown in part 2 to delete the product with the specified code from the text file.
To do that, this method calls the get method of the ProductIO class to get a
Product object that corresponds with the specified code. Then, it calls the delete
method of the ProductIO class to delete this product from the text file.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 457

The console
Welcome to the Product Manager

COMMAND MENU
list - List all products
add - Add a product
del - Delete a product
help - Show this menu
exit - Exit this application

Enter a command: list

PRODUCT LIST
java Murach's Java Programming $57.50
jsp Murach's Java Servlets and JSP $57.50
mysql Murach's MySQL $54.50
android Murach's Android Programming $57.50
html5 Murach's HTML5 and CSS3 $54.50
oracle Murach's Oracle and PL/SQL $54.50
javascript Murach's JavaScript and jQuery $54.50

Enter a command: add

Enter product code: bjava

Enter product description: Murach's Beginning Java
Enter price: 54.50

Murach's Beginning Java was added to the database.

Enter a command: del

Enter product code to delete: bjava

Murach's Beginning Java was deleted from the database.

Enter a command: exit

Bye.

Description
•• This application allows you to manage the products that are stored in a text file.
When it starts, it displays a list of commands that you can use. Then, it prompts
you to enter one of these commands.
•• To view the products, you can use the list command.
•• To add or delete a product, you can use the add or del commands.
•• To display the list of commands again, you can use the help command.
•• To exit the application, you can type the exit command.

Figure 17-10 The console for the Product Manager application

458 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

The Main class

package murach.ui;

import java.util.List;
import murach.business.Product;
import murach.io.ProductIO;

public class Main {

public static void main(String args[]) {

// display a welcome message

System.out.println("Welcome to the Product Manager\n");

// display the command menu

displayMenu();

// perform 1 or more actions

String action = "";
while (!action.equalsIgnoreCase("exit")) {
// get the input from the user
action = Console.getString("Enter a command: ");
System.out.println();

if (action.equalsIgnoreCase("list")) {
displayAllProducts();
} else if (action.equalsIgnoreCase("add")) {
addProduct();
} else if (action.equalsIgnoreCase("del") ||
action.equalsIgnoreCase("delete")) {
deleteProduct();
} else if (action.equalsIgnoreCase("help") ||
action.equalsIgnoreCase("menu")) {
displayMenu();
} else if (action.equalsIgnoreCase("exit")) {
System.out.println("Bye.\n");
} else {
System.out.println("Error! Not a valid command.\n");
}
}
}

public static void displayMenu() {

System.out.println("COMMAND MENU");
System.out.println("list - List all products");
System.out.println("add - Add a product");
System.out.println("del - Delete a product");
System.out.println("help - Show this menu");
System.out.println("exit - Exit this application\n");
}

Figure 17-11 The Main class (part 1 of 2)

 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 459

The Main class (continued)

public static void displayAllProducts() {
System.out.println("PRODUCT LIST");

List<Product> products = ProductIO.getAll();

if (products == null) {
System.out.println("\nError! Unable to get products.\n");
} else {
Product p;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (Product product : products) {
p = product;
sb.append(StringUtil.padWithSpaces(
p.getCode(), 12));
sb.append(StringUtil.padWithSpaces(
p.getDescription(), 34));
sb.append(p.getPriceFormatted());
sb.append("\n");
}
System.out.println(sb.toString());
}
}

public static void addProduct() {

String code = Console.getString("Enter product code: ");
String description = Console.getString("Enter product description: ");
double price = Console.getDouble("Enter price: ");

Product product = new Product();

product.setCode(code);
product.setDescription(description);
product.setPrice(price);

ProductIO.add(product);
System.out.println("\n" + description
+ " was added to the database.\n");
}

public static void deleteProduct() {

String code = Console.getString("Enter product code to delete: ");

Product product = ProductIO.get(code);

if (product == null) {
System.out.println("\nError! Unable to get product.");
}
else {
ProductIO.delete(product);
System.out.println("\n" + product.getDescription() +
" was deleted from the database.\n");
}
}
}

Figure 17-11 The Main class (part 2 of 2)

460 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Perspective
In this chapter, you learned how to read and write text files. In addition,
you learned how you can use a class such as the ProductIO class to store the
data for business objects such as Product objects in a text file. This should help
you see how the presentation, business, and database layers of an application
can work together.
As you work with text files, remember that they are only one option for
storing data. Another option is to store data in a database. Because databases
provide sophisticated features for organizing and managing data, they’re used
for most serious applications. You’ll learn how to work with databases in
chapters 19 and 20.
If you need to read and write objects to a binary file, you may want to
consider using a Java feature known as object serialization. This feature
automates the process of reading and writing objects to a binary file. Most
programmers don’t need to write code that performs serialization unless they
are writing low-level code. For example, a programmer who is writing a Java
EE application server might use serialization to read and write objects to a
binary file. However, an application programmer who is using the application
server doesn’t need to write this code. Instead, the application programmer
only needs to provide objects that implement the Serializable interface.

Summary
•• A text file stores data as characters. A binary file stores data in a binary
format.
•• In a delimited text file, delimiters are used to separate the fields and records
of the file.
•• You use character streams to read and write text files. To get the function-
ality you need, you can layer two or more streams.
•• A buffer is a block of memory that is used to store the data in a stream
before it is written to or after it is read from an I/O device. When an output
buffer is full, its data is flushed to the I/O device.
•• When you work with I/O operations, you’ll need to catch or throw three
types of checked exceptions: IOException, FileNotFoundException, and
EOFException.
•• To identify a file when you create a File object, you can use an absolute path
name or a relative path name.
•• The java.nio.file package provides classes and interfaces that you can use to
check whether a file or directory exists, to get information about a path, to
create or delete directories and files, and to create a File object.
•• You can use the classes in the Writer and Reader hierarchies to work with a
text file.
 Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O 461

Exercise 17-1 Work with a text file

In this exercise, you’ll add code to a Customer Manager application for reading
and writing data from a text file named customers.txt. Each record in this file
contains three fields with the customer’s first name, last name, and email. The
fields are separated by a tab character, and the records are separated by a new
line character.

Review the code for the application

1. Import the project named ch17_ex1_CustomerManager that’s in the ex_starts
folder.
2. Open the Customer class and review its code.
Add the I/O code to the application
3. Open the CustomerTextFile class, and notice the three static variables that
store the list of Customer objects, a Path object for the file, and a File object
for the file. Add code to initialize these variables.
4. Add code to the getCustomers method that loads the list variable with the
Customer objects that are created from the data in the customers.txt file.
Be sure to check that this file exists, and if it does, use a try-with-resources
statement to open the input stream. If an IOException occurs when the input
stream is opened, print the exception to the console and return a null to the
calling method.
5. Add code to the saveCustomers method that writes the data in each Customer
object in the list to a record in the customer file. Be sure to delimit the fields
and records with the appropriate character. If an IOException occurs when the
output stream is opened, print the exception to the console and return false to
the calling method.
6. Run the application, and test the list, add, and delete functions to be sure they
work correctly.

Exercise 17-2 Modify the exception handling

In this exercise, you’ll modify the way that exceptions are handled by the
ProductIO and Main classes of the Product Manager application.

Open the application and review its code

1. Import the project named ch17_ex2_ProductManager that’s in the ex_starts
folder.
2. Open the ProductIO class. Note that the getAll and saveAll methods handle
all I/O exceptions. Note also that all methods besides the getAll method begin
by calling the getAll method.
3. Open the Main class. Note that it doesn’t contain any exception handling
code.
4. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
462 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Modify the exception handling code

5. In the ProductIO class, modify the getAll method so it throws an IOExcep-
tion. Since all other methods call this method, you’ll also need to modify all
other methods in the class so they throw an IOException.
6. Modify the getAll method so it doesn’t use a try-with-resources statement to
catch any exceptions.
7. Modify the saveAll method so it doesn’t use a try-with-resources statement to
catch any exceptions. At this point, the ProductIO class should throw excep-
tions but not handle any of them.
8. In the Main class, add code that handles the exceptions that are thrown by the
ProductIO class. To do that, you can add try/catch statements that have a catch
block that prints two lines to the console like this:

Error! Unable to get products.

java.io.IOException: Test

Here, the first line is a user-friendly message, and the second line contains
details about the exception that was thrown.
9. Run the application to make sure it works correctly.
Test the new exception handling code
10. In the ProductIO class, add the following code to the beginning of the getAll
method:

if (true) {
throw new IOException("Test");
}

11. Run the application and test the exception handling. At this point, you should
be able to test the exception handling for the list, add, and delete commands.
12. In the ProductIO class, comment out the statement that throws the IOExcep-
tion. Then, run the application to make sure it still works correctly.
 18
How to work with threads
When you run an application in Java, the application runs in one or more
threads. So far in this book, all of the applications have executed within a single
thread. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to develop applications that run in two
or more threads that perform separate tasks. For example, you can use one
thread to retrieve data from a database while another thread makes a compli-
cated calculation. Then, the application can alternate between the two tasks so
it runs more efficiently.

An introduction to threads.................................................464
How threads work........................................................................................ 464
Typical uses for threads............................................................................... 464
Classes and interfaces for working with threads......................................... 466
The life cycle of a thread............................................................................. 468
Two ways to create threads................................................470
Constructors and methods of the Thread class............................................470
How to extend the Thread class....................................................................472
How to implement the Runnable interface...................................................474
How to synchronize threads..............................................476
How to use synchronized methods...............................................................476
When to use synchronized methods.............................................................476
Perspective..........................................................................478
464 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

An introduction to threads
Before you learn how to develop applications that use two or more threads,
you need to understand how threads work and when you would typically use
them. You also need to be familiar with the classes and interfaces you use when
you work with threads, and you need to understand the life cycle of a thread.
That’s what you’ll learn in the topics that follow.

How threads work

As figure 18-1 explains, a thread is a single flow of execution through an
application. By default, Java applications use a single thread, called the main
thread. This thread begins executing with the first statement of an application’s
main method and continues executing statements in sequence until the main
method exits. The application may create additional objects and call additional
methods, but the flow of control is always sequential, one statement at a time.
In some cases, single-threaded execution can be inefficient. For example,
imagine an application that performs two independent tasks. To accomplish the
first task, the application must read data from a file, and this task spends most of
its time waiting for file I/O operations to complete. As a result, the second task
must wait too, even though it doesn’t require any I/O operations.
The first diagram in this figure shows how this application might work when
executed as a single thread. First, the application performs the first task. In this
case, the CPU (central processing unit) is idle while it waits for the I/O opera-
tions required by this task. When the first task is complete, the application runs
the second task.
The second diagram shows how this application could benefit from being
split into two threads, one to perform each task. Here, using two threads allows
the two tasks to overlap, so the second task is executed while the first task waits
on I/O operations. The result is that the two tasks finish sooner than they would
if they were executed as a single thread.
Applications that perform several tasks that aren’t dependent on one another
benefit the most from multithreading. For example, the second task shown in
this figure can only be overlapped with the first task if the second task doesn’t
depend on the results of the first task. If the second task depends on the results of
the first task, some overlap may still be possible, but the two tasks must commu-
nicate with each other so they can coordinate their operations.

Typical uses for threads

In addition to showing the basics of how threads work, figure 18-1 lists three
of the most common uses for threads. The first is to improve the performance
of I/O operations. Any application that performs extensive I/O can benefit from
multithreading. That’s because I/O operations are thousands of times slower than
CPU operations. So any application that reads data from a disk spends almost all
of its time waiting for that information to be retrieved.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 465

How using threads can improve performance

Typical uses for threads

•• To improve the performance of applications with extensive I/O operations
•• To improve the responsiveness of GUI applications
•• To allow two or more users to run server-based applications simultaneously

Description
•• A thread is a single sequential flow of control within an application. A thread often
completes a specific task.
•• By default, a Java application uses a single thread, called the main thread.
However, some applications can benefit by using two or more threads to allow
different parts of the application to execute simultaneously.
•• On a computer that has just one CPU (central processing unit) core, the threads
don’t actually execute simultaneously. Instead, a part of the operating system
called the thread scheduler alternately lets each thread execute. This happens faster
than humans are able to realize, thus giving the appearance that all of the tasks
are running at the same time. As a result, this can make an application work more
efficiently.
•• Most modern CPUs have multiple cores and can run multiple threads at the same
time, even though there is only one CPU.

Figure 18-1 How threads work

466 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

To give you some perspective on this, you should realize that the actual
amount of time that the CPU spends waiting for I/O to complete is much greater
than what’s indicated in figure 18-1. In fact, since each of the blocks that show
task 1 executing are about one half of an inch long, the blocks that show the
CPU waiting for I/O would probably need to be about the length of a football
field to show the wait time accurately. That’s about how much slower disk opera-
tions are than CPU operations.
The second reason for using threads is to improve the responsiveness of
applications that use graphical user interfaces. For example, when a user clicks
a button, he or she expects the application to respond immediately, even if the
application is busy doing something else. A GUI application that uses Swing as
described in chapters 21 and 22 automatically runs in a thread that handles the
events that occur when the user interacts with the GUI. Then, it updates the GUI
accordingly. However, if the application needs to perform a task that may take a
long time, this task should be performed in a second thread.
The final reason for using multithreading is to allow two or more users
to run server-based applications simultaneously. For example, Java servlets
automatically create one thread for each user. (To learn more about web
programming in Java, you can read, Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP. For now,
you should just realize that each person who uses a servlet runs it in a separate
thread. As a result, when you write servlet code, you must make sure that the
code is thread-safe.)

Classes and interfaces for working with threads

Figure 18-2 presents a class and an interface that you can use to create and
work with threads and summarizes the key methods they provide. To start, the
Thread class inherits the Object class, which means it has access to all of its
public and protected methods. In addition, the Thread class implements the
Runnable interface. Because the Runnable interface declares a single method
named run, that means that the Thread class must implement this method.
To create a thread, you can use one of two techniques. First, you can define a
class that inherits the Thread class. This class should override the run method so
it contains the code to be executed by the thread. Then, you can instantiate this
class to create a thread.
Second, you can define a class that implements the Runnable interface. To
do that, this class must implement the run method. Then, you pass an instance of
this class to a constructor of the Thread class. This creates a thread that executes
the Runnable object by calling its run method.
If these two techniques seem confusing right now, don’t worry. They should
become clearer when you see examples later in this chapter. For now, you just
need to know that the Thread class defines a thread, but the code that’s executed
by the thread can be provided by any class that implements the Runnable
interface.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 467

An interface and a class that are used to create threads

Summary of these classes and interfaces

Class/Interface Description
Thread A class that defines a thread. This class implements the Runnable interface.
Runnable An interface that must be implemented by any class whose objects are going to
be executed by a thread. The only method in this interface is the run method.

Key methods of the Thread class and Runnable interface

Method Class/Interface Description
start Thread Registers this thread with the thread scheduler so it’s avail-
able for execution.
run Runnable, Thread An abstract method that’s declared by the Runnable interface
and implemented by the Thread class. The thread scheduler
calls this method to run the thread.
sleep Thread Causes the current thread to wait (sleep) for a specified
period of time so the CPU can run other threads.
stop Thread This method should never be used and only exists for
compatibility reasons. It is inherently unsafe and can leave
the data it was using in an inconsistent state.

Two ways to create a thread

•• Inherit the Thread class.
•• Implement the Runnable interface. Then, pass a reference to the Runnable object to
the constructor of the Thread class.

Description
•• After you create a Thread object, you can call its start method so the thread
scheduler can run the thread. Then, you can use the other methods shown above to
manage the thread.
•• The advantage of implementing the Runnable interface is that it allows the thread
to inherit a class other than the Thread class.

Figure 18-2 Classes and interfaces for working with threads

468 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

The life cycle of a thread

Figure 18-3 shows the life cycle of a thread and explains each of the five
states a thread can be in. To create a thread, the programmer writes code that
defines a class for the thread and instantiates a Thread object. When the Thread
object is first instantiated, it is placed in the New state, which means that the
thread has been created but is not yet ready to be run.
When the application is ready for the thread to be run, it calls the thread’s
start method. Although you might think that this causes the thread to begin
execution, all it really does is change the state of the thread from New to
Runnable. Once it’s in the Runnable state, the thread joins a list of any other
threads that are also in the Runnable state. Then, a component of the operating
system called the thread scheduler selects one of the Runnable threads to be
executed.
Note that there isn’t a separate state for the thread that’s running. The thread
that’s running is in the Runnable state, as well as all other threads that are
eligible to be running. Also, the thread scheduler may at any time decide that the
thread that’s currently running has been running long enough. Then, the thread
scheduler interrupts that thread and lets one of the other threads in the Runnable
state run. This doesn’t change the state of either thread.
A thread enters the Blocked state if a condition occurs that makes the thread
temporarily not runnable. For example, a thread enters the Blocked state when it
is waiting for an I/O operation to complete. The thread automatically returns to
the Runnable state when the I/O operation completes. A thread that’s in Blocked
state can’t be selected for execution by the thread scheduler.
The Waiting state comes into play when threads need to coordinate their
activities. For example, if a thread can’t continue what it’s doing until another
thread completes, it can enter the Waiting state. Then, when the other thread it is
waiting on completes its task, it can notify the waiting thread to stop waiting and
enter the Runnable state again.
Finally, when the run method of a thread finishes execution, the thread enters
the Terminated state. Once a thread has entered the Terminated state, it remains
there until the application ends.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 469

The life cycle of a thread

Thread states
State Description
New The thread has been created (its constructor has been called), but not yet started.
Runnable The thread’s start method has been called and the thread is available to be run by
the thread scheduler. A thread in Runnable state may actually be running, or it
may be waiting in the thread queue for an opportunity to run.
Blocked The thread has been temporarily removed from the Runnable state so it can’t be
executed. This can happen if the thread’s sleep method is called, if the thread
is waiting on I/O, or if the thread requests a lock on an object that’s already
locked. When the condition changes (for example, the I/O operation completes),
the thread is returned to the Runnable state.
Waiting The thread is waiting and allowing other threads to access the object. It remains
in the waiting state until another thread notifies it to stop waiting and re-enter
the Runnable state.
Terminated The thread’s run method has ended.

Description
•• All threads have a life cycle that can include five states: New, Runnable, Blocked,
Waiting, and Terminated.

Figure 18-3 The life cycle of a thread

470 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Two ways to create threads

In the topics that follow, you’ll learn two ways to create a thread. But first,
you’ll learn more about the Thread class, which you must use regardless of how
you create a thread.

Constructors and methods of the Thread class

The first table in figure 18-4 summarizes some of the constructors you
can use to create Thread objects. The first constructor is used by default when
you instantiate a class that inherits the Thread class. (Of course, you can also
overload this constructor or define other constructors just as you can for any
subclass.) The second constructor is used to create a thread from an object that
implements the Runnable interface.
The third and fourth constructors let you specify the name of the thread
that’s created. By default, threads are named numerically (Thread-0, Thread-1,
etc.). Since you don’t typically refer to threads by name, the defaults are usually
acceptable.
The second table in this figure presents some of the methods of the Thread
class. You can use these methods to get information about a thread and to control
when a thread runs.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 471

The Thread class

java.lang.Thread;

Common constructors of the Thread class

Constructor Description
Thread() Creates a default Thread object.
Thread(Runnable) Creates a Thread object from any object that implements the
Runnable interface.
Thread(String) Creates a Thread object with the specified name.
Thread(Runnable, String) Creates a Thread object with the specified name from any object
that implements the Runnable interface.

Common methods of the Thread class

Method Description
run() Implements the run method of the Runnable interface. This method should be
overridden in all subclasses to provide the code that’s executed by a thread.
start() Places a thread in the Runnable state so it can be run by the thread scheduler.
getName() Returns the name of a thread.
currentThread() A static method that returns a reference to the currently executing thread.
sleep(long) A static method that places the currently executing thread in the Blocked
state for the specified number of milliseconds so other threads can run.
isInterrupted() Returns a true value if a thread has been interrupted.

Description
•• By default, the threads that you create explicitly are named numerically. If that’s
not what you want, you can specify the name on the constructor of the thread.
•• The sleep method throws an InterruptedException. Because this is a checked excep-
tion, you must throw or catch this exception when you use the sleep method.

Figure 18-4 Constructors and methods of the Thread class

472 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to extend the Thread class

Figure 18-5 shows how to create a thread by extending the Thread class.
Here, the IOThread class defines a thread that simulates an I/O operation, and
the Main class contains the main method that’s run when the application starts.
The IOThread class starts by inheriting the Thread class. Then, it overrides
the run method to provide the code that’s executed when the thread is run.
Within this method, the first statement prints the name of the thread. Then, the
run method uses the static sleep method to place the thread in Blocked state
for 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds). After 2 seconds, the thread is returned to
Runnable state so the thread scheduler can resume its execution.
Because the sleep method can throw an InterruptedException, that excep-
tion must be either caught or thrown. This exception indicates that some other
thread is attempting to interrupt the current thread while it is sleeping. How you
deal with this exception depends on the application. In this case, the application
simply ignores any attempts to interrupt the thread by catching the exception but
not providing any code to process it. Normally, “swallowing” an exception like
this is not a good programming practice. In this case, however, it’s appropriate.
If you use the sleep method, you should also realize that it doesn’t guarantee
that the thread will start running after the amount of time you specify. Instead,
it simply guarantees that the thread will be returned to the Runnable state after
that amount of time. It’s up to the thread scheduler to decide when the thread
will resume execution. Because of that, you shouldn’t use the sleep method for
applications that require precise timing.
The Main class contains the main method for the application. Within this
method, the first statement calls the currentThread method of the Thread class
and assigns the Thread object that’s returned to a variable named t1. Then, the
second statement uses the println method to display a message that indicates that
the thread has started. To include the name of the thread in this message, this
code uses the getName method to get the name of the current thread.
The third statement creates the IOThread object and assigns it to a Thread
variable named t2. Then, the fourth statement starts the thread by calling its start
method. This places the thread in the Runnable state so the thread scheduler can
run it. The fifth statement prints a message indicating that the main thread has
started the second thread. And the sixth statement prints a message indicating
that the main thread has finished.
The first three lines of the output shown at the bottom of this figure are
printed by the main method, which runs in a thread named “main”. Then, the
next two lines are printed by the thread that’s created from the IOThread class,
named “Thread-0”. The first line is printed at the beginning of the run method
to indicate that the thread has started, and the second line is printed at the end
of the run method to indicate that the thread has finished. This output shows
that the main thread can continue executing while the code in the second thread
executes. In other words, the statements in the main method don’t have to wait
for the statements in the run method of the second thread to finish.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 473

A procedure for creating a thread from the Thread class

1. Create a class that inherits the Thread class.
2. Override the run method to perform the desired task.
3. Create the thread by instantiating an object from the class.
4. Call the start method of the thread object.

A class named IOThread that defines a thread

public class IOThread extends Thread {
@Override
public void run() {
System.out.println(this.getName() + " started.");
try {
Thread.sleep(2000); // Sleep for 2 seconds to simulate
// an IO task that takes a long time
}
catch(InterruptedException e) {}
System.out.println(this.getName() + " finished.");
}
}

A Main class that starts a thread

public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Thread t1 = Thread.currentThread();
System.out.println(t1.getName() + " started.");

Thread t2 = new IOThread(); // create the IO thread

t2.start(); // start the IO thread
System.out.println(t1.getName() + " starts " + t2.getName() + ".");

System.out.println(t1.getName() + " finished.");

}
}

Sample output
main started.
main starts Thread-0.
main finished.
Thread-0 started.
Thread-0 finished.

Figure 18-5 How to extend the Thread class

474 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to implement the Runnable interface

Figure 18-6 shows how to create a thread by implementing the Runnable
interface. Although this method of creating threads requires a little more code,
it’s also more flexible because it lets you define a thread that inherits a class
other than the Thread class.
If you compare this code to the code in the previous figure, you’ll notice
that the IOTask class differs in several ways from the IOThread class. To start,
the IOTask class implements the Runnable interface rather than extending the
Thread class. Then, within the run method of the IOTask class, the first statement
calls the static currentThread method of the Thread class to get a reference to the
thread that’s currently executing. That way, the getName method can be used to
get the name of this thread.
In the main method, you can’t create a Thread object directly from the
IOTask class. Instead, you have to create a Runnable object from this class and
pass it to the constructor of the Thread class. That’s shown in the third statement
of the main method.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 475

A procedure for creating a thread using the Runnable interface

1. Create a class that implements the Runnable interface.
2. Implement the run method to perform the desired task.
3. Create the thread by supplying an instance of the Runnable class to the Thread
constructor.
4. Call the start method of the thread object.

An IOTask class that implements the Runnable interface

public class IOTask implements Runnable {
@Override
public void run() {
Thread ct = Thread.currentThread();
System.out.println(ct.getName() + " started.");
try {
Thread.sleep(2000); // Sleep for 2 seconds to simulate
// an IO task that takes a long time
}
catch(InterruptedException e) {}

System.out.println(ct.getName() + " finished.");

}
}

A Main class that starts a thread using the Runnable interface

public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Thread t1 = Thread.currentThread();
System.out.println(t1.getName() + " started.");

Thread t2 = new Thread(new IOTask()); // create the new thread

t2.start(); // start the new thread
System.out.println(t1.getName() + " starts " + t2.getName() + ".");

System.out.println(t1.getName() + " finished.");

}
}

Sample output
main started.
main starts Thread-0.
main finished.
Thread-0 started.
Thread-0 finished.

Figure 18-6 How to create a thread by implementing the Runnable interface

476 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

How to synchronize threads

So far, the threads in this chapter execute independently of each other. These
types of threads are known as asynchronous threads. However, in some cases,
multiple threads need to use the same fields within a class or object. These types
of threads are known as synchronous threads, and they need to be coordinated so
they can work together without causing any problems.
Concurrency refers to a situation where multiple threads are using the same
class or object at the same time. Whenever this happens, concurrency problems
such as lost updates can result.
When you design classes that might be used by multiple threads, you need to
make sure that they are thread-safe. This means that multiple threads can safely
use them without causing concurrency problems.

How to use synchronized methods

One common way to create a thread-safe class is to add the synchronized
keyword to any methods that aren’t thread-safe as shown in figure 18-7. Here,
the InvoiceQueue class defines an object that allows a thread to add or remove an
invoice from a list of invoices.
Within this class, the declaration for the add method includes the synchro-
nized keyword. As a result, when a thread calls this method, the Java virtual
machine locks the object until this method finishes executing.
When an object is locked, the entire object is locked, not just the synchro-
nized method. In other words, when a thread calls one synchronized method, all
of the synchronized methods are locked. In this figure, for example, if a thread
calls the add method, both the add and remove methods are locked until the add
method finishes executing.
However, when an object is locked, unsynchronized methods are not locked.
In this figure, for example, the print method doesn’t include the synchronized
keyword. As a result, the Java virtual machine doesn’t lock this method.

When to use synchronized methods

So far, most of the applications in this book only use a single thread, the
main thread. As a result, the classes in these applications don’t need to use
synchronized methods. However, if multiple threads may access a class, you
may need to use synchronized methods.
As a general rule, any methods that access the instance variables of an
object should be synchronized. This prevents two threads from accessing the
same instance variables at the same time. In this figure, both the add and remove
methods work with the instance variable named invoiceQueue that stores the list
of invoices. As a result, both of these methods should be synchronized. However,
the print method doesn’t access any instance variables. As a result, it doesn’t
need to be synchronized.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 477

The syntax for creating a synchronized method

public|private synchronized returnType methodName([parameterList]) {
statements
}

A class that contains two synchronized methods

public class InvoiceQueue {
private ArrayList<Invoice> invoiceQueue = new ArrayList<>();

public synchronized void add(Invoice invoice) {

invoiceQueue.add(invoice);
}

public synchronized Invoice remove() {

if (invoiceQueue.size() > 1) {
return invoiceQueue.remove(0);
} else {
return null;
}
}

public void print() {

System.out.println("This method doesn't need to be synchronized.");
}
}

Description
•• Asynchronous threads execute independently of each other. Synchronous threads
need to be coordinated if they could access the same field within a class or object at
the same time.
•• Concurrency refers to a state when multiple threads use the same class or object at
the same time. Whenever this happens, concurrency problems such as lost updates
may occur.
•• When you code a class that multiple threads may use, you need to make sure that
the class is thread-safe. This means that multiple threads can use it safely without
causing concurrency problems.
•• The synchronized keyword locks the class or object and guarantees that only one
thread at a time can execute any of its synchronized methods. Any other thread that
attempts to run any synchronized method for the class or object is blocked until the
first thread releases the lock by exiting the synchronized method.
•• A thread can run an unsynchronized method even if the class or object is locked by
a synchronized method. This can potentially cause problems if the unsynchronized
method accesses the same field that’s used by a synchronized method.
•• It’s a best practice to use synchronized methods whenever two or more threads
might execute the same method, and the method accesses instance variables of the
class or object. This is true even if the method only contains one line of code.

Figure 18-7 How to synchronize threads

478 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

Perspective
In this chapter, you learned the basic skills for working with threads.
Threads are a complex topic, so this chapter could only provide a very brief
introduction. Frankly, threading is one of the most challenging topics in this
book. So don’t be too worried if you don’t understand every detail of how it
works. As you learn more about different types of Java programming, such as
web programming or Android programming, you’ll learn more about working
with threads in those environments.
On that note, there’s more to learn about working with threads when
programming applications that use graphical user interfaces (GUIs). One
important concept is described later in this book at the end of chapter 22.

Summary
•• A thread is a single sequential flow of control within an application that
often completes a specific task.
•• A multithreaded application consists of two or more threads whose execu-
tion can overlap.
•• A single core processor can only execute one thread at a time, and the thread
scheduler determines which thread to execute.
•• Most modern processors have multiple cores and can run more than one
thread at the same time. In this case, the thread scheduler determines which
threads to run, and which core to run them on.
•• Multithreading is typically used to improve the performance of applications
with I/O operations, to improve the responsiveness of GUI operations, and to
allow two or more users to run server-based applications simultaneously.
•• You can create a thread by extending the Thread class and then instantiating
the new class. Or, you can implement the Runnable interface and then pass a
reference to the Runnable object to the constructor of the Thread class.
•• You can use the methods of the Thread class to start a thread and to control
when a thread runs.
•• The synchronized keyword on a method ensures that two or more threads
cannot run the method at the same time.
•• Asynchronous threads execute independently of each other.
•• Synchronized methods can be used to ensure that two threads don’t run the
same method of an object simultaneously. When a thread calls a synchro-
nized method, the object that contains that method is locked so other threads
can’t access it.
•• It’s generally considered a best practice to synchronize any methods where
there’s potential for two threads to access the same field of a class or object
at the same time.
 Chapter 18 How to work with threads 479

Exercise 18-1 Extend the Thread class

In this exercise, you’ll create an application that extends the Thread class to
create one thread that prints odd numbers from 1 to 10 and another thread that
prints even numbers from 1 to 10. The output from this application should look
something like this:

main started.
Thread-0 started.
Thread-1 started.
main finished.
1
3
5
2
4
7
9
Thread-0 finished.
6
8
10
Thread-1 finished.

1. Import the project named ch18_ex1_Counter in the ex_starts folder. Review

the code for the Main class and note that it prints a message to the console
that indicates when the main thread starts and finishes.
2. Add a class named CounterThread that extends the Thread class.
3. Add an instance variable for a starting value and a constructor that sets that
starting value like this:
private final int startingValue;

public CounterThread(int startingValue) {

this.startingValue = startingValue;
}
4. In the CounterThread class, add a run method that prints every other number
from the starting value to 10 to the console and displays an appropriate
message when it’s finished.
5. In the Main class, add code to create and start two instances of the Counter-
Thread class. The first should use the ODD constant to specify the starting
value, and the second should use the EVEN constant to specify the starting
value.
6. Run the application two or more times to make sure it works correctly. The
output may vary each time you run the application.
7. Depending on the speed of your system, it’s possible that one thread will
finish running before the thread scheduler switches threads. In that case, it
may look like the two threads are running in sequence rather than in parallel.
480 Section 4 More essential skills as you need them

8. Add a Thread.sleep call to CounterThread to make the thread sleep for one
second between each number. See if this changes the order of the output when
you run the application.
9. Run the application two or more times to make sure it works correctly. The
output may vary each time you run the application.

Exercise 18-2 Implement the Runnable interface

In this exercise, you’ll create an application that’s similar to the one that you
created in exercise 18-1. However, in this exercise, you implement the Runnable
interface instead of extending the Thread class.
1. Import the project named ch18_ex2_Counter in the ex_starts folder. Review
the code for the Main class and note that it prints a message to the console
that indicates when the main thread starts and finishes.
2. Add a class named CounterThread to the project that implements the
Runnable interface.
3. Follow steps 3 through 9 from the previous exercise.
Section 5

Real-world skills
For most Java applications in the real world, the critical data is stored in
a database. In most cases, this provides many advantages over storing
the data in a file as described in chapter 17. That’s why the first two
chapters in this section present the essential database skills that you need
for developing Java applications. In particular, they describe the essential
database skills that you need to develop the Product Manager application
that’s presented throughout this section.
In addition, most desktop Java applications use a graphical user
interface (GUI) to interact with the user. That’s why the third and fourth
chapters in this section show how to create a GUI. In particular, they
describe the essential skills you need to create the GUI for the Product
Manager application.
 19
How to work
with a MySQL database
You can use Java to work with almost any type of database. For desktop or web
applications, it’s common to use an Oracle or MySQL database. For Android
apps, it’s common to use a SQLite database. The database you end up using
depends on many factors.
Of these databases, MySQL is one of the most popular for Java applica-
tions. In addition, there’s an open-source version that’s free, easy to install,
and easy to use. As a result, this chapter shows how to create a MySQL
database that can store the data for the Product Manager application that’s
described in the next few chapters. As you learn this, you will also learn some
basic concepts and SQL (Structured Query Language) skills that apply to all
databases.

How a relational database is organized............................484

How a table is organized............................................................................. 484
How the tables in a database are related......................................................486
How the columns in a table are defined.......................................................488
An introduction to MySQL..................................................490
What MySQL provides.................................................................................490
Ways to interact with MySQL......................................................................492
How to open a database connection.............................................................494
How to enter and execute a SQL statement..................................................494
A SQL script that creates a database................................496
How to drop, create, and select a database...................................................496
How to create a table and insert data............................................................496
How to create a user and grant privileges....................................................496
The SQL statements for data manipulation......................498
How to select data from a table....................................................................498
How to insert, update, and delete rows........................................................ 500
Perspective..........................................................................502
484 Section 5 Real-world skills

How a relational database is organized

In 1970, Dr. E. F. Codd developed a model for a new type of database called
a relational database. This type of database eliminated some of the problems
that were associated with earlier types of databases like hierarchical databases.
By using the relational model, you can reduce data redundancy, which saves disk
storage and leads to more efficient data retrieval. You can also view and manipu-
late data in a way that is both intuitive and efficient. Today, relational databases
are the de facto standard for database applications.

How a table is organized

A relational database stores data in tables. Each table contains rows and
columns as shown in figure 19-1. In practice, rows and columns are often
referred to by the traditional terms, records and fields. That’s why this book uses
these terms interchangeably.
In a relational database, a table has one column that’s defined as the primary
key. The primary key uniquely identifies each row in a table. That way, the rows
in one table can easily be related to the rows in another table. In this table, the
ProductID column is the primary key.
The software that manages a relational database is called the database
management system (DBMS) or relational database management system
(RDBMS). The DBMS provides features that let you design the database. After
that, the DBMS manages all changes, additions, and deletions to the database.
Four of the most popular database management systems are Oracle, Microsoft
SQL Server, IBM’s DB2, and MySQL.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 485

The Product table

Primary key Columns

ProductID Code Description ListPrice

1 java Murach’s Java Programming 57.50
2 jsp Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP 57.50
3 mysql Murach’s MySQL 54.50
4 android Murach’s Android Programming 57.50
Rows
5 html5 Murach’s HTML5 and CSS3 54.50
6 oracle Murach’s Oracle and PL/SQL 54.50
7 javascript Murach’s JavaScript and jQuery 54.50

Description
•• A relational database uses tables to store and manipulate data. Each table contains
one or more records, or rows, that contain the data for a single entry. Each row
contains one or more fields, or columns, with each column representing a single
item of data.
•• Most tables contain a primary key that uniquely identifies each row in the table.
•• The software that manages a relational database is called a database management
system (DBMS). Four popular database management systems today are Oracle,
Microsoft SQL Server, IBM’s DB2, and MySQL.

Figure 19-1 How a table is organized

486 Section 5 Real-world skills

How the tables in a database are related

Figure 19-2 shows how a relational database uses the values in the primary
key column to relate one table to another. Here, each ProductID column in the
LineItem table contains a value that identifies one row in the Product table. Since
the ProductID column in the LineItem table points to a primary key in another
table, it’s called a foreign key. Often, a table has several foreign keys.
In this figure, each row in the Product table relates to one or more rows in
the LineItem table. As a result, the Product table has a one-to-many relation-
ship with the LineItem table. Although a one-to-many relationship is the most
common type of relationship between tables, you can also have a one-to-one
relationship or a many-to-many relationship. However, a one-to-one relation-
ship between two tables is rare since the data can be stored in a single table. In
contrast, a many-to-many relationship between two tables is typically imple-
mented by using a third table that has a one-to-many relationship with both of
the original tables.
Incidentally, the primary key in the LineItem table is the LineItemID
column. It is automatically generated by the DBMS when a new row is added
to the database. This works like the ProductID column of the Product table. In
general, it’s a common practice for the database to automatically generate the
value for the primary key.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 487

The relationship between the Product and LineItem tables

Primary key

ProductID Code Description ListPrice

1 java Murach’s Java Programming 57.50
2 jsp Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP 57.50
3 mysql Murach’s MySQL 54.50
4 android Murach’s Android Programming 57.50
5 html5 Murach’s HTML5 and CSS3 54.50
6 oracle Murach’s Oracle and PL/SQL 54.50
7 javascript Murach’s JavaScript and jQuery 54.50

LineItemID InvoiceID ProductID Quantity

1 1 3 5
2 1 2 5
3 2 4 1
4 3 5 1
5 3 6 2
6 4 7 1
7 4 3 1
8 5 2 5

Foreign key

Description
•• The tables in a relational database are related to each other through their key
columns. For example, the ProductID column is used to relate the Product and
LineItem tables. The ProductID column in the LineItem table is called a foreign key
because it identifies a related row in the Product table.
•• Three types of relationships can exist between tables. The most common type is a
one-to-many relationship as illustrated above. However, two tables can also have a
one-to-one relationship or a many-to-many relationship.

Figure 19-2 How the tables in a database are related

488 Section 5 Real-world skills

How the columns in a table are defined

Figure 19-3 shows how a DBMS defines a column in a database. In
particular, it shows how the DBMS defines a name and data type for each
column, which are required by all relational databases. In addition, most modern
relational databases let you set other attributes for each column in the database
such as whether the column is the primary key, whether the values in the column
must be unique, whether the column can contain nulls, and so on.
This figure shows the names and data types for the columns in the Product
table. Here, the ProductID column is defined with the INT data type, which
maps to the int type in Java. The Code and Description columns are defined with
the VARCHAR data type, which maps to the String type in Java. Here, the Code
column can store a maximum of 10 characters, while the Description column can
store a maximum of 255 characters. In contrast, the ListPrice column is defined
with the DECIMAL data type, which maps to the double type in Java.
You can define a column so it can store a null. Then, you can store a null in
the column to indicate that that value for the column is unknown. However, you
can also define a column so it can’t store a null. In that case, you must provide a
value for the column when you attempt to add a row to the table.
For the Product table, the Code, Description, and ListPrice columns use
the NOT NULL attribute to specify that they can’t store a null. In addition,
the ProductID column uses the PRIMARY KEY attribute to specify that it’s a
primary key. As a result, this column can’t store a null. In addition, each row
must contain a unique value. Similarly, the Code column uses the UNIQUE
attribute to specify that each row must contain a unique value.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 489

The design of the Product table

Column name Data type Attribute
ProductID INT PRIMARY KEY
Code VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL UNIQUE
Description VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
ListPrice DECIMAL(10, 2) NOT NULL

Description
•• A database management system requires a name and data type for each column in a
table. Depending on the data type, the column definition can include other proper-
ties such as the column’s size.
•• Each column definition also specifies whether or not the column can contain a null.
A null indicates that the value of the column is not known.
•• A column definition can specify that the column is the primary key. A primary key
column can’t be null.
•• A column definition can specify that the column must contain a unique value. A
unique column can be null. However, if this column is not null, it must contain a
unique value.

Figure 19-3 How the columns in a table are defined

490 Section 5 Real-world skills

An introduction to MySQL
MySQL is an open-source database management system (DBMS) that you
can download for free from the MySQL website (www.mysql.com) as described
in the appendixes. It is also available as part of a hosting package from many
Internet Service Providers (ISPs). MySQL Workbench is a free graphical tool
that makes it easy to work with MySQL. As of press time for this book, the
current version of MySQL Workbench is version 6.3, so that’s the version
presented in this chapter. However, with some minor variations, the skills
presented in this chapter should work for earlier and later versions as well.

What MySQL provides

Figure 19-4 begins by listing some of the reasons that MySQL enjoys
such popularity. To start, it’s inexpensive and easy to use when compared with
products like Oracle Database or Microsoft SQL Server. It runs fast when
compared to those products, especially when you consider the costs. And it runs
on most modern operating systems, while Microsoft SQL Server runs only on
Windows.
Even though it’s free for most uses, MySQL provides most of the features
that you would expect from a modern relational database management system
(RDBMS). In particular, it provides support for Structured Query Language
(SQL), which is the industry standard. It provides support for multiple clients.
And it provides for connectivity and security.
That means you can write Java applications that use SQL statements to
access and update the data in a MySQL database. You can connect a Java
application to a MySQL database. And you can secure your data by restricting
access to it.
With MySQL 5.5 and later, MySQL provides referential integrity and
transaction processing by default. When you use these powerful features
correctly, they reduce the chance that your data will become corrupted. That’s
why commercial databases such as Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server
provide these features.
Prior to MySQL 5.0, MySQL didn’t provide referential integrity or transac-
tion processing. As a result, each application that was using MySQL had to
provide for these features. In the early days of web programming, this was
adequate for many types of web applications. These days, it usually makes sense
to have MySQL implement these features.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 491

MySQL is…
•• Inexpensive. MySQL is free for most uses and relatively inexpensive for other
uses.
•• Fast. By many accounts, MySQL is one of the fastest relational databases that’s
currently available.
•• Easy to use. Compared to other database management systems, MySQL is easy to
install and use.
•• Portable. MySQL runs on most modern operating systems including Windows, OS
X, and Linux.

MySQL provides…
•• Support for SQL. Like any modern database product, MySQL supports SQL,
which is the standard language for working with data that’s stored in relational
databases.
•• Support for multiple clients. MySQL supports access from multiple clients from a
variety of interfaces and programming languages including Java, PHP, Python, Perl,
and C.
•• Connectivity. MySQL can provide access to data via an intranet or the Internet.
•• Security. MySQL can protect access to your data so only authorized users can view
the data.
•• Referential integrity. With MySQL 5.5 and later, InnoDB tables are used by
default. These tables support referential integrity, which reduces the chance of data
corruption. Most commercial databases also provide this feature.
•• Transaction processing. With version 5.5, MySQL uses InnoDB tables by default.
These tables provide support for transaction processing, which reduces the chance
of data corruption. Most commercial databases also provide this feature.

Figure 19-4 An introduction to MySQL

492 Section 5 Real-world skills

Ways to interact with MySQL

Figure 19-5 shows two ways that you can interact with MySQL. When
you install MySQL, it includes a command-line tool like the one at the top of
this figure. Although this shows the command-line for the Windows operating
system, MySQL’s command-line tool works similarly on all operating systems.
In this example, the user has started the command-line tool, selected a database
named mma, and displayed seven rows from the Product table in that database.
If you install MySQL Workbench as described in the appendixes, you can
use it to work with a database as shown in this chapter. To do that, you can enter
a SQL statement in the SQL tab at the top of the tool and click on the Execute
button to run the SQL statement. Then, the results for the statement are displayed
in the Console window. You can also use the Schemas section of the Navigator
window to view and work with the databases that are running on the current
server. In this figure, for example, the Schemas section shows the columns for
the Product table of the mma database.
When you work with MySQL, you may notice that the terms database
and schema are often used interchangeably. For example, the mma database is
sometimes referred to as the mma schema.
In general, it’s easier to use MySQL Workbench than a command-line tool
to work with databases. That’s why this chapter shows you how to use MySQL
Workbench.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 493

The MySQL command line

MySQL Workbench

Description
•• When working with a desktop application, it’s common to use a GUI application
such as MySQL Workbench to work with a MySQL database.

Figure 19-5 Ways to work with MySQL

494 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to open a database connection

Whenever you use MySQL, its database server must be running. Usually,
this server starts automatically whenever you start your system. If it doesn’t, you
should be able to start it as described in the appendixes.
Before you can work with a database, you need to connect to the database
server. When you start MySQL Workbench, the MySQL Connections section
displays a list of saved connections.
By default, MySQL Workbench has one saved connection named “Local
instance MySQL56”, assuming you installed MySQL 5.6. To connect, click the
connection and enter the password for the root user if you’re prompted for it.

How to enter and execute a SQL statement

Once MySQL Workbench is connected to a database server, you can use it
to run SQL statements that work with the databases that are available from that
server. When you first connect to a MySQL server, MySQL Workbench automat-
ically opens a SQL tab. Figure 19-6 shows how to use the SQL tab to enter and
execute a SQL statement. In this figure, only one SQL tab is open. However, you
can open several SQL tabs at a time if you want. One easy way to open a SQL
tab is to click the Create New SQL Tab button in the SQL Editor toolbar.
Once you open a SQL tab, you can use standard techniques to enter or edit a
SQL statement. As you enter statements, you’ll notice that MySQL Workbench
automatically applies colors to various elements. For example, it displays
keywords in green. This makes your statements easier to read and understand
and can help you identify coding errors.
To execute a single SQL statement like the one in this figure, you can press
Ctrl+Enter or click the Execute Current Statement button in the SQL Editor
toolbar. If the statement returns data, that data is displayed below the SQL Editor
window in a corresponding Result grid. In this figure, for example, the result set
returned by the SELECT statement is displayed. If necessary, you can adjust the
height of the Result grid by dragging the bar that separates the SQL Editor tab
from the Result grid.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 495

A SELECT statement and its results

Create New SQL Execute Current SQL tab Result grid
Tab button Statement button

Description
• To open a new SQL tab, press Ctrl+T or click the Create New SQL Tab button in
the SQL editor toolbar.
• To select the current database, double-click it in the Schemas section of the
Navigator window. This displays the selected database in bold.
• To enter a SQL statement, type it into the SQL tab.
• As you enter the text for a statement, the SQL tab applies color to various elements,
such as SQL keywords, to make them easy to identify.
• To execute a SQL statement, press Ctrl+Enter, or click the Execute Current
Statement button in the SQL editor toolbar. If the statement retrieves data, the data
is displayed in a Result grid below the SQL tab.

Figure 19-6 How to execute a SQL statement with MySQL Workbench

496 Section 5 Real-world skills

A SQL script that creates a database

A SQL script is a file that typically contains multiple SQL statements. When
you code a script, you code a semicolon at the end of each SQL statement.
Scripts are often used to create a database. For example, figure 19-7 shows a
script that creates the database named mma.

How to drop, create, and select a database

This script begins with a DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS statement. This
script drops the entire mma database if it already exists, including all of its
tables. This suppresses any error messages that would be displayed if you
attempted to drop a database that didn’t exist.
After dropping this database, this script uses the CREATE DATABASE
command to create the mma database. Then, it uses the USE command to
select the mma database. As a result, the rest of the statements in the script are
executed against the mma database.

How to create a table and insert data

The CREATE TABLE statement creates the Product table of the mma
database. In this script, I have coded the primary key column first. Although this
isn’t required, it’s a good programming practice. Since the order in which you
declare the columns defines the default order for the columns, I have defined
these columns in a logical order. That way, when you use a SELECT * statement
to retrieve all of the columns, they’re returned in this order.
The INSERT INTO statement inserts seven rows into the Product table.
The VALUES clause supplies the data for each row. Here, the number of values
supplied for each row must match the number of columns for this table.

How to create a user and grant privileges

The GRANT statement at the end of the script creates a user named
mma_user on the local computer with a password of sesame. In addition, it
grants this user the SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE privileges on all
tables in the mma database. As a result, if you connect to MySQL from the local
computer as the user named mma_user, you can work with any of the data that’s
stored in the database named mma. However, you can’t change the structure of
this database.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 497

The SQL script that creates the database named mma

-- create and select the database
DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS mma;
CREATE DATABASE mma;
USE mma;

-- create the Product table

CREATE TABLE Product (
ProductID INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
Code VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
Description VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
ListPrice DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL
);

-- insert some rows into the Product table

INSERT INTO Product VALUES
(1, 'java', 'Murach''s Java Programming', '57.50'),
(2, 'jsp', 'Murach''s Java Servlets and JSP', '57.50'),
(3, 'mysql', 'Murach''s MySQL', '54.50'),
(4, 'android', 'Murach''s Android Programming', '57.50'),
(5, 'html5', 'Murach''s HTML5 and CSS3', '54.50'),
(6, 'oracle', 'Murach''s Oracle and PL/SQL', '54.50'),
(7, 'javascript', 'Murach''s JavaScript and jQuery', '54.50');

-- create a user and grant privileges to that user

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE
ON mma.*
TO mma_user@localhost
IDENTIFIED BY 'sesame';

Description
•• You can use the CREATE DATABASE statement to create a database and the
DROP DATABASE statement to delete a database. These are SQL statements.
•• You can use the USE command to select the database that you want to work with.
•• You can use the CREATE TABLE statement to create a table. When you create a
table, you define each of its columns and you identify its primary key. To define a
column, you must supply the name and the data type, whether it’s automatically
generated for new rows, and so on.
•• When you use MySQL, the INSERT statement lets you insert one or more rows
into one table of a database. When you code it, you need to include data for all
columns that aren’t defined with default values or aren’t automatically generated.
•• You can use the GRANT statement to create a user, specify a password for that
user, and grant privileges to the user.

Figure 19-7 The script that creates the database named mma
498 Section 5 Real-world skills

The SQL statements

for data manipulation
With the exception of the INSERT statement, most of the SQL statements
that you’ve seen thus far have been part of SQL’s Data Definition Language
(DDL). These statements let you create databases, drop databases, create tables,
create users, and so on. However, they don’t let you work with the data in the
tables.
In contrast, the statements that make up SQL’s Data Manipulation Language
(DML) let you work with the data in a database. As a result, they are the state-
ments that you typically use in your Java applications. These statements include
the SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements.

How to select data from a table

The SELECT statement is the most commonly used SQL statement. When
you run a SELECT statement, it is commonly referred to as a query. The result
of this query is known as a result set, or a result table.
In figure 19-8, the first example shows how to use this statement to retrieve
all rows and columns from the Product table. Here, the SELECT clause uses
the asterisk wildcard to indicate that all of the columns in the table should be
retrieved. Then, the FROM clause identifies the Product table. This query returns
four columns and seven rows.
The second example shows how to use this statement to retrieve two
columns and seven rows from the Product table. Here, the SELECT clause
identifies the two columns, and the FROM clause identifies the table. Last, the
ORDER BY clause indicates that the retrieved rows should be sorted by the
Description column.
The third example uses the WHERE clause to limit the number of rows
that are retrieved. To do that, it specifies that the statement should only retrieve
rows where the value in the ListPrice column is less than 56. Last, the ORDER
BY clause indicates that the retrieved rows should be sorted by the Description
column.
The result set is a logical table that’s created temporarily within the database.
Then, the current row pointer, or cursor, keeps track of the current row. You can
use this pointer from your Java applications.
As you might guess, queries can have a significant effect on the performance
of a database application. In general, the more columns and rows that a query
returns, the more traffic the network has to bear. As a result, when you design
queries for your application, you should try to keep the number of columns and
rows to a minimum.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 499

A SELECT statement that gets all columns

SELECT * FROM Product

Result set

A SELECT statement that gets selected columns

SELECT Description, ListPrice
FROM Product
ORDER BY Description

Result set

A SELECT statement that gets selected columns and selected rows

SELECT Description, ListPrice
FROM Product
WHERE ListPrice < 56
ORDER BY Description

Result set

Description
•• A SELECT statement is a SQL DML statement that returns a result set (or result
table) that consists of the specified rows and columns.
•• To specify the columns, you use the SELECT clause.
•• To specify the table that the data should be retrieved from, you use the FROM
clause.
•• To specify the rows, you use the WHERE clause.
•• To specify how the result set should be sorted, you use the ORDER BY clause.

Figure 19-8 How to select data from a single table

500 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to insert, update, and delete rows

Figure 19-9 shows how to use the INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE state-
ments to add, update, or delete one or more rows in a database.
The two examples for the INSERT statement show two ways to add the same
row to a database. Here, the first INSERT statement doesn’t specify a column list
after the name of the table. As a result, the VALUES clause must supply values
for all columns of the table.
However, the second INSERT statement supplies a column list after the
name of the table. As a result, the VALUES clause only needs to supply values
for the columns specified in the column list. This works because the Product
table has been defined so it automatically generates a value for the ProductID
column if this column isn’t specified in the column list.
Both of these INSERT statements use single quotes to identify the start and
end of numeric and string literals. As a result, to include a single quote within a
string literal, these statements must use two single quotes. This is necessary to be
able to insert an apostrophe into a string like “Murach’s PHP”.
The three examples for the UPDATE statement show how to update rows.
In the first example, the UPDATE statement updates the ListPrice column of the
Product table for the row where the Code column is equal to ‘javascript’. Since
each row contains a unique value in the Code column, this only updates one
row. In the second example, the UPDATE statement updates the ListPrice and
Description columns for the same row. In the third example, the UPDATE state-
ment updates the ListPrice column to 55.50 for all rows that have a ListPrice of
54.50.
The two examples for the DELETE statement show how to delete rows.
In the first example, the DELETE statement deletes one row from the Product
table, the row where the Code column equals ‘php’. In the second example, this
code doesn’t include a WHERE clause. As a result, it deletes all rows from the
Product table.
When you issue an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement from a
Java application, you usually work with one row at a time as shown in the next
chapter by the ProductDB class. SQL statements that affect more than one row
are typically issued by database administrators. Still, an application programmer
should understand how these statements work.
When you develop SQL statements, you need to know that the names of
the tables and columns are not case-sensitive on Windows. However, these
names are case-sensitive on Unix. As a result, if you use Windows to develop
an application and you don’t use the same case for these names, the application
will work fine until you try to run it on a Unix server. Then, the SQL statements
will fail. That’s why it’s a best practice to always use the same case for table and
column names even when you’re using Windows.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 501

An INSERT statement
That doesn’t use a column list
INSERT INTO Product
VALUES ('8', 'php', 'Murach''s PHP', '54.50')

That uses a column list

INSERT INTO Product (Code, Description, ListPrice)
VALUES ('php', 'Murach''s PHP', '54.50')

An UPDATE statement
That updates the ListPrice column in one row
UPDATE Product
SET ListPrice = '57.50'
WHERE Code = 'javascript'

That updates the ListPrice and Description columns in one row

UPDATE Product
SET ListPrice = '57.50', Description = 'Murach''s Beginning JavaScript'
WHERE Code = 'javascript'

That updates the ListPrice column in selected rows

UPDATE Product
SET ListPrice = '55.50'
WHERE ListPrice = '54.50'

A DELETE statement
That deletes one row from the Product table
DELETE FROM Product
WHERE Code = 'php'

That deletes all rows from the Product table

DELETE FROM Product

Description
•• The INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements modify the data that’s stored in a
database. These statements don’t return a result set. Instead, they return the number
of rows that were affected by the query.
•• To identify a numeric or string literal in a SQL statement, you can enclose the
literal in single quotes ('). To include a single quote within a string literal that’s
enclosed in single quotes, you can enter two single quotes.
•• On Unix systems, the table and column names are case-sensitive.

Figure 19-9 How to insert, update, and delete data

502 Section 5 Real-world skills

Perspective
The primary goal of this chapter is to introduce you to the database
concepts and SQL statements that you’ll need to develop database applications
with Java. The secondary goal of this chapter is to present the basic skills that
you need to use MySQL. If this chapter has succeeded, you should now under-
stand the SQL statements presented in this chapter, and you should be able to
use MySQL Workbench to run them.
Keep in mind, though, that this chapter has presented just a small subset of
SQL skills. In particular, it has only presented the SQL statements you need to
understand the Java code presented in the next chapter. For a complete mastery
of SQL, you’ll probably want to get a book about SQL for the database that
you’re using. If, for example, you’re using MySQL, Murach’s MySQL presents
all of the SQL statements that you’ll need for your applications.

Summary
•• MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that can
manage one or more databases.
•• To retrieve and modify the data in one of its databases, MySQL provides
support for Structured Query Language (SQL), which is the standard
language for working with databases.
•• Whenever you use MySQL, its database server must be running. Usually,
this server starts automatically whenever you start your system.
•• To work with a MySQL database, you can use a graphical tool called
MySQL Workbench. It makes it easy to enter and run SQL statements.
•• A SQL script is a file that stores multiple SQL statements.
•• The SQL statements that you use for creating and deleting databases and
tables are part of the Data Definition Language (DDL).
•• The SQL statements that you use for retrieving and modifying the data in a
database make up the Data Manipulation Language (DML). These are the
SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements.
•• The SELECT statement can get data from one or more tables and put it in a
result set, or result table. This is commonly referred to as a query.
•• The INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements are used to add one or
more rows to a table, update the data in one or more rows, and delete one or
more rows.
 Chapter 19 How to work with a MySQL database 503

Before you do the exercises for this chapter

If you haven’t already done so, you should install MySQL and MySQL
Workbench as described in the appendixes.

Exercise 19-1 Run a SQL script

1. Start MySQL Workbench.
2. In the MySQL Connections section, click on the “Local instance MySQL”
connection. If prompted, enter the password for the root user. This should
connect you to the local MySQL server as the root user.
3. Use MySQL Workbench to open the create_databases.sql file that’s in the
java_eclipse/db folder.
4. Note that this script contains the statements that create the mma database,
create its tables, insert rows into some tables, and create a user that has
limited privileges.
5. Note that this script uses the DROP DATABASE command to delete the
database before creating it.
6. Run this script. It should execute without displaying any errors. If it displays
any errors, read the error message and troubleshoot the problem.

Exercise 19-2 Run some SQL statements

1. Start MySQL Workbench.
2. In the MySQL Connections section, click on the “Local instance MySQL”
item. If prompted, enter the password for the root user. This should connect
you to the local MySQL server as the root user.
3. Use the Navigator window to view the Schemas section and note which
databases are installed on your system.
4. View the columns of the Product table by expanding the mma node, the
Tables node, the Product node, and the Columns node.
5. Select the mma database by double-clicking on it in the Schemas section. This
should display the database name in bold.
6. Run the first SELECT statement in figure 19-8 to view the data stored in the
Product table of the mma database.
7. Run the third SELECT statement in figure 19-8 to view a subset of the data in
the previous step.
8. Run the first UPDATE statement in figure 19-9. Then, run the first SELECT
statement in figure 19-8 again to view the updated data.
 20
How to use JDBC to work
with databases
This chapter shows how to use Java to work with a database. In particular, it
shows the JDBC skills needed to create the classes for the database tier of the
Product Manager application. Then, the next two chapters show how to create
the classes for the presentation tier.

How to work with JDBC......................................................506

An introduction to database drivers............................................................ 506
How to connect to a database.......................................................................508
How to return a result set and move the cursor through it........................... 510
How to get data from a result set..................................................................512
How to insert, update, and delete data......................................................... 514
How to work with prepared statements........................................................ 516
Two classes for working with databases.......................... 518
The DBUtil class........................................................................................... 518
The ProductDB class....................................................................................520
Code that uses the ProductDB class.............................................................526
Perspective..........................................................................528
506 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to work with JDBC

To write Java code that works with a database, you can use JDBC, which
is sometimes referred to as Java Database Connectivity. The core JDBC API is
stored in the java.sql package, which comes as part of Java SE.

An introduction to database drivers

Before you can connect to a database, you must make a database driver
available to your application. Figure 20-1 lists the four types of JDBC database
drivers that you can use. Then, it shows how to download a database driver and
make it available to your application. For most applications, you’ll want to use
a type-4 driver. The other three driver types are generally considered less prefer-
able, with the type-1 driver being the least preferable. As a result, you’ll only
want to use these drivers if a type-4 driver isn’t available for the database that
you’re using.
For a MySQL database, you can use the type-4 driver named Connector/J
that’s available for free from the MySQL website. For other types of databases,
you can usually download a type-4 driver from the website for that database. The
documentation for these drivers typically shows how to install and configure the
driver.
To use the database driver in an application, you can add the JAR file that
contains the database driver to the application’s classpath. In Eclipse, you can do
that by adding the JAR file to the project’s libraries. One good way to do that is
to create a folder in your project’s root folder to hold any external JAR files for
libraries that your project needs. By convention, this folder is usually named lib,
but that’s not a requirement.
Once you’ve created this folder, you can use your operating system to copy
the JAR file for the database driver into the folder. Then, you can switch back to
Eclipse and refresh the project. This makes sure that Eclipse scans the project for
new files. If you don’t do this, Eclipse might not be aware that you’ve added the
JAR file to the project, and you won’t be able to complete the steps shown in this
figure.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 507

The four types of JDBC database drivers

Type 1 A JDBC-ODBC bridge driver converts JDBC calls into ODBC calls
that access the DBMS protocol. For this data access method, an ODBC
driver must be installed on the client machine. A JDBC-ODBC bridge
driver was included as part of the JDK prior to Java 8 but is not included
or supported with Java 8 and later.
Type 2 A native protocol partly Java driver converts JDBC calls into the native
DBMS protocol. Since this conversion takes place on the client, the
database client library must be installed on the client machine.
Type 3 A net protocol all Java driver converts JDBC calls into a net protocol
that’s independent of any native DBMS protocol. Then, middleware
software running on a server converts the net protocol to the native
DBMS protocol. Since this conversion takes place on the server side,
the database client library isn’t required on the client machine.
Type 4 A native protocol all Java driver converts JDBC calls into the native
DBMS protocol. Since this conversion takes place on the server, the
database client library isn’t required on the client machine.

How to download a database driver

•• For MySQL databases, you can download a JDBC driver named Connector/J from
the MySQL website. This driver is an open-source, type-4 driver that’s available for
free.
•• For other databases, you can usually download a type-4 JDBC driver from the
database’s website.

How to make a database driver available to an application

1. In Eclipse, create a lib folder for your project. To do that, right-click on the project
in the Package Explorer and select the NewFolder command. Then, enter a name
of lib for the folder.
2. Use your operating system to copy the JAR file for the driver into the lib folder. To
do that, you can use the Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS X).
3. In the Package Explorer, right-click on the project and select the Refresh command.
This makes sure Eclipse knows about the new JAR file.
4. In the Package Explorer, right-click on the project and select the Properties
command.
5. In the Properties dialog, select the Java Build Path category from the left column. If
necessary, click on the Libraries tab. Then, click the Add JARs button.
6. In the JAR Selection dialog, navigate to the lib folder in your project and select the
JAR file for the database driver. Then, click the OK button.

Figure 20-1 An introduction to database drivers

508 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to connect to a database

Before you can access or modify the data in a database, you must connect to
the database as shown in figure 20-2. To start, this figure shows the syntax for a
database URL. You can use this syntax within the code that gets the connection.
The first example shows how to use a type-4 MySQL driver to get a
connection to a database. To start, you use the getConnection method of the
DriverManager class to return a Connection object. This method requires three
arguments: the URL for the database, a username, and a password. In the first
example, the URL consists of the API (jdbc), the subprotocol for MySQL drivers
(mysql), the host machine (localhost), the port for the database service (3306),
and the name of the database (mma).
For security reasons, it’s considered a best practice to connect to the
database with a username that only has the privileges that the application needs.
That’s why the script that creates the mma database creates a user named
mma_user that only has limited privileges to work with the data of the mma
database, not to modify its structure. As a result, the user named mma_user is
appropriate for the sample applications presented in this book.
The second example shows how to connect to an Oracle database. Here
again, you provide the URL for the database, a username, and a password. This
is true no matter what type of database you’re using with JDBC.
In practice, connecting to the database is often frustrating because it’s hard
to figure out what the URL, username, and password need to be. So if your
colleagues have already made a connection to the database that you need to use,
you can start by asking them for this information.
Since the getConnection method of the DriverManager class throws a
SQLException, you need to handle this exception whenever you connect to a
database. With JDBC 4.0 (Java 6) and later, you can use an enhanced for state-
ment to loop through any exceptions that are nested within the SQLException
object. In this figure, the catch block in the first example loops through all the
exceptions that are nested in the SQLException object.
To do that, this loop retrieves a Throwable object named t for each nested
exception. Then, it prints the exception to the console. This works because the
Throwable class is the superclass for all exceptions, and a Throwable object is
returned by the iterator for the SQLException class.
The first two examples present a new feature of JDBC 4.0 called automatic
driver loading. This feature loads the database driver automatically based on the
URL for the database.
If you’re working with an older version of Java, though, you need to use the
forName method of the Class class to explicitly load the driver before you call
the getConnection method as shown by the third example. Since this method
throws a ClassNotFoundException, you also have to handle this exception.
Even with JDBC 4.0 and later, you might get a message that says, “No
suitable driver found.” In that case, you can use the forName method of the Class
class to explicitly load the driver. However, if automatic driver loading works, it
usually makes sense to remove this method call from your code. That way, you
can connect to the database with less code, and you don’t have to hard code the
name of the database driver.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 509

Database URL syntax

jdbc:subprotocolName:databaseURL

How to connect to a MySQL database with automatic driver loading

try {
// set the db url, username, and password
String dbURL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mma";
String username = "mma_user";
String password = "sesame";

// get connection
Connection connection =
DriverManager.getConnection(dbURL, username, password);
} catch(SQLException e) {
for (Throwable t : e) {
System.out.println(t);
}
}

How to connect to an Oracle database with automatic driver loading

Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(
"jdbc:oracle:thin@localhost/mma", "mma_user", "sesame");

How to load a MySQL database driver prior to JDBC 4.0

try {
Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");
} catch(ClassNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}

Description
•• Before you can get or modify the data in a database, you need to connect to it. To
do that, you use the getConnection method of the DriverManager class to return a
Connection object.
•• When you use the getConnection method of the DriverManager class, you must
supply a URL for the database. In addition, you usually supply a username and a
password, though you might not for an embedded database. This method throws a
SQLException.
•• With JDBC 4.0 and later, the SQLException class implements the Iterable interface. As
a result, you can use an enhanced for statement to loop through any nested exceptions.
•• With JDBC 4.0 and later, the database driver is loaded automatically. This feature is
known as automatic driver loading.
•• Prior to JDBC 4.0, you needed to use the forName method of the Class class to
load the driver. This method throws a ClassNotFoundException.
•• Although the connection string for each driver is different, the documentation for
the driver should explain how to write a connection string for that driver.
•• Typically, you only need to connect to one database for an application. However,
it’s possible to load multiple database drivers and establish connections to multiple
types of databases.

Figure 20-2 How to connect to a database

510 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to return a result set and move the cursor

through it
Once you connect to a database, you’re ready to retrieve data from it as
shown in figure 20-3. Here, the first two examples show how to use Statement
objects to create a result set, or result table. Then, the next two examples show
how to move the row pointer, or cursor, through the result set.
Both of the result sets in this figure are read-only, forward-only result sets.
This means that you can only move the cursor forward through the result set, and
that you can read but not write rows in the result set. Although JDBC supports
other types of scrollable, updateable result sets, these features require some
additional overhead, and they aren’t necessary for most applications.
The first example calls the createStatement method from a Connection
object to return a Statement object. Then, it calls the executeQuery method from
the Statement object to execute a SELECT statement that’s coded as a string.
This returns a ResultSet object that contains the result set for the SELECT
statement. In this case, the SELECT statement only retrieves a single column
from a single row (the product code for a specific product ID) so that’s what the
ResultSet object contains. You can use this object to check whether a row exists.
The second example works like the first example. However, it returns all of
the rows and columns for the Product table and puts this result set in a ResultSet
object named products. You can use this object to display all products.
The third example shows how to use the next method of the ResultSet
object to move the cursor to the first row of the result set that’s created by the
first example. When you create a result set, the cursor is positioned before the
first row in the result set. As a result, the first use of the next method attempts
to move the cursor to the first row in the result set. If the row exists, the cursor
moves to that row and the next method returns a true value. Otherwise, the next
method returns a false value. In the next figure, you’ll learn how to retrieve
values from the row that the cursor is on.
The fourth example shows how to use the next method to loop through all
of the rows in the result set that’s created in the second example. Here, the while
loop calls the next method. Then, if the next row is a valid row, the next method
moves the cursor to the row and returns a true value. As a result, the code within
the while loop is executed. Otherwise, the next method returns a false value and
the code within the while loop isn’t executed.
Since all of the methods described in this figure throw a SQLException, you
either need to throw or catch this exception when you’re working with these
methods. The ProductDB class presented later in this chapter shows how this
works.
Although there are other ResultSet methods, the one you’ll use the most
with a forward-only, read-only result set is the next method. However, this figure
summarizes two other methods (last and close) that you may occasionally want
to use for this type of result set.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 511

How to create a result set that contains 1 row and 1 column

Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
ResultSet product = statement.executeQuery(
"SELECT Code FROM Product " +
"WHERE ProductID = '1'");

How to create a result set that contains multiple columns and rows
Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
ResultSet products = statement.executeQuery(
"SELECT * FROM Product ");

How to move the cursor to the first row in the result set
boolean productExists = product.next();

How to loop through a result set

while (products.next()) {
// statements that process each row
}

ResultSet methods for forward-only, read-only result sets

Method Description
next() Moves the cursor to the next row in the result set.
last() Moves the cursor to the last row in the result set.
close() Releases the result set’s resources.

Description
 To return a result set, you use the createStatement method of a Connection object to
create a Statement object. Then, you use the executeQuery method of the Statement
object to execute a SELECT statement that returns a ResultSet object.
 By default, the createStatement method creates a forward-only, read-only result set.
This means that you can only move the cursor through it from the first row to the
last and that you can’t update it. Although you can pass arguments to the
createStatement method that create other types of result sets, the default is
appropriate for most applications.
 When a result set is created, the cursor is positioned before the first row. Then,
you can use the methods of the ResultSet object to move the cursor. To move the
cursor to the next row, for example, you call the next method. If the row is valid,
this method moves the cursor to the next row and returns a true value. Otherwise, it
returns a false value.
 The createStatement, executeQuery, and next methods throw a SQLException. As a
result, any code that uses these methods needs to catch or throw this exception.

Figure 20-3 How to return a result set and move the cursor through it
512 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to get data from a result set

When the cursor is positioned on the row that you want to get data from,
you can use the methods in figure 20-4 to get that data. The examples show how
to use the getInt, getString, and getDouble methods of the ResultSet object to
return int, String, and double values. However, you can use similar get methods
to return other types of data.
The methods in this figure show the two types of arguments accepted by
the get methods. The first method accepts an int value that specifies the index
number of the column in the result set, where 1 is the first column, 2 is the
second column, and so on. The second method accepts a String object that
specifies the name of the column in the result set. Although the get methods with
column indexes require less typing, the get methods with column names lead to
code that’s easier to read and understand.
The first example shows how to use column indexes to return data from a
result set named products. Here, the first statement uses the getInt method to
return the ID for the product, the next two statements use the getString method
to return the code and description, and the third statement uses the getDouble
method to return the list price. Since these methods use the column index, the
first column in the result set must contain the product ID, the second column
must contain the product code, and so on.
The second example shows how to use column names to return data from
the products result set. Since this code uses the column names, the order of the
columns in the result set doesn’t matter. However, the column names must exist
in the result set or a SQLException is thrown that indicates that a column wasn’t
found.
The third example shows how you can use the get methods to create a
Product object. Here, the first statement creates a new Product object. Then, the
next four statements store the data that was retrieved from the ResultSet object
in the Product object. Since objects are often created from data that’s stored
in a database, code like this is commonly used when you use the JDBC API.
However, this code is handled automatically by some other database APIs such
as JPA (Java Persistence API).
If you look up the ResultSet interface in the documentation for the JDBC
API, you’ll see that get methods exist for all of the primitive types as well as
for other types of data. For example, get methods exist for the Date, Time, and
Timestamp classes that are a part of the java.sql package. In addition, they
exist for BLOB objects (Binary Large Objects) and CLOB objects (Character
Large Objects). You can use these types of objects to store large objects such as
images, audio, and video in databases.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 513

Methods of a ResultSet object that return data from a result set

Method Description
getXXX(columnIndex) Returns data from the specified column number.
getXXX(columnName) Returns data from the specified column name.

Code that uses indexes to return columns from the products result set
int productID = products.getInt(1);
String code = products.getString(2);
String description = products.getString(3);
double price = products.getDouble(4);

Code that uses names to return the same columns

int productID = products.getInt("ProductID");
String code = products.getString("Code");
String description = products.getString("Description");
double price = products.getDouble("ListPrice");

Code that creates a Product object from the products result set
Product p = new Product();
p.setId(productID);
p.setCode(code);
p.setDescription(description);
p.setPrice(price);

Description
•• The getXXX methods can be used to return all eight primitive types. For example,
the getInt method returns the int type and the getLong method returns the long
type.
•• The getXXX methods can also be used to return strings, dates, and times. For
example, the getString method returns an object of the String class, and the
getDate, getTime, and getTimestamp methods return objects of the Date, Time, and
Timestamp classes of the java.sql package.

Figure 20-4 How to retrieve data from a result set

514 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to insert, update, and delete data

Figure 20-5 shows how to use JDBC to modify the data in a database. To do
that, you use the executeUpdate method of a Statement object to execute SQL
statements that add, update, and delete data.
When you work with the executeUpdate method, you just pass a SQL state-
ment to the database. In these examples, the code adds, updates, and deletes a
product in the Product table. To do that, the code combines data from a Product
object with the appropriate SQL statement. For the UPDATE and DELETE
statements, the SQL statement uses the product’s code in the WHERE clause to
select a single product.
Unfortunately, if you build a SQL statement from user input and use a
method of the Statement object to execute that SQL statement, you are suscep-
tible to a security vulnerability known as a SQL injection attack. A SQL injection
attack allows a hacker to execute SQL statements against your database to read
sensitive data or to delete or modify data. For the Product Manager application,
for instance, the user might be able to execute a DROP TABLE statement by
entering the following code:
test'); DROP TABLE Product; --
Here, the first semicolon ends the first SQL statement. Then, the database might
execute the second SQL statement. To prevent most types of SQL injection
attacks, you can use a prepared statement as described in the next figure.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 515

How to use the executeUpdate method to modify data

How to add a row
String query =
"INSERT INTO Product (Code, Description, ListPrice) " +
"VALUES ('" + product.getCode() + "', " +
"'" + product.getDescription() + "', " +
"'" + product.getPrice() + "')";
Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
int rowCount = statement.executeUpdate(query);

How to update a row

String query = "UPDATE Product SET " +
"Code = '" + product.getCode() + "', " +
"Description = '" + product.getDescription() + "', " +
"ListPrice = '" + product.getPrice() + "' " +
"WHERE Code = '" + product.getCode() + "'";
Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
int rowCount = statement.executeUpdate(query);

How to delete a row

String query = "DELETE FROM Product " +
"WHERE Code = '" + productCode + "'";
Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
int rowCount = statement.executeUpdate(query);

Description
 The executeUpdate method is an older method that works with most JDBC drivers.
Although there are some newer methods that require less SQL code, they may not
work properly with all JDBC drivers.
 The executeUpdate method returns an int value that identifies the number of rows
that were affected by the SQL statement.

Warning
 If you build a SQL statement from user input and use a method of the Statement
object to execute that SQL statement, you may be susceptible to a security
vulnerability known as a SQL injection attack.
 A SQL injection attack allows a hacker to bypass authentication or to execute SQL
statements against your database that can read sensitive data, modify data, or delete
data.
 To prevent most types of SQL injection attacks, you can use prepared statements as
described in the next figure.

Figure 20-5 How to insert, update, and delete data

516 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to work with prepared statements

Each time a Java application sends a new SQL statement to the database
server, the server checks the statement for syntax errors, prepares a plan for
executing the statement, and executes the statement. If the same statement is sent
again, though, the database server checks to see whether it has already received
one exactly like it. If so, the server doesn’t have to check its syntax and prepare
an execution plan for it so the server just executes it. This improves the perfor-
mance of the database operations.
To take advantage of this database feature, Java provides for the use of
prepared statements as shown in figure 20-6. This feature lets you send state-
ments to the database server that get executed repeatedly by accepting the
parameter values that are sent to it. That improves the database performance
because the database server only has to check the syntax and prepare the execu-
tion plan once for each statement.
In addition, prepared statements automatically check their parameter values
to prevent most types of SQL injection attacks. As a result, it’s generally consid-
ered a best practice to use prepared statements whenever possible.
The first example uses a prepared statement to create a result set that
contains a single product. Here, the first statement uses a question mark (?) to
identify the parameter for the SELECT statement, which is the product code for
the book, and the second statement uses the prepareStatement method of the
Connection object to return a PreparedStatement object. Then, the third state-
ment uses a set method (the setString method) of the PreparedStatement object
to set a value for the parameter, and the fourth statement uses the executeQuery
method of the PreparedStatement object to return a ResultSet object.
The second example shows how to use a prepared statement to execute an
UPDATE query that requires four parameters. Here, the first statement uses
four question marks to identify the four parameters of the UPDATE statement,
and the second statement creates the PreparedStatement object. Then, the next
four statements use set methods to set the four parameters in the order that they
appear in the UPDATE statement. The last statement uses the executeUpdate
method of the PreparedStatement object to execute the UPDATE statement.
The third and fourth examples show how to insert and delete rows with
prepared statements. This works similarly to the second example.
In this figure, the type of SQL statement that you’re using determines
whether you use the executeQuery method or the executeUpdate method. If
you’re using a SELECT statement to return a result set, you use the execute-
Query method. However, if you’re using an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE
statement, you use the executeUpdate method. In other words, this works the
same for a PreparedStatement object as it does for a Statement object.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 517

How to use a prepared statement

To return a result set
String sql = "SELECT Code, Description, ListPrice "
+ "FROM Product WHERE Code = ?";
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
ps.setString(1, productCode);
ResultSet product = ps.executeQuery();

To modify a row
String sql = "UPDATE Product SET "
+ " Code = ?, "
+ " Description = ?, "
+ " ListPrice = ?"
+ "WHERE Code = ?";
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
ps.setString(1, product.getCode());
ps.setString(2, product.getDescription());
ps.setDouble(3, product.getPrice());
ps.setString(4, product.getCode());
ps.executeUpdate();

To insert a row
String sql =
"INSERT INTO Product (Code, Description, ListPrice) "
+ "VALUES (?, ?, ?)";
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
ps.setString(1, product.getCode());
ps.setString(2, product.getDescription());
ps.setDouble(3, product.getPrice());
ps.executeUpdate();

To delete a row
String sql = "DELETE FROM Product "
+ "WHERE Code = ?";
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
ps.setString(1, product.getCode());
ps.executeUpdate();

Description
 When you use prepared statements in your Java applications, the database server
only has to check the syntax and prepare an execution plan once for each SQL
statement. This improves the efficiency of the database operations. In addition, it
prevents most types of SQL injection attacks.
 To specify a parameter for a prepared statement, type a question mark (?) in the
SQL statement.
 To supply values for the parameters in a prepared statement, use the set methods
of the PreparedStatement interface. For a complete list of set methods, look up the
PreparedStatement interface of the java.sql package in the documentation for the
Java API.
 To execute a SELECT statement, use the executeQuery method. To execute an
INSERT , UPDATE, or DELETE statement, use the executeUpdate method.

Figure 20-6 How to work with prepared statements

518 Section 5 Real-world skills

Two classes for working

with databases
Now that you know how to use JDBC to work with a database, you’re ready
to learn how to code a class that allows you to map an object to a table in a
database. In particular, you’re ready to learn how to map the Product object to
the Product table in the mma database. But first, you’ll be introduced to a utility
class that you can use to get a connection to a database.

The DBUtil class

Figure 20-7 shows a class named DBUtil. This class begins by declaring a
static variable for the Connection object. Then, it provides a private constructor
that prevents other classes from creating an object from the DBUtil class. That’s
a good practice since the DBUtil class only provides two static methods.
The first static method, the getConnection method, returns a Connection
object that provides a connection to the database. This method begins by
checking whether the connection has already been opened. If so, it returns that
connection. As a result, this method only opens one connection to the database.
This helps the application run efficiently after it opens the first connection to the
database.
However, if the connection hasn’t been opened, this code opens a connec-
tion by creating a Connection object. To do that, this code specifies the URL,
username, and password for the database. Here, the code connects to the mma
database as the user named mma_user. This works as described earlier in this
chapter.
After specifying the URL, username, and password for the database,
the getConnection method uses the static getConnection method of the
DriverManager class to automatically load the appropriate database driver
and connect to the database. If this method is successful, this method returns
the Connection object to the calling method. Otherwise, this method throws
a SQLException. Then, the catch block catches this exception, wraps it in the
custom DBException class presented in chapter 16, and throws that exception.
The second static method, the closeConnection method, closes the one
connection that’s opened by this class. Typically, you call this method when the
application exits. In other words, you close the connection to the database when
you close the application. This prevents resource leaks.
Both of the static methods include the synchronized keyword. As a result,
each method must finish before you can call another method, which is what you
want. For example, if you call the getConnection method, you want it to finish
executing before the close method can begin executing.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 519

The DBUtil class

package murach.db;

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;

public class DBUtil {

private static Connection connection;

private DBUtil() {}

public static synchronized Connection getConnection() throws DBException {

if (connection != null) {
return connection;
}
else {
try {
// set the db url, username, and password
String url = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mma";
String username = "mma_user";
String password = "sesame";

// get and return connection

connection = DriverManager.getConnection(
url, username, password);
return connection;
} catch (SQLException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
}
}
}

public static synchronized void closeConnection() throws DBException {

if (connection != null) {
try {
connection.close();
} catch (SQLException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
} finally {
connection = null;
}
}
}
}

Description
•• To make it easier to get and close a connection to a database, you can use a utility
class like the one shown in this figure.

Figure 20-7 The DBUtil class

520 Section 5 Real-world skills

The ProductDB class

Figure 20-8 presents the complete code for the ProductDB class. This class
maps the Product object to the Product table of the mma database.
The getAll method returns a List object that contains all of the Product
objects that are stored in the Product table of the mma database. Here, the first
statement creates a string that contains a SQL statement that selects all columns
from the Product table and sorts them in ascending order by the ProductID
column. The second statement creates an ArrayList object that can store Product
objects. And the third statement uses the static getConnection method of the
DBUtil class to get a connection to the database.
After getting the connection, this code uses a try-with-resources statement
to create the PreparedStatement and ResultSet objects that are needed by this
method. That way, these objects are automatically closed when the try block
ends.
Once the ResultSet object has been created, the getAll method uses a loop to
read each row in the result set. Within the loop, the first statement uses the getInt
method of the ResultSet object to get the int value for the ProductID column
of the result set. The next two statements use the getString method to return
strings for the Code and Description columns. And the fourth statement uses the
getDouble method to return a double value for the ListPrice column. Then, this
loop creates the Product object, stores the data in it, and adds it to the products
array list.
If this code executes successfully, the getAll method returns the products
array list. However, if a SQLException is thrown anywhere in the try block,
the catch block creates a new DBException that stores the SQLException and
throws this exception to the calling method. That way, the calling method can
throw or handle this exception. Ultimately, this should lead to the exception
being handled at a level that’s appropriate for the application, often by having
the user interface display an appropriate user-friendly message to the user.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 521

The ProductDB class Page 1

package murach.db;

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import murach.business.Product;

public class ProductDB {

public static List<Product> getAll() throws DBException {

String sql = "SELECT * FROM Product ORDER BY ProductID";
List<Product> products = new ArrayList<>();
Connection connection = DBUtil.getConnection();
try (PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery()) {
while (rs.next()) {
int productID = rs.getInt("ProductID");
String code = rs.getString("Code");
String name = rs.getString("Description");
double price = rs.getDouble("ListPrice");

Product p = new Product();

p.setId(productID);
p.setCode(code);
p.setDescription(name);
p.setPrice(price);
products.add(p);
}
return products;
} catch (SQLException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
}
}

Figure 20-8 The ProductDB class (part 1 of 3)

522 Section 5 Real-world skills

The get method returns a Product object for a product that matches the
specified product code. To do that, it uses a prepared SQL statement to return
a result set. Then, it calls the next method of the result set to attempt to move
the cursor to the first row in the result set. If successful, this method continues
by reading the columns from the row, closing the result set, creating a Product
object from this data, and returning the Product object.
Unlike the getAll method, the result set used by the get method can’t be
created in the try-with-resources statement. That’s because before the result set
can be opened, the value of the parameter in the prepared statement must be set.
However, the prepared statement can still be created in the try-with-resources
statement, which means that it doesn’t have to be closed explicitly.
If no product row contains a product code that matches the specified code,
this method closes the result set and returns a null to indicate that the product
couldn’t be found. In addition, if a SQLException is thrown anywhere in this
method, this method creates a new exception from the DBException class and
throws this exception to the calling method. That way, the method that calls the
get method can throw or handle this exception.
As you review the get method, note that if the try block throws a
SQLException, the result set isn’t explicitly closed. In most cases, that’s not a
problem because the result set is automatically closed when the prepared state-
ment that was used to create the result set is closed. If you wanted to close the
result set explicitly, though, you could do that by adding a finally clause to the
try statement.
The add method begins by creating a prepared statement that can be used to
insert values into three columns of the Product table. Then, it sets the values of
the three parameters in the prepared statement to the values stored in the Product
object that’s passed to it. Finally, it calls the executeUpdate method of the
prepared statement. If a SQLException is thrown anywhere in this method, this
code stores that exception in a DBException and throws it to the calling method.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 523

The ProductDB class Page 2

public static Product get(String productCode) throws DBException {
String sql = "SELECT * FROM Product WHERE Code = ?";
Connection connection = DBUtil.getConnection();
try (PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql)) {
ps.setString(1, productCode);
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery();
if (rs.next()) {
long productId = rs.getLong("ProductID");
String name = rs.getString("Description");
double price = rs.getDouble("ListPrice");
rs.close();

Product p = new Product();

p.setId(productId);
p.setCode(productCode);
p.setDescription(name);
p.setPrice(price);

return p;
} else {
rs.close();
return null;
}
} catch (SQLException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
}
}

public static void add(Product product) throws DBException {

String sql
= "INSERT INTO Product (Code, Description, ListPrice) "
+ "VALUES (?, ?, ?)";
Connection connection = DBUtil.getConnection();
try (PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql)) {
ps.setString(1, product.getCode());
ps.setString(2, product.getDescription());
ps.setDouble(3, product.getPrice());
ps.executeUpdate();
} catch (SQLException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
}
}

Figure 20-8 The database class for the Email List application (part 2 of 3)
524 Section 5 Real-world skills

The update method uses a prepared SQL statement to update an existing

product in the Product table with the data that’s stored in the Product object
that’s passed to it. Note that this method only works if the Product object has
a product ID that exists in the Product table. Like the add method, this method
throws a DBException if it isn’t able to execute successfully.
The deleteProduct method uses a prepared SQL statement to delete the
product row that has the same product code as the Product object that’s passed to
it. Like the add and update methods, the delete method throws a DBException if
it isn’t able to execute successfully.
The code for this class only uses methods from JDBC 1.0. That’s because
this is still the most common way to use JDBC to work with databases. The
disadvantage of this technique is that you must understand SQL. However, SQL
is easy to learn, and most programmers who work with databases already know
how to use it. In fact, some programmers prefer using SQL so they have direct
control over the SQL statement that’s sent to the database.
Each method in this class that needs a connection uses the DBUtil class
to get a connection. As a result, the first method call opens a connection to the
database. Then, subsequent method calls use this connection until it is closed.
Typically, the application closes this connection when the user exits. Since
opening a database connection can be a relatively time-consuming process, this
works much more efficiently than opening and closing a connection for each
method call.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 525

The ProductDB class Page 3

public static void update(Product product) throws DBException {
String sql = "UPDATE Product SET "
+ "Code = ?, "
+ "Description = ?, "
+ "ListPrice = ? "
+ "WHERE ProductID = ?";
Connection connection = DBUtil.getConnection();
try (PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql)) {
ps.setString(1, product.getCode());
ps.setString(2, product.getDescription());
ps.setDouble(3, product.getPrice());
ps.setLong(4, product.getId());
ps.executeUpdate();
} catch (SQLException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
}
}

public static void delete(Product product) throws DBException {

String sql = "DELETE FROM Product "
+ "WHERE ProductID = ?";
Connection connection = DBUtil.getConnection();
try (PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql)) {
ps.setLong(1, product.getId());
ps.executeUpdate();
} catch (SQLException e) {
throw new DBException(e);
}
}
}

Figure 20-8 The database class for the Email List application (part 3 of 3)
526 Section 5 Real-world skills

Code that uses the ProductDB class

Figure 20-9 shows some code that uses the ProductDB class. You can use
code like this in the user interface for a console application.
The ProductDB, DBException, and DBUtil classes are stored in the
mma.db package. If you’re calling this code from a different package, you need
to include import statements for these classes as shown in the first example. In
addition, you need to include an import statement for the Product class that’s
stored in the mma.business package.
The second example shows how to get all products. To do that, you begin
by declaring a List<Product> object to store the products. Then, you call
the static getAll method from the ProductDB class. Since this code throws a
DBException, you need to handle this exception. In this case, the code handles
the exception by printing some information to the console. To start, it prints
a user-friendly message to the console. This should give the user a good idea
of what went wrong. Then, it prints the exception to the console. This should
provide more detailed technical information that may help a programmer or
administrator resolve the problem.
The third example shows how to get a single product. This works much like
the first example. However, it uses the static get method of the ProductDB class
to get a Product object for the specified code. This code assumes that the variable
named code stores a product code.
The fourth example shows how to add a product. This works much like the
previous two examples. However, it uses the static add method of the ProductDB
class to add a Product object to the database. If successful, this code prints a
message to the console to indicate that it worked. This code assumes that the
variable named product stores a Product object.
The fifth example shows how to delete a product. This works much like
the fourth example. However, it uses the ProductDB class to delete rows in
the database. Like the fourth example, this example assumes that the product
variable stores a Product object.
The sixth example shows how to close a connection. To do that, this code
calls the closeConnection method of the DBUtil class. Then, it handles the
DBException that’s thrown by this method by printing some information to the
console. Typically, you execute code like this when your application exits.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 527

How to import the business and database classes

import murach.business.Product;
import murach.db.ProductDB;
import murach.db.DBException;
import murach.db.DBUtil;

How to get all products

List<Product> products;
try {
products = ProductDB.getAll();
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println("Error! Unable to get products");
System.out.println(e + "\n");
}

How to get a product with the specified product code

Product product;
try {
product = ProductDB.get(code);
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println("Error! Unable to get product for code: " + code);
System.out.println(e + "\n");
}

How to add a product

try {
ProductDB.add(product);
System.out.println(product.getDescription() + " was added.\n");
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println("Error! Unable to add product.");
System.out.println(e + "\n");
}

How to delete a product

try {
ProductDB.delete(product);
System.out.println(product.getDescription() + " was deleted.\n");
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println("Error! Unable to delete product.");
System.out.println(e + "\n");
}

How to close a connection

try {
DBUtil.closeConnection();
} catch (DBException e) {
Console.display("Error! Unable to close connection.");
Console.display(e + "\n");
}

Description
 You can use the static methods of the ProductDB class to map Product objects to
the rows of the Product table.
 You can use the DBUtil class to close the database connection when the application exits.

Figure 20-9 Code that uses the ProductDB class

528 Section 5 Real-world skills

Perspective
Now that you’ve finished this chapter, you should understand how to use
JDBC to store data in a database and to retrieve data from a database. Although
there’s much more to learn about working with databases, those are the essen-
tial skills. To enhance your database skills, you can learn more about database
management systems like MySQL or Oracle and the SQL that works with
them.
You should also understand that the JDBC API requires the developer to
write a significant amount of low-level code. This provides a good conceptual
background if you are new to Java and databases. In addition, many legacy
applications use JDBC. As a result, you may need to use it when working on
old applications.
However, for new development, you might prefer to use another data access
API such as JPA (Java Persistence API). This API handles much of the object to
database mapping automatically. As a result, it doesn’t require the developer to
write as much code, and the code that the developer does need to write is often
easier to maintain.

Summary
•• With JDBC 4.0 (Java 6) and later, the database driver that’s used to connect
the application to a database is loaded automatically. This is known as
automatic driver loading.
•• With JDBC 4.0 and later, you can loop through any exceptions that are
nested within the SQLException object.
•• A Java application can use one of four driver types to access a database. It’s
considered a best practice to use a type-4 driver if one is available for that
database.
•• You can use JDBC to execute SQL statements that select, add, update, or
delete one or more rows in a database. You can also control the location of
the cursor in the result set.
•• You can use prepared statements to supply parameters to SQL statements.
Since prepared statements provide better performance and security than
regular statements, you should use them whenever possible.
 Chapter 20 How to use JDBC to work with databases 529

Exercise 20-1 Work with JDBC

In this exercise, you’ll write JDBC code that works with the MySQL database
named mma that was described in the previous chapter.

Review the code and test the application

1. Import the project named ch20_ex1_DBTester that’s in the ex_starts folder.
2. Expand the lib folder for this project and note that it includes a JAR file for
the MySQL database driver.
3. Make sure the MySQL server is running.
4. Review the code in the source files and run the project. It should print all of
the rows in the Product table to the console three times with some additional
messages.
Write and test code that uses JDBC
5. Write the code for the printFirstProduct method. This method should print
the first product in the list of products to the console. Use column names to
retrieve the column values.
6. Run this application to make sure it’s working correctly.
7. Write the code for the printProductByCode method. This method should print
the product with the specified code to the console. Use a prepared statement
to create the result set, and use indexes to retrieve the column values.
8. Run this application to make sure it’s working correctly.
9. Write the code for the insertProduct method. This method should add the
product to the database and print that product to the console.
10. Run this application to make sure it’s working correctly. If you run this appli-
cation multiple times, it should display an error message that indicates that the
product can’t be added because of a duplicate key.
11. Write the code for the deleteProduct method. This method should delete the
product that was added by the insertProduct method.
12. Run this application to make sure it’s working correctly. You should be able to
run this application multiple times without displaying any error messages.
530 Section 5 Real-world skills

Exercise 20-2 Modify the Product Manager

application
In this exercise, you’ll modify a Product Manager application that works with
the MySQL database named mma that was described the previous chapter.

Review the code and test the application

1. Import the project named ch20_ex2_ProductManager that’s in the ex_starts
folder.
2. Expand the lib folder for this project and note that it includes a JAR file for
the MySQL database driver.
3. Open the ProductDB class and review its code. Note that it provides all of the
methods presented in this chapter, including an update method.
4. Open the Main class and review its code. Then, run this application. It should
let you view and store product data in a database.
Modify the JDBC code
5. In the ProductDB class, modify the getAll method so it uses column numbers
instead of column names to get the data for the row.
6. Run this application to make sure this code works correctly.
7. In the ProductDB class, add a private method that can create a Product object
from the current row in the result set like this:
private static Product getProductFromRow(ResultSet rs)
throws SQLException {
8. In the ProductDB class, modify the getAll and get methods so they use the
getProductFromRow method to get Product object from the current row. Note
how this reduces code duplication and makes your code easier to maintain.
9. Run this application to make sure this code works correctly.
Add an update command
10. In the Main class, modify the code so it includes an update command. This
command should prompt the user for the product code to update. Then, it
should prompt the user for a new description and price like this:

Enter product code to update: java

Enter product description: Murach's Beginning Java
Enter price: 54.50

11. In the Main class, add code that gets the specified product from the database,
sets the new data in that product, and updates the database with the new data.
If successful, this should display a message like this:

Murach's Beginning Java was updated in the database.

12. Run this application to make sure this code works correctly.
 21
How to develop a GUI
with Swing (part 1)
Up until now, all of the code you’ve been working with in this book has used a
console interface. However, most modern applications—such as word proces-
sors, spreadsheets, web browsers, and so on—use a graphical user interface,
often abbreviated as GUI. In this chapter and the next, you’ll learn the basics of
developing GUI applications with Swing, which is the most popular library for
developing GUI applications with Java.

An introduction to GUI programming...............................532

A summary of GUI toolkits..........................................................................532
The inheritance hierarchy for Swing components.......................................534
How to create a GUI that handles events..........................536
How to display a frame.................................................................................536
How to add a panel to a frame......................................................................538
How to add buttons to a panel......................................................................538
How to handle a button event...................................................................... 540
How to work with layout managers...................................542
A summary of layout managers....................................................................542
How to use the FlowLayout manager.......................................................... 544
How to use the BorderLayout manager....................................................... 546
How to work with tables......................................................548
How to create a model for a table.................................................................548
The ProductTableModel class......................................................................550
How to create a table....................................................................................554
How to get the selected row or rows.............................................................554
How to add scrollbars to a table...................................................................556
How to work with built-in dialog boxes.............................558
How to display a message.............................................................................558
How to confirm an operation........................................................................560
The Product Manager frame...............................................564
The user interface........................................................................................ 564
The ProductManagerFrame class.................................................................566
Perspective..........................................................................570
532 Section 5 Real-world skills

An introduction to GUI programming

Up until the late 1980s (and even into the 90s), most computer applica-
tions used text-based user interfaces. The introduction of the Apple Macintosh,
followed shortly after by Microsoft Windows, changed all that. By the mid
1990s, most major applications used graphical user interfaces, also called GUIs.
In the early days, programming GUIs was very complicated because the
APIs for doing so were extremely low level. Thankfully, that situation has
changed, and modern APIs make writing good looking GUIs much easier.

A summary of GUI toolkits

If you want to use Java to develop a GUI, you can choose from several
APIs, which are often called toolkits. Figure 21-1 shows the most common ones,
though there are others available as well.
AWT (Abstract Window Toolkit) was the first GUI toolkit for Java. AWT
allows you to create native operating system components (commonly called
widgets). However, this approach has several limitations. Since it’s operating
system dependent, widgets take up different amounts of space on different
operating systems. As a result, a GUI that looks perfect on one operating system
might look terrible on another. In addition, because AWT can only use the native
components of an operating system, it lacks advanced widgets.
To address the shortcomings of AWT, Java 2 included a new toolkit named
Swing. Swing is built on top of AWT, but creates its own widgets instead of
using the ones provided by the operating system. This has the advantage of
ensuring that GUIs look the same on all platforms that Java runs on. In addition,
it allows the toolkit to have more advanced widgets.
Unfortunately, in the early days, Swing was slow and inefficient. In addition,
the early Swing widgets were relatively ugly and didn’t look like native widgets.
Fortunately, these problems with Swing no longer exist today. Today, Swing
performs much better, and, modern themes provided with Java can make Swing
applications look like native applications.
To compete with early versions of Swing, IBM created SWT (Standard
Widget Toolkit). Unlike Swing, SWT uses native widgets. As a result, SWT
widgets look like native widgets. In addition, in the early days, SWT had a speed
advantage over Swing.
However, SWT also has two drawbacks. First, because it relies on native
widgets, you are required to ship a native library for each operating system you
want to support. Second, the core SWT widget set is primitive. As a result, it’s
difficult to create advanced user interfaces with it.
JavaFX is a newer framework for developing rich Internet applications
(RIAs). However, since JavaFX completes with Adobe’s already popular Flash
plugin, it was late to the game. In addition, the introduction of HTML 5 is
making proprietary browser plugins such as Adobe Flash, Oracle Java, and
Microsoft Silverlight, obsolete. As a result, JavaFX has been virtually ignored by
developers.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 533

Common Java GUI libraries

Library Description
AWT Abstract Window Toolkit. This is the oldest Java GUI library. It uses the native widgets
from the operating system. This library is not recommended for modern application
development due to problems with cross-platform portability.
Swing Created to replace AWT and fix the cross-platform portability problems. Swing
widgets are not native, but can use themes to look identical to native widgets. Most
modern Java GUIs are written using Swing.
SWT Standard Widget Toolkit. This library was created by IBM to fix performance problems
and the non-native look and feel of earlier versions of Swing. This library uses native
widgets. However, it’s not as powerful as Swing without adding additional libraries.
JavaFX Designed to replace the aging Swing library and make it easier to develop rich Internet
applications (RIAs). However, it has been slow to catch on.
Pivot An open-source Apache project that allows you to create modern looking GUIs that
work with Internet resources. Like JavaFX, this library has been slow to catch on.

Description
•• When creating GUIs with Java, you have several possible libraries that you can use.
Of these libraries, Swing is the most widely used.

Figure 21-1 A summary of Java GUI toolkits

534 Section 5 Real-world skills

Pivot is an open-source Apache project that was intended primarily to

compete with JavaFX. Although it was initially designed for producing rich
Internet applications that run in a browser, it works just as well for developing
desktop applications.
Although JavaFX and Pivot are newer than Swing, they are not nearly as
popular as Swing. Instead, Swing dominates the world of GUI programming
with Java and is what you are most likely to encounter in the real world. As a
result, this book covers Swing instead of JavaFX or Pivot. However, if you need
to write an application that works extensively with Internet resources, you might
want to investigate JavaFX or Pivot.

The inheritance hierarchy for Swing components

Like all Java APIs, Swing is object oriented, and the Swing classes exist in
a hierarchy. Figure 21-2 shows a partial diagram of this hierarchy, along with
some of the most commonly used classes.
As mentioned in the previous figure, Swing builds on the older AWT frame-
work. As a result, all Swing components ultimately inherit the abstract AWT
Container class, which itself inherits the abstract AWT Component class. In this
diagram, all Swing classes begin with the letter J (for Java). This distinguishes
them from AWT components with the same name. For example, Frame is an
AWT component, and JFrame is a Swing component.
As this diagram shows, most Swing components inherit from the
JComponent class. As a result, any method that accepts a JComponent object
as a parameter, accepts most Swing widgets. In this diagram, the exception is
a JFrame widget. This widget is commonly called a top-level widget because
it inherits from the Window class and holds other widgets. Typically, a JFrame
widget is used as the main window for the application.
A container is a type of component that can hold other components. The
diagram in this figure shows that all Swing widgets inherit from the Container
class. As a result, all Swing widgets can act as a container to hold other widgets.
That means, it’s possible for a JButton widget to hold another JButton widget.
However, it’s more common to use a container widget such as a JFrame widget
to hold other widgets. Later in this chapter and the next, you’ll learn about some
other container widgets including the JPanel, JScrollPane, and JDialog widgets.
As a general rule, you should not mix AWT and Swing components. This
typically results in bugs and display problems. For example, you should not put
a JButton widget inside a Frame object. Instead, you should put a JButton widget
inside a JFrame.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 535

The Swing inheritance hierarchy

A summary of these classes

Class Description
Component An abstract AWT class that defines any object that can be displayed. For instance,
frames, panels, buttons, labels, and text fields are derived from this class.
Container An abstract AWT class that defines any component that can contain other
components.
Window The AWT class that defines a window without a title bar or border.
Frame The AWT class that defines a window with a title bar and border.
JFrame The Swing class that defines a window with a title bar and border.
JComponent A base class for Swing components such as JPanel, JButton, JLabel, and JTextField.
JPanel The Swing class that defines a panel, which is used to hold other components.
JButton The Swing class that defines a button.
JLabel The Swing class that defines a label.
JTextField The Swing class that defines a text field.

Description
•• The Swing library is built upon the AWT library. In other words, Swing classes
often inherit AWT classes.
•• Most Swing classes begin with the letter J (for Java).

Figure 21-2 The inheritance hierarchy for Swing components

536 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to create a GUI

that handles events
When you develop a GUI with Swing, you typically begin by displaying a
frame that acts as the main window for the application. Then, you add compo-
nents such as panels and buttons to the frame. Finally, you handle the events that
occur when the user interacts with these components.

How to display a frame

A JFrame widget has a border and contains all of the normal window
controls for your operating system such as minimize, maximize, and close
buttons. Figure 21-3 shows an example of an empty JFrame widget along with
the code that displays it.
To set the title of the frame, you can either pass it as a parameter to the
JFrame constructor, or you can create a JFrame object and then use the setTitle
method.
To set the size of the frame, you can use the setSize method. This method
takes two integers which represent the width and height in pixels. In this figure,
for example, the frame is set to a width of 600 pixels and a height of 400 pixels.
Another way to size a frame is to use the pack method. This method takes no
parameters and sizes the frame just large enough to hold all of the components it
contains. If you don’t set the size, the frame has a width and height of zero, and
you can’t see any of the components it contains. As a result, you typically want
to set the size of the frame.
To set the location of the frame, you can pass a true value to the setLocation-
ByPlatform method. Then, the operating system determines the location of the
frame, which is usually what you want.
When the user clicks on the close button of a frame, you typically want to
close the frame and exit the application. The easiest way to do this is to call the
setDefaultCloseOperation method and pass it the EXIT_ON_CLOSE value as
show in the figure. Although there are other possible values that you can use
with this method, the EXIT_ON_CLOSE value is a quick and easy way to close
a frame. If you don’t include this code and the user clicks the close button, the
frame closes, but the application continues running. That’s because, the close
button only closes the frame by default, but doesn’t end the application.
Before you display a frame, you can set the look and feel to any look and
feel that’s available from Swing. To do that, you can use the UIManager class
that’s available from the javax.swing package as shown in this figure. In this
figure, the code sets the look and feel for the Swing components to the current
operating system. As result, this application looks like a Windows application on
Windows, a Mac application on Mac OS X, and a Linux application on Linux. In
practice, you typically have to do some more work to get the application to act
exactly like a native Mac application. However, that’s beyond the scope of this
book.
Finally, to display the frame, you can pass a true value to the setVisible
method.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 537

The package that contains the Swing classes

javax.swing

An empty frame

A main method that creates and displays a frame

public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Product Manager");
frame.setSize(600, 400);
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);

frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(
UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | IllegalAccessException |
InstantiationException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException e) {
System.err.println("Unsupported look and feel.");
}

frame.setVisible(true);
}

Description
•• A frame typically defines the main window of an application.
•• To set the title of a frame, you can use the constructor of the JFrame class. Or, you
can call the setTitle method of the JFrame object.
•• To set the size of a frame, you call the setSize method and send it the height and
width in pixels. Or, you can call the pack method to automatically size the window
so it is just large enough to hold all of its components.
•• To let the operating system set the location of a frame, you can call the setLocation-
ByPlatfrom method and send it a true value.
•• To exit the application when the user selects the close button, you can set the
default close operation. If you don’t, the application may keep running after the
window closes.
•• To set the look and feel to use the default platform look and feel, you call the
setLookAndFeel method of the UIManager class inside a try-catch block.
•• To make the frame visible, you call the setVisible method and pass it a true value.

Figure 21-3 How to work with frames

538 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to add a panel to a frame

Usually, the easiest way to build a GUI application is to use an invisible
container known as a panel to group components. To do that with Swing, you
can use the JPanel class. Then, you can add one or more panels to the frame.
Figure 21-4 shows an example of how to add a panel to a frame. To start, it
creates a JPanel widget named panel. Then, it calls the add method of the frame
to add the panel to the frame. Since a panel is invisible, this doesn’t display
anything on the frame. To do that, you need to add one or more widgets to the
panel.

How to add buttons to a panel

The second example adds two buttons to the panel. To do that, it creates two
buttons from the JButton class. Then, it uses the add method of the panel to add
the buttons to the panel.
To set the text of the button, you can use the constructor of the JButton class.
Or, you can create the JButton widget and call its setText method. In this figure,
for example, the text for both buttons is set by the constructor for the JButton
widget.
The JButton widget provides some other methods that are commonly used.
For example, you can use the setEnabled method to disable a button and gray it
out. If you want to disable an OK button until the user has filled in the required
data, for instance, you can use this method. Or, you may want to display a
tooltip, which is a common graphical user interface element that’s displayed
when the user hovers the pointer over an item for about one second. To do that,
you can use the setToolTipText method.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 539

A common method of the JFrame and JPanel objects

Method Description
add(Component) Adds the specified component to the frame or panel.

Code that adds a panel to a frame

JPanel panel = new JPanel();
frame.add(panel);

Code that adds two buttons to a panel

JButton button1 = new JButton("Click me!");
JButton button2 = new JButton("No, click me!");
panel.add(button1);
panel.add(button2);

Two buttons in a panel

Common constructors and methods of the JButton object

Constructor Description
JButton(String) Sets the text displayed by the button.
Method Description
setText(String) Sets the text displayed by the button.
setEnabled(boolean) Sets whether the button is enabled or disabled and grayed out.
setToolTipText(String) Sets the text for the tooltip. If the user hovers the mouse over the
button for about one second, the tooltip is displayed.

Description
•• A panel is an invisible container that’s used to group other components.
•• To create a panel, you can create a JPanel object. Then, you can add it to a frame.
•• To create a button, you can create a JButton object. Then, you can add it to a frame
or a panel.
•• You should add all of the panels and components to the frame before calling
its setVisible method. Otherwise, the user interface may flicker when it’s first
displayed.

Figure 21-4 How to work with buttons

540 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to handle a button event

The buttons displayed by the code in the previous figure don’t do anything
when you click on them. That’s because there is nothing to handle the event
that’s generated by the button when it’s clicked.
Each time the user interacts with your GUI, an event is fired. For example,
when the user clicks on a button, an event is fired notifying your code that the
button was clicked. An event is also fired each time the user presses a key on the
keyboard, or moves the mouse.
If you want to respond to the event that is fired when the button is clicked,
you need to register something that listens for the event. This is referred to as an
action listener or event listener.
Figure 21-5 shows how you can use the addActionListener method of the
button to register a method that handles the event when the button is clicked.
This method is known as an event handler. When the button is clicked, an
ActionEvent object is created and sent to the event handler. This ActionEvent
object contains a lot of information about the event. However, in simple cases
like this, you don’t need any of that information. Instead, you just need to know
that the button fired an ActionEvent.
Prior to Java 8, the most common way to handle an ActionEvent was to use
an anonymous inner class as shown in the first example. Here, an anonymous
class is coded within the parentheses of the addActionListener method. This
code begins by creating a new ActionListener object that contains a method
named actionPerformed that accepts an ActionEvent argument. Then, the code
within the actionPerformed method is executed when the user clicks the button.
In this case, this method just prints a message of “Button 1 clicked!” to the
console. However, this method could contain more complex code such as code
that updates a database.
With Java 8 and later, you can use a lambda instead of an anonymous
class as shown in the second example. In this case, the lambda is cleaner, more
concise, and easier to understand than an anonymous inner class would be. As
a result, if you’re using Java 8 or later, you’ll probably want to use lambdas.
However, if you plan to distribute your application to users who might be using
Java 7 or earlier, you’ll probably want to use anonymous methods.
Although this figure shows how to handle the event that occurs when a
user clicks a button, other Swing components also generate events that you can
handle. For example, when a user changes the contents of a text box, it generates
an event that you can handle. Handling those types of events is outside the scope
of this book. However, you can use the concepts presented in this figure to get
started with them, and you can use the API documentation to get more informa-
tion about them.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 541

The package that contains the events

java.awt.event

A common method of most components

Method Description
addActionListener(ActionEvent) Adds an event listener to a component
such as a button so it can listen for and
respond to events such as click events.

Code that adds an event handler to a button

With an anonymous class (prior to Java 8)
button1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Button 1 clicked! ");
}
});

With a lambda expression (Java 8 and later)

button1.addActionListener((ActionEvent e) -> {
System.out.println("Button 1 clicked!");
});

Description
•• To make a button do something when clicked, you add an action listener by calling
its addActionListener method.
•• The addActionListener method accepts an ActionListener object that includes an
actionPerformed method that accepts an ActionEvent object. Within the actionPer-
formed method, you write the code that’s executed when the button is clicked.
•• Prior to Java 8, it was common to write anonymous inner classes to handle actions.
However, with Java 8 or later, you can use a lambda expression, which is cleaner
and more concise.

Figure 21-5 How to handle the event that occurs when a button is clicked
542 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to work with layout managers

In the old days of GUI design, it was common to place non-resizable compo-
nents wherever you wanted them. This type of layout is known as fixed width
layout. Although fixed width layout is quick and easy, it causes several problems.
For example, if the window is resized, the components inside don’t resize with
it, which means it’s possible for components to disappear outside the boundaries
of the window. Furthermore, if the user’s operating system uses a different font
size, it’s possible for components to end up on top of each other or hidden under-
neath other components. To address this problem, most modern GUI toolkits,
including Swing, use a concept known as a layout manager.

A summary of layout managers

Java provides several built-in layout managers such as the ones summarized
in figure 21-6. Some are easy to use, but are not flexible. Others are harder to
use, but are flexible and can produce complex layouts. Still others are intended
primarily for use by GUI tools that generate GUI code for programmers rather
than for use by programmers who are coding by hand. In addition, there are
several third-party layout managers that are available for free that might be
easier to use for some tasks.
This chapter shows how to use two of the most common layout managers
included with Java: FlowLayout and BorderLayout. The next chapter shows how
to use the GridBagLayout manager. The Product Manager application presented
in this chapter and the next uses all three of these layout managers. Once you
are familiar with the basics of using these layout managers, you can search the
Internet for information about the other layout managers, which might be easier
to use for certain types of tasks.
By default, a JFrame widget uses the BorderLayout manager, and a JPanel
widget uses the FlowLayout manager. If the default layout manager provided
by a container doesn’t suit your needs, you can change it to a different one by
calling the container’s setLayout method, as shown in this figure. This code
changes the layout manager of the frame from its default of BorderLayout to
FlowLayout instead.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 543

The package that contains the layout managers

java.awt

A summary of layout managers

Manager Description
BorderLayout Lays out components by providing five areas that can each hold one
component. The five areas are north, south, east, west, and center.
FlowLayout Lays out components by flowing them from left to right, or right to left,
similar to words on a page.
GridBagLayout Lays out components in a rectangular grid as shown in the next chapter.
GridLayout Lays out components in a rectangular grid of cells where each cell is
the same size.
CardLayout Lays out components on a card where only one card is visible at a time.
This layout is rarely used, but can be useful for creating wizard dialogs
that guide the user through a step-by-step procedure.
BoxLayout Lays out components in a horizontal or vertical row of cells. This layout
is rarely used, but it can be useful for producing rows of buttons.

A common method of most container components

Method Description
setLayout(layout) Sets the layout to the specified layout manager.

To change a container’s layout manager

JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

Description
•• A layout manager determines how your components are placed in the container and
how they behave if the container is resized or if the font size changes.
•• By default, a JFrame uses the BorderLayout manager.
•• By default, a JPanel uses the FlowLayout manager.

Figure 21-6 A summary of layout managers

544 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to use the FlowLayout manager

Of the three layout managers presented in this book, the FlowLayout
manager is the easiest to use. It adds components in a row and aligns the compo-
nents according to the alignment parameter. By default, the FlowLayout manager
centers components.
The first example in figure 21-7 begins by creating a new JFrame widget
with a title of “Product Manager”. Then, this code sets the size to a width of 600
pixels and a height of 400 pixels. Next, this code calls the frame’s setLayout
method and passes it a new instance of the FlowLayout manager. Since this
statement doesn’t specify an alignment for the FlowLayout manager, it uses the
default alignment of center.
After setting the layout manager, this code adds four buttons to the frame
labeled Button 1, Button 2, Button 3, and Button 4. As a result, the layout
manager arranges these buttons from left to right in the same order that the code
added them to the frame.
If there isn’t enough space in the container to hold all of the components,
FlowLayout wraps the components to the next row. This is similar to how a word
processor wraps text when it reaches the right margin. Once again, the layout
manager arranges the components according to the alignment we specified,
which in this case, is center.
To change the default alignment, you can supply an alignment parameter to
the constructor of the FlowLayout class. In the second example, for instance, the
alignment parameter tells FlowLayout that it should align the components with
the left edge of the frame, similar to left aligning text in a word processor. It’s
also possible to right align the components.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 545

Code that creates a FlowLayout and adds four buttons to it

JFrame frame = new JFrame("Product Manager");
frame.setSize(600, 400);
frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
frame.add(new JButton("Button 1"));
frame.add(new JButton("Button 2"));
frame.add(new JButton("Button 3"));
frame.add(new JButton("Button 4"));

The FlowLayout when all components fit on one line

The FlowLayout when components wrap to the next line

A common constructor of the FlowLayout class

Constructor Description
FlowLayout(alignment) Sets the horizontal alignment of this manager. To set
this alignment, you can specify the LEFT, RIGHT,
or CENTER constants of the FlowLayout class.

How to change the default layout

frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));

Description
•• If the components don’t fit on one line, the FlowLayout manager wraps the compo-
nents to a new line.
•• The FlowLayout manager can align components to the left, right, or center. The
default is center.

Figure 21-7 How to work with the FlowLayout manager

546 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to use the BorderLayout manager

The BorderLayout manager has five areas: north, south, east, west, and
center. Each of these areas can hold a single component.
Figure 21-8 shows a frame that uses the BorderLayout manager to display
one button in each of the five areas. This code begins by creating a frame like
the one in the previous figure. However, since BorderLayout is the default layout
manager for a frame, this code doesn’t set the layout manager.
After creating the frame, this code adds a new button to the north area of the
frame by calling the add method of the frame. Then, it passes the component as
the first argument and the area as the second argument. Here, the component is a
new JButton widget that says “North”, and the BorderLayout.NORTH constant
specifies the north area. This causes the layout manager to size this component
horizontally to fill the entire width of the frame and vertically to its preferred
height, which is the height of the button.
In a similar fashion, this code adds a new button to the south area of the
frame. Like the north area, the layout manager sizes the component horizontally
to fill the entire width of the frame and vertically to its preferred height.
After adding a button to the north and sound areas, this code adds a button to
the east and west areas. In this case, the layout manager sizes these components
to fill all of the vertical space between the north and south areas. In addition, it
sizes these components to their preferred width, which is the width of the button.
Finally, the code adds a button to the center area of the frame. In this case,
the layout manager sizes this component both vertically and horizontally to fill
any remaining space not used by the components in the other areas.
If you resize this window, the layout manager adjusts the size of the compo-
nents in each area. The north and south components resize horizontally to fill
the new space, but their height remains the same. The east and west components
resize vertically to fill the new space but their width remains the same. And the
center component resizes to fill any remaining space.
If you don’t provide a component for one or more of the areas in the
BorderLayout, that area has a size of zero. For example, if you remove the
button from the east area, the east area has a size of 0. As a result, the component
in the center expands to the right edge of the frame.
The BorderLayout manager is often used to lay out the main screen of an
application. For example, suppose you were writing an email client. You might
use the north area as a toolbar, the west area to hold a list of folders, the center
area to hold the list of emails, and the south area to hold a status bar. In this case,
you might not use the east area.
When working with the BorderLayout manager, it’s important to remember
that each area can only hold one component. As a result, if you want to add
multiple components, you need to group those buttons into a panel before you
add them. For example, if you want to add a toolbar with multiple buttons, you
need to group those buttons into a panel (probably using FlowLayout for that
panel) and then add the panel to the north area of the BorderLayout.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 547

A common method of the BorderLayout class

Method Description
add(component, area) Adds the specified component to the specified area. To set
the area, you can specify the NORTH, SOUTH, EAST,
WEST, or CENTER constants of the BorderLayout class.

Code that adds five buttons to each area of a BorderLayout

JFrame frame = new JFrame("Product Manager");
frame.setSize(600, 400);
frame.add(new JButton("North"), BorderLayout.NORTH);
frame.add(new JButton("South"), BorderLayout.SOUTH);
frame.add(new JButton("East"), BorderLayout.EAST);
frame.add(new JButton("West"), BorderLayout.WEST);
frame.add(new JButton("Center"), BorderLayout.CENTER);

The JFrame produced by the above code

Description
•• A BorderLayout has five areas: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST, and CENTER.
•• The default area is CENTER. As a result, if you don’t specify the area, the compo-
nent is added to the center.
•• The NORTH and SOUTH areas get their preferred height, which usually means
they are tall enough to hold whatever is placed in them. The preferred width is
ignored.
•• The WEST and EAST areas get their preferred width, which usually means they are
wide enough to hold whatever is placed in them. The preferred height is ignored.
•• The CENTER area gets whatever space is left over and expands or contracts as the
window is resized.
•• Each area of a BorderLayout can only hold one component. If you need to add
multiple components to an area, you can add them to a panel and then add the panel
to the area.

Figure 21-8 How to work with the BorderLayout manger

548 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to work with tables

Many applications, especially applications that work with a database, need
to display rows of data in a table. To do that, you can use a JTable widget. But
first, you typically begin by creating a model for the table. A table model holds
the data for the table and determines how the data is displayed in the table.

How to create a model for a table

Figure 21-9 begins by showing a JTable widget along with some termi-
nology that’s necessary to work with the table and its model. The first row of the
table, commonly referred to as the table header, contains a column name for each
column of the table. In this figure, the column names are “Code”, “Description”,
and “Price”. A column usually stores a certain type of data. In this figure, the
first column stores product codes, the second column stores descriptions, and the
third column stores prices. And a row typically stores a complete record. In this
figure, each row stores all of the information for a product.
To create a model for a table, you can extend the AbstractTableModel class
that’s part of Swing. Then, you can override the methods in the first table of
this figure. Of these methods, you must override the first three, and you should
override the fourth if you want to include column names.
In addition, you can add other methods to the class for the model. For
example, you may want to add a method that makes it easy to get a Product
object from the model. Or, you may need to add a method that calls the
fireTableDataChanged method to notify the table that the data in the model has
been updated. That way, the table can refresh itself so it displays the current
data. You’ll see how this works in the next figure.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 549

JTable terminology

AbstractTableModel methods that you typically override

Method Description
getRowCount() Returns an integer for the number of rows in the table.
getColumnCount() Returns an integer for the number of columns in the table.
getValueAt(row, column) Returns an object for the value at the given row and column
index of the table.
getColumnName(column) Returns a string representing the name of the column at the
specified column index. This value is used as the column
label in the table header.

An AbstractTableModel method that you can call

Method Description
fireTableDataChanged() Notifies all listeners that all cell values in the table’s rows may
have changed.

Description
•• The easiest way to create a custom table model is to extend the AbstractTableModel
class.
•• At a minimum, you need to override the getRowCount, getColumnCount, and
getValueAt methods. In addition, it’s common to override the getColumnName
method.
•• When you update the database, you can call the fireTableDataChanged method to
refresh all data that’s displayed in the table.
•• The AbstractTableModel class contains other methods, such as
fireTableCellUpdated and fireTableRowsInserted, that you can call to update part of
a table. These methods can be much more efficient, especially for a large table. See
the API documentation for more information.
Figure 21-9 How to create a table model
550 Section 5 Real-world skills

The ProductTableModel class

Figure 21-10 shows the code for the class that defines the model that’s used
by the table in the previous figure. This class is named ProductTableModel, and
it begins by extending AbstractTableModel.
The @SuppressWarnings annotation above the class declaration prevents
Eclipse from displaying a warning that this class doesn’t have a serial ID. In this
case, this class doesn’t need a serial ID. As a result, we can safely ignore this
warning.
Within the class, the first statement declares a variable named products that
stores a List of Product objects. Then, the second statement declares and initial-
izes an array of strings for the names of the three columns. These column names
are Code, Description, and Price.
The constructor for the table model calls the getAll method of the
ProductDB class described in the previous chapter to retrieve a List of Product
objects from the database. Then, it assigns this list of products to the variable
named products.
The getRowCount method is the first of three methods that you are required
to override when extending the AbstractTableModel class. This method returns
an integer value for the number of rows in the table. Since this value is equal to
the number of products in the products list, this code returns the value of the size
method of the products list.
The getColumnCount method is the second method you are required to
override. This method returns an integer value for the number of columns. To do
that, this returns the length of the COLUMN_NAMES array, which is the same
as the number of columns.
The getColumnName method isn’t required, but it’s necessary if you want to
display column names. This method takes a column index value and returns the
name of the column for the specified index. To do that, this method returns the
string at that index of the COLUMN_NAMES array.
The getValueAt method is the third method you are required to override.
This method defines a row index and a column index as parameters. Then, it
returns the value at the specified row and column. To do that, this method uses
a switch statement to determine the column to display. For a column index of 0,
this code calls the get method of the products list to return a Product object at the
specified row index. Then, it uses method chaining to call the getCode method of
that Product object. For a column index of 1, this code calls the getDescription
method of the Product object at the specified row index. And for a column index
of 2, this code calls the object’s getPriceFormatted method.
One thing that can cause some confusion for new programmers is that you
define these four methods, but you never call them anywhere. That’s because
the JTable widget calls these methods whenever it needs information about how
to display the table. For example, when the JTable widget needs to know what
value to display for the description column in the first row of the table, it calls
the getValueAt method with a row index of 0, and a column index of 1. Then,
the getValueAt method gets the Product object from the first row of the product
list (remember that list indexes start at 0) and calls its getDescription method to
return the description.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 551

The ProductTableModel class

package mma.ui;

import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.table.AbstractTableModel;

import mma.business.Product;
import mma.db.ProductDB;
import mma.db.DBException;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class ProductTableModel extends AbstractTableModel {
private List<Product> products;
private final String[] COLUMN_NAMES = { "Code", "Description", "Price" };

public ProductTableModel() {
try {
products = ProductDB.getAll();
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}

@Override
public int getRowCount() {
return products.size();
}

@Override
public int getColumnCount() {
return COLUMN_NAMES.length;
}

@Override
public String getColumnName(int columnIndex) {
return COLUMN_NAMES[columnIndex];
}

@Override
public Object getValueAt(int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
switch (columnIndex) {
case 0:
return products.get(rowIndex).getCode();
case 1:
return products.get(rowIndex).getDescription();
case 2:
return products.get(rowIndex).getPriceFormatted();
default:
return null;
}
}

Figure 21-10 The ProductTableModel class (part 1 of 2)

552 Section 5 Real-world skills

Part 2 of figure 21-10 shows two more methods of the table model. When
you write the code for an application, you can call these methods to work with
the data in the table. You’ll see how this works later in this chapter.
The getProduct method returns a Product object for the row at the specified
index. This lets you get the Product object for the row that’s selected by the user,
which is useful if you want to update or delete this product in the database.
The databaseUpdated method updates the old data in the table model with
new data from the database. Then, it calls the fireTableDataChanged method of
the table model. This notifies the JTable widget that the data in the model has
changed. This allows the JTable widget to display the new data. If you modify
the underlying data in the database, you can call this method to synchronize the
data that’s displayed in the table with the data that’s in the database.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 553

The ProductTableModel class (continued)

Product getProduct(int rowIndex) {
return products.get(rowIndex);
}

void databaseUpdated() {
try {
products = ProductDB.getAll();
fireTableDataChanged();
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}
}

Description
•• When a row represents a business object such as a Product object, you can include
a method that returns an object for the specified row index.
•• To synchronize the data in the table with the data in the database, you can include
a method that updates the model with the data from the database and then calls the
fireTableDataChanged method. This causes the table to display the new data that’s
stored in the model.

Figure 21-10 The ProductTableModel class (part 2 of 2)

554 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to create a table

Once you create a model for a table, you can create a JTable widget to
display the data that’s stored in that model. The first example of figure 21-11
shows how.
This code begins by creating a ProductTableModel object from the class
shown in the previous figure. Then, it creates a new JTable widget by passing the
model to the constructor of the JTable class. Alternately, this code could call the
empty constructor of the JTable class and then use the setModel method to set
the model.
After setting the model for the table, this code sets the selection mode of the
table to SINGLE_SELECTION mode. As a result, users can only select one row
at a time. However, you can use two other values to set the selection mode.
First, you can use the SINGLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION mode to allow
the user to select multiple rows by holding the Control or Shift keys. However,
this only works if those rows are contiguous. In other words, it only works if the
selected rows are next to each other.
Second, if you want to allow more possibilities, you can use the
MULTIPLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION mode to allow the user to select
multiple rows by holding the Control or Shift keys. However, in this mode, those
rows don’t have to be contiguous.
After setting the selection mode, this code calls the setBorder method of
the table and passes a null value to that method. As a result, this table doesn’t
include a border. If you plan to add scrollbars to a table as shown in the next
figure, this makes sure that the GUI doesn’t display two borders: one for the
table and one for the scrollbar. This is a best practice whenever the component is
going to take up the entire space of the container.

How to get the selected row or rows

The second example shows how to get the selected row or rows from a table
after it’s displayed. This code starts by calling the getSelectedRow method of the
table. This gets the index for the first row that the user selected.
After getting the row index, this code checks to make sure that the user
selected a row. If so, it passes the row index to the getProduct method of the
model for the table. This gets the Product object that corresponds with the
selected row.
It makes sense for this example to use the getSelectedRow method because
the first example only allows the user to select a single row. However, if the
first example had allowed the user to select multiple rows, it would make sense
for this example to use the getSelectedRows method to get the indexes for all
selected rows.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 555

Some common constructors and methods of the JTable class

Constructor Description
JTable(model) Constructs a new JTable and sets the model for the table to the
specified TableModel object.
Method Description
setModel(model) Sets the model for the table to the specified TableModel object.
setSelectionMode(mode) Sets the selection mode to one of the ListSelectionModel values.
This determines how the user can select items from the table.
setBorder(border) If you enclose the table in a scroll pane, setting the border to null
may improve the appearance.
getSelectedRow() Returns an int value for the index of the first selected row or -1 if
no rows are selected.
getSelectedRows() Returns an array of int values for the indexes of the selected rows.

ListSelectionModel values
Value Description
SINGLE_SELECTION Allows selecting only one row at a time.
SINGLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION Allows selecting multiple rows, but only if
they are contiguous.
MULTIPLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION Allows for selection of multiple rows at the
same time, even if they are not contiguous

Code that creates a table

ProductTableModel productTableModel = new ProductTableModel();
JTable productTable = new JTable(productTableModel);
productTable.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
productTable.setBorder(null);

Code that gets data from the table

int rowIndex = productTable.getSelectedRow();
if (rowIndex != -1) {
Product product = productTableModel.getProduct(rowIndex);
}

Description
•• Once you have created a model for a table, you can create the table and set the
model in the table. Then, you can use the methods of the table to work with it.

Figure 21-11 How to create a table

556 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to add scrollbars to a table

It’s common for a table to contain so many rows or columns that it doesn’t
fit on one screen. Fortunately, Swing provides a container called JScrollPane that
you can use to add scrollbars to a table. Of course, JScrollPane also works with
any other component, such as text areas, where the content of the component is
too large to fit on one screen.
The first example in figure 21-12 shows how to create a scroll pane and
add a table to it. To do that, this code passes the table to the constructor of the
JScrollPane class. Then, it adds the JScrollPane object to the frame.
The second code example shows an alternate and common method of adding
a component to a scroll pane and adding the scroll pane to the frame. Since this
example doesn’t maintain a reference to the JScrollPane object, you can’t call
any of its methods later. However, this is usually fine as long as you don’t need
to change the default scroll pane policy.
If you need to change the scroll pane policy, you can use the setHorizon-
talScrollBarPolicy and setVerticalScrollBarPolicy methods of the scroll pane as
shown in the third example. These methods determine when the scrollbars are
visible to the user. The default for both scrollbars is AS_NEEDED. As a result,
if all the content fits in the container, the scrollbars are hidden. However, if the
content doesn’t fit, the scrollbars are displayed. This could happen, for example,
if you resize the window to make the container smaller.
If you want to make it so the scrollbars are always visible, even if they are
not needed, you can set the policy to ALWAYS. In this case, the scrollbars are
displayed even when they are not needed, but they don’t do anything if you try to
use them.
If you want to make it so the scrollbars are never visible, you can set the
policy to NEVER. This hides the scrollbars. However, the user can still scroll the
component by using the arrow keys and the Page Up and Page Down keys.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 557

To add a component to a scroll pane

JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(productTable);
frame.add(scrollPane);

An alternate way of adding a scroll pane

frame.add(new JScrollPane(productTable));

A constructor and two methods of the JScrollPane class

Constructor Description
JScrollPane(component) Adds the component to the scroll pane.
Method Description
setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(policy) Controls when the horizontal scrollbar is
visible using one of the constants from the
next table.
setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(policy) Controls when the vertical scrollbar is visible
using one of the constants from the next table.

ScrollPaneConstants
Value Description
HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED Display the horizontal scrollbar only if the content is
wider than the view port and can’t all be displayed at
the same time. This is the default.
HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER Never display the horizontal scrollbar. It’s still
possible to scroll left and right using the left and right
arrow keys on the keyboard.
HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS Always display the horizontal scrollbar, whether it is
needed or not.
VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED Display the vertical scrollbar only if the content is
longer than the viewport and can’t all be displayed at
the same time. This is the default.
VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER Never display the vertical scrollbar. It’s still possible
to scroll the content up and down using the up and
down arrow keys and the page up / page down keys
on the keyboard.
VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS Always display the vertical scrollbar, whether it is
needed or not.

To make the scrollbars always visible

scrollPane.setHoizontalScrollBarPolicy(
ScrollPaneConstants.HORIZONATAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);

scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(
ScrollPaneConstants.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);

Description
•• You can use a scroll pane to add scrollbars to any component that might not fit in a
window.
• By default, scroll panes only display the scrollbars if they are needed.
Figure 21-12 How to work with scroll panes
558 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to work with built-in dialog boxes

If you work with GUIs, you may sometimes need to use a dialog box to
display a message to the user. For example, you may need to display a notifica-
tion or a warning. Other times, you may need to use a dialog box to confirm an
operation. For example, you may need to ask a simple question to determine
whether it’s ok to delete a file.
Manually writing GUI code for common dialog boxes like these would be
tedious. Fortunately, Swing provides built-in dialog boxes, and you can use the
JOptionPane class to work with them.
A dialog box created from the JOptionPane class is always displayed on top
of the parent container. It is always modal, which means that the user cannot
interact with any other part of the application until they have responded to the
dialog. And it is always blocking, which means that the dialog halts the currently
running thread and prevents it from resuming until the user has responded to the
dialog.

How to display a message

Figure 21-13 shows how to use the JOptionPane class to display a message
to the user. To do that, you can call the static showMessageDialog method. This
method takes four parameters: (1) the parent container, (2) the message, (3) the
title, and (4) the type of message.
Typically, the parent for a dialog box is one of the frames of the application.
However, it can also be a custom dialog box like the one described in the next
chapter.
The JOptionPane can display the five message types listed in this figure. In
most cases, the main difference between these types is the icon that’s displayed
by the message box. This icon may vary between operating systems and different
look and feel settings. In addition, some operating systems may play a sound for
certain types of messages.
The first example displays an information message. As a result, it uses the
information icon. Since the purpose of this dialog box is to display a message, it
only contains one button labeled “OK”. After reading the message, the user can
click this button to close the dialog and continue with the application.
The second example displays an error message. This example works like the
first example. However, since it’s an error message, it uses the error icon.
Again note that these icons may look different depending on the operating
system and look and feel. These examples both use the default Swing look and
feel.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 559

JOptionPane message types

Type Description
ERROR_MESSAGE An error icon.
WARNING_MESSAGE A warning icon.
INFORMATION_MESSAGE An information icon.
QUESTION_MESSAGE A question icon.
PLAIN_MESSAGE No icon.

To display an information message

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame, "The software has been updated.",
"Updated", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);

The dialog box that’s displayed

To display an error message

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
"The internet could not be accessed because it doesn't exist.",
"Resource doesn't exist", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);

The dialog box that’s displayed

Description
•• To show a dialog box that displays a message, you use the static showMessage-
Dialog method of the JOptionPane class. This method has four parameters: (1) the
parent container, (2) the message, (3) the title, and (4) the type of dialog.
•• Java uses the parent container parameter to determine where to display the dialog.
On Windows, Java typically centers the dialog box on the parent container.
•• By default, the dialog box has a single OK button.
•• The dialog box is modal. This means that it is always on top of the rest of the appli-
cation. As a result, users can’t continue until they have responded to the dialog.
•• The appearance of the icons displayed by the dialogs varies depending on the look
and feel that the application is using. In addition, these icons may vary depending
on the locale.

Figure 21-13 How to display a message

560 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to confirm an operation

Figure 21-14 shows how to use the JOptionPane class to display a message
that confirms an operation by asking the user a question. To do that, you can call
the showConfirmDialog method. This method works similarly to the showMes-
sageDialog method described in the previous figure. However, the fourth param-
eter of the showConfirmDialog method determines which buttons the dialog
should display. In addition, this method returns a value that indicates which
button the user selected.
The showConfirmDialog can display a dialog box with the button options
listed in this figure. Of these, the YES_NO_OPTION type and the
OK_CANCEL_OPTION type are the most commonly used.
The first example displays a dialog box that asks the user whether he or she
wants to create a new file. Here, the first three parameters of the method work
the same as the first three parameters of the method shown in the previous figure.
However, the fourth parameter uses the YES_NO_OPTION value to specify that
the dialog should display Yes and No buttons. In addition, this code assigns the
return value of the showConfirmDialog method to an int variable named option.
In part 2 of this figure, you’ll learn how to use this variable to determine which
button the user selected.
By default, the showConfirmDialog uses the QUESTION_MESSAGE
type. This message type displays a question mark method as shown in the first
example. However, you may want to use an icon that gives a stronger warning if
the action the user is performing is going to delete a file, change data, or perform
an operation that can’t be undone. To do that, you can supply an optional fifth
parameter that uses one of the message type values shown in the previous figure.
In this figure, for instance, the second code example supplies a fifth parameter
that specifies the WARNING_MESSAGE type.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 561

JOptionPane option types

Type Buttons
DEFAULT_OPTION OK
YES_NO_OPTION Yes and No
YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION Yes, No, and Cancel
OK_CANCEL_OPTION OK and Cancel

To display a question dialog with Yes and No buttons

int option = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(frame,
"Do you want to create a new file?", "New file",
JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);

The dialog box that’s displayed

To display a question dialog with a warning icon

int option = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(frame,
"Are you sure you want to to delete the Internet?\n"
+ "This operation cannot be undone.", "Are you sure?",
JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);

The dialog box that’s displayed

Description
•• To display a dialog box that lets the user confirm or cancel an operation, you can
use the static showConfirmDialog method of the JOptionPane class.
•• The first three parameters of the showConfirmDialog method work the same as the
showMessageDialog method shown in the previous figure.
•• The fourth parameter determines the buttons that are displayed.
•• By default, the showConfirmDialog method displays a question icon. However, you
can specify another type of icon by supplying the fifth parameter.
•• To wrap a long message to a second line, you can use the line break character (\n).

Figure 21-14 How to confirm an operation (part 1 of 2)

562 Section 5 Real-world skills

Part 2 of figure 21-14 shows how to use the return value of the
showConfirmDialog method to determine which button the user selected. This
method can return any of the values listed in this figure. Of course, the possible
return values depend on the type of dialog. For example, a dialog box of the
YES_NO_OPTION returns the YES_OPTION or the NO_OPTION. In other
words, it never returns the CANCEL_OPTION or the OK_OPTION. However,
all dialog types can return the CLOSED_OPTION that indicates that the user
closed the dialog box without selecting any of the buttons.
The code example uses a switch statement to determine which button the
user selected. To do that, this switch statement provides one case for each
possible return value: the YES_OPTION, the NO_OPTION, and the
CLOSE_OPTION. Then, it prints a different message to the console depending
on which option the user selected. Alternately, it’s possible to use an if/else state-
ment instead of a switch statement. However, as a general rule, switch statements
are more efficient. In addition, for code like this, they’re easier to read.
Remember that the dialogs produced by JOptionPane are blocking. This
means that they halt the thread and prevent it from continuing until the user has
responded to the dialog. As result, the switch statement doesn’t run until the user
selects one of the dialog buttons or closes the dialog.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 563

JOptionPane return values

Value Description
YES_OPTION The Yes button was selected.
NO_OPTION The No button was selected.
CANCEL_OPTION The Cancel button was selected.
OK_OPTION The OK button was selected.
CLOSED_OPTION The message box was closed
without making any selection.

A switch statement that determines which button was selected

int option = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(frame,
"Are you sure you want to to delete the Internet?\n"
+ "This operation cannot be undone.", "Are you sure?",
JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);

switch (option) {
case JOptionPane.YES_OPTION:
System.out.println("You clicked the Yes button.");
break;
case JOptionPane.NO_OPTION:
System.out.println("You clicked the No button.");
break;
case JOptionPane.CLOSED_OPTION:
System.out.println("You closed the dialog.");
break;
}

Description
•• When the user selects an option from a dialog box, the showConfirmDialog method
closes the dialog box and returns an int value for the option.
•• To determine the option selected by the user, it’s common to use a switch state-
ment. However, it’s also possible to use an if/else statement.

Figure 21-14 How to confirm an operation (part 2 of 2)

564 Section 5 Real-world skills

The Product Manager frame

This chapter finishes by presenting the complete code for the main window
of the Product Manager application. This code uses most of the concepts and
components you learned about in this chapter.

The user interface

Figure 21-15 shows the user interface for the Product Manager applica-
tion. The main window of the application is a JFrame widget that uses the
BorderLayout manager. This frame displays two components.
The first is a JPanel widget that uses the FlowLayout manager to display
three JButton widgets. The frame displays this panel in the NORTH area of its
layout.
The second is a JScrollPane widget that contains a JTable widget. This table
displays the data for the products that are stored in the database. The frame
displays this scroll pane in the CENTER area of its layout.
To delete a product, the user can select the row for the product and click the
Delete button. This displays the Confirm Delete dialog box shown in this figure.
If the user selects the Yes button to confirm the deletion, this deletes the product
from the database and updates the data that’s displayed in the JTable widget.
At this point, the Add and Edit buttons haven’t been implemented. As a
result, if the user clicks on either of these buttons, the application displays a
dialog box that indicates that the feature hasn’t been implemented yet. In the
next chapter, you’ll learn how to implement these buttons so they can be used to
add a new product or update an existing product.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 565

The Product Manager frame

The dialog box for the Delete button

The dialog box for the Add and Edit buttons

Description
•• The main window for the Product Manager application is a frame that displays a
panel that contains three buttons, as well as a table that contains the data for several
products.
•• If the user selects the row for a product and clicks the Delete button, the application
displays a dialog box that allows the user to confirm the deletion.
•• If the user selects the Add or Edit buttons, the application displays a dialog box
that indicates that these features haven’t been implemented yet. You’ll learn how to
implement these features in the next chapter.

Figure 21-15 The user interface for the Product Manager application
566 Section 5 Real-world skills

The ProductManagerFrame class

Figure 21-16 shows the code that creates the main window for the Product
Manager application. To start, the class declaration declares a class named
ProductManagerFrame that extends the JFrame class. This is a common practice
since it allows you to store all code that defines this frame within a single class.
This class begins by defining two instance variables. First, it defines a JTable
widget named productTable. This widget displays the table of products to the
user. Second, it defines an instance of the ProductTableModel class described
earlier in this chapter. This model stores the data for the table widget.
The constructor of this frame starts by using the UIManager to attempt to
set the look and feel to the native look and feel for the operating system that
the application is running on. This step is optional, but it usually improves the
appearance of the application since it matches the look and feel of other applica-
tions on the same operating system.
After setting the look and feel, the constructor sets the title, size, and
location of the frame. Then, it sets the default close operation so the application
exits if the user closes the window. If you don’t include this line of code, the
window closes, but the application continues to run in the background.
After setting the default close operation, the constructor calls the buildBut-
tonPanel method that’s shown later in this class to get a panel that contains
the three buttons for this application. Then, it adds this panel to the NORTH
area of the BorderLayout. This is possible because a JFrame widget uses the
BorderLayout manager by default.
After adding the button panel to the NORTH area, the constructor calls
the buildProductTable method that’s shown later in this class to get the JTable
widget for the product table. In addition, it assigns this JTable widget to the
productTable variable.
After creating the JTable widget, the constructor adds a JScrollPane widget
that contains the JTable widget to the CENTER area of the BorderLayout.
Since CENTER is the default area, this code could have omitted this argument.
However, including this argument clearly identifies the area of the BorderLayout.
Finally, the constructor calls the setVisible method to display the user
interface to the user. This statement is coded last because coding it earlier in
the constructor can sometimes cause the user interface to flicker when it’s first
displayed.
The buildButtonPanel method begins by creating a JPanel object named
panel. By default, a JPanel object uses the FlowLayout manager. Since that’s
what we want in this case, this code doesn’t set a layout.
This method continues by creating the Add, Edit, and Delete buttons. Then,
it sets a tooltip for some of these buttons. For example, it sets a tooltip of “Delete
selected product” for the Delete button. Next, it uses lambda expressions to
add action listeners to each button. Each of these listeners call an appropriately
named method. For example, the action listener for the Add method calls the
doAddButton method that’s coded later in this class.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 567

The ProductManagerFrame class

package mma.ui;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.ListSelectionModel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;

import mma.business.Product;
import mma.db.ProductDB;
import mma.db.DBException;

@SupressWarnings("serial")
public class ProductManagerFrame extends JFrame {
private JTable productTable;
private ProductTableModel productTableModel;

public ProductManagerFrame() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(
UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException |
IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
setTitle("Product Manager");
setSize(768, 384);
setLocationByPlatform(true);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

add(buildButtonPanel(), BorderLayout.NORTH);
productTable = buildProductTable();
add(new JScrollPane(productTable), BorderLayout.CENTER);
setVisible(true);
}

private JPanel buildButtonPanel() {

JPanel panel = new JPanel();

JButton addButton = new JButton("Add");

addButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
doAddButton();
});
panel.add(addButton);

JButton editButton = new JButton("Edit");

editButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
doEditButton();
});
panel.add(editButton);

Figure 21-16 The code for ProductManagerFrame (part 1 of 2)

568 Section 5 Real-world skills

After creating these three buttons, this code adds these three buttons to the
panel. Finally, the last statement in the buildButtonPanel method returns the
panel.
The next three methods are the event handler methods for the action
listeners. For now, the methods for the Add and Edit buttons just display a dialog
box with a message indicating the feature hasn’t been implemented yet. In the
next chapter, you’ll learn how to add code to these methods so the Add and Edit
buttons can be used to add new products or to edit existing products.
However, the method for the Delete button contains code that deletes the
selected product from the database. To start, this code uses the getSelectedRow
method of the JTable widget to get the index for the selected row. Then, this code
checks whether this index is equal to -1. If so, it displays a message dialog that
indicates that the user must select a product before clicking the Delete button.
Otherwise, it displays a dialog that contains Yes and No buttons that allow the
user to confirm the operation. If the user clicks the Yes button, this code uses the
delete method of the ProductDB class described in the previous chapter to delete
the product. Then, it calls the fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent method that’s coded
later in this class. In turn, this method calls the databaseUpdated method of the
table model to update the data that’s displayed by the JTable widget.
The code that calls the methods of the JOptionPane class specifies
the keyword named this as the first argument of the method. This tells the
JOptionPane class that the current object (the ProductManagerFrame object) is
the parent for the dialog box.
The buildProductTable method creates a ProductTableModel object and
assigns it to the productTableModel instance variable. Remember that the
constructor for ProductTableModel class makes a call to the ProductDB class
to get all of the records. As a result, this creates a model that contains a list of
products that corresponds with the products in the database.
After creating the model, this code creates a new JTable widget and sets its
model. To do that, it passes the productTableModel variable to the constructor of
the JTable class.
After creating the JTable widget, the next line of code sets the selection
mode of the table to a value of SINGLE_SELECTION. As a result, the user can
only select one row at a time.
Because this table is displayed in a JScrollPane widget, this code also sets
the border of the table to null. This makes sure that the Product Manager appli-
cation doesn’t display two borders: one for the table and one for the scroll pane.
Finally, this code returns the table. Remember that the constructor of this
class calls the buildProductTable method to get this table. Then, it adds this table
to a scroll pane, and it adds the scroll pane to the center area of the frame.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 569

The ProductManagerFrame class

JButton deleteButton = new JButton("Delete");
deleteButton.setToolTipText("Delete selected product");
deleteButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
doDeleteButton();
});
panel.add(deleteButton);

return panel;
}

private void doAddButton() {

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,
"This feature hasn't been implemented yet.",
"Not yet implemented", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
}

private void doEditButton() {

doAddButton();
}

private void doDeleteButton() {

int selectedRow = productTable.getSelectedRow();
if (selectedRow == -1) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,
"No product is currently selected.",
"No product selected", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
} else {
Product product = productTableModel.getProduct(selectedRow);
int ask = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(this,
"Are you sure you want to delete " +
product.getDescription() + " from the database?",
"Confirm delete", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
if (ask == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION) {
try {
ProductDB.delete(product);
fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent();
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}
}
}

public void fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent() {

productTableModel.databaseUpdated();
}

private JTable buildProductTable() {

productTableModel = new ProductTableModel();
JTable table = new JTable(productTableModel);
table.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
table.setBorder(null);
return table;
}
}

Figure 21-16 The code for ProductManagerFrame (part 2 of 2)

570 Section 5 Real-world skills

Perspective
In this chapter, you learned some essential skills for developing a GUI with
Swing, the most widely used GUI toolkit for Java. In particular, you learned
how to create the main window of an application. You learned how to add
buttons. You learned how to handle the events that occur when these buttons
are clicked. You learned how to work with a table that displays data from a
database. And you learned how to work with built-in dialog boxes. In the next
chapter, you’ll learn how to create data entry forms that allow you to add and
update data in a database.

Summary
•• Swing is the most commonly used GUI toolkit for Java.
•• An element of a GUI is called a component or a widget.
•• Swing provides pluggable look and feels that you can change.
•• A component that can contain other components is called a container. Three
commonly used containers are frames, panels, and scroll panes.
•• A JFrame widget usually serves as the main window of your application.
•• A JPanel widget is an invisible component that you can use to group other
components.
•• A JButton widget displays a button.
•• To handle the event that occurs when the user clicks a JButton widget, you
can use the addActionListener method to add an action listener, or event
listener.
•• An event handler is a method that responds to GUI events such as a button
click.
•• A layout manager lays out the components in a container and controls how
they respond to events such as resizing the window.
•• The BorderLayout and FlowLayout managers are two of the most commonly
used layout managers.
•• A JTable widget displays tabular data, such as tables from a database.
•• A table model provides tabular data for a JTable widget. The easiest way to
create a table model is to extend the AbstractTableModel class.
•• A JScrollPane adds scrollbars to a component such as a JTable widget so
that the user can scroll through the component if it doesn’t all fit in the
container.
•• You can use the methods of the JOptionPane class to displays a dialog box
that contains an informational message or a dialog box that confirms an
operation.
 Chapter 21 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 1) 571

Exercise 21-1 Modify an existing GUI

In this exercise, you’ll modify the GUI for the Product Manager window that’s
described in this chapter.
1. Import the project named ch21_ex1_ProductManager that’s in the ex_starts
folder.
2. Run the application and test the GUI. Select one of the rows and verify that
you can delete it with the Delete button. Then click the Add and Edit buttons
and verify that they display the dialog informing the user that the functionality
hasn’t been implemented yet.
3. Add a Print button that displays a dialog that tells the user that the product
has been sent to the printer. To do this, add another JButton to the buildBut-
tonPanel method, add an action listener, and create a method (you can name it
doPrintButton) to handle the action.
4. Modify the code that’s executed by the Print button so that it displays an error
message if no row is currently selected in the product table. To do this, you
can use the code for the doDeleteButton method as a reference.
5. Modify the code so the button panel is displayed in the SOUTH area of
the frame’s BorderLayout. To do this, you’ll need to modify the part of the
constructor that calls the buildButtonPanel method.
 22
How to develop a GUI
with Swing (part 2)
In the last chapter, you learned how to create the main window for the Product
Manager application, including the table that displays the products that are
stored in the database. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create a data entry
form that allows you to add new products to the database or to edit existing
ones.

How to work with labels and text fields............................574

How to work with labels...............................................................................574
How to work with text fields.........................................................................576
How to use the GridBagLayout manager..........................578
An introduction to the GridBagLayout manager.........................................578
How to lay out components in a grid............................................................580
How to add padding......................................................................................582
How to avoid a common pitfall....................................................................584
How to code a data entry form...........................................586
How to create a custom dialog......................................................................586
How to pass data between a dialog and its parent........................................588
The Product form.................................................................590
The user interface.........................................................................................590
The ProductForm class.................................................................................592
Two methods that use the ProductForm class............................................. 600
How to use threads with Swing.........................................602
A common problem..................................................................................... 602
How to solve the problem............................................................................ 602
Perspective..........................................................................604
574 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to work with labels

and text fields
Most applications use one or more text fields, also known as text boxes, to
allow the user to enter data. In addition, most applications use one or more labels
to display text that labels the text boxes for the user. In figure 22-1, for example,
the Add Product window contains three labels and three text fields.

How to work with labels

You can use the JLabel class to create a label. For example, the first label in
this figure displays “Code:” to label the text field that contains the product code.
The first example creates a label and adds it to a panel. Here, the first state-
ment uses the constructor of the JLabel class to create a label and set its text.
However, it’s also possible to use the setText method to set the text of a label.
Then, the second statement adds the label to the panel.
The second example shows how to create a label and add it to a panel in a
single statement. Here, the code doesn’t create a variable that refers to the JLabel
object. As a result, you can’t call any methods of the JLabel class later. However,
this is usually fine since you rarely need to call methods from a label.
Although the labels in this figure display text, a label can also display an
image. For example, you can use a label to display an icon that identifies a text
field, or to display a photograph of a product. However, using images in labels is
not covered in this book.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 575

A window that contains labels and text fields

labels text fields

A common constructor and method of the JLabel class

Constructor Description
JLabel(String) Constructs a new JLabel and sets the text displayed by
the label to the specified string.
Method Description
setText(String) Sets the text displayed by the label to the specified string.

How to create a JLabel object and add it to a container

JLabel codeLabel = new JLabel("Code:");
panel.add(codeLabel)

A common way of adding a JLabel to a container

panel.add(new JLabel("Code:"));

Description
•• A JLabel component defines a label, which is a non-editable widget that typically
displays text that labels other components such as text fields.
•• Since you rarely need to call any methods from a JLabel object, it’s a common
practice to call the constructor of the JLabel class from within an add method. This
does not create a variable that refers to the JLabel object.
•• A JLabel object can also display an image. However, that’s not covered in this
book.

Figure 22-1 How to work with labels

576 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to work with text fields

The JTextField class defines a text field that can display text to the user and
allows the user enter or edit text. Figure 22-2 summarizes some of the most
common constructors and methods of the JTextField class. Then, it presents
some examples that use these constructors and methods.
The first example creates a new text field named codeField. Then, it uses
the setColumns method to set the width of this text field to approximately 20
characters. This means that the width of the text field depends on the font size
for the text field. However, some layout managers ignore this setting. As a result,
you can’t always count on it to work correctly. In that case, you can use the
setPreferredSize and setMinimumSize methods as described later in this chapter.
The second example shows how to create the same text field as the first
example. However, this example uses the constructor to set the number of
characters.
The third and fourth examples show how to get and set the text that’s stored
in a text field. Here, the third example uses the getText method of the text field
to get the string that’s stored in the text field and assign it to a String variable.
Conversely, the fourth example uses the setText method of the text field to store
the specified string in the text field.
By default, a text field is editable. As a result, the user can enter text into it
or edit the text that’s already in it. However, if you want to create a read-only
text field, you can pass a false value to its setEditable method as shown in the
fifth example. Then, the user can’t enter text into it.
So, why wouldn’t you use a label if you want to display text that the user
can’t edit? One reason is that the user can select and copy text from a read-only
text field. This is useful if you want to display some text to the user that they
can copy to the clipboard and paste somewhere else, but you don’t want them to
be able to edit the text. For example, you might want to allow the user to copy
and paste an exception stack trace into an email to help the programmer debug a
problem.
The setEnabled method works similarly to the setEditable method as shown
in the sixth example. However, it also grays out the text box and doesn’t allow
selecting or copying text from the field. This is useful if you want to prevent
users from entering data into a text field until after they have completed other
steps.
The setPreferredSize and setMinimumSize methods provide another way
besides the setColumns method to set the width of the text field. Like the
setColumns method, some layout managers ignore these methods. As a result,
you can’t always count on them to work correctly. Unlike the setColumns
method, these methods set the width in pixels, and they are common to all
components. Later in this chapter, you’ll see an example of how to use these
methods to fix a common problem with Swing layout.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 577

Common constructors and methods of the JTextField class

Constructor Description
JTextField(columns) Creates a text field with the specified number of columns
(characters).
JTextField(text) Creates a text field containing the specified text.
JTextField(text, columns) Creates a text field that starts with the specified text and
contains the specified number of columns (characters).
Method Description
getText(text) Gets the text contained by the text field.
setText(text) Sets the text displayed by the text field.
setColumns(int) Sets the width of the text field in columns (characters).
Many layout managers ignore this setting.
setEditable(boolean) Sets whether the user can edit the text or not.
setEnabled(boolean) Sets whether the text field is enabled. If set to false,
the text field is disabled, which means that it is grayed
out and the user can’t change the text in it.

How to create a text box for approximately 20 characters

JTextField codeField = new JTextField();
codeField.setColumns(20);

Another way to create the same text box

JTextField codeField = new JTextField(20);

How to get text from a text box

String productCode = codeField.getText();

How to set text in a text box

codeField.setText("java");

How to create a read-only text box

codeField.setEditable(false);

How to disable a text box

codeField.setEnabled(false);

Description
•• A JTextField component defines a text field that displays text to the user and allows
the user to enter text. This type of component is also known as a text box.

Figure 22-2 How to work with text fields

578 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to use the GridBagLayout manager

The GridBagLayout manager is more complicated than the layout managers
described in the previous chapter. However, it’s also more powerful and more
flexible.

An introduction to the GridBagLayout manager

Using the GridBagLayout manager, you can lay out components in a grid
like the one shown in in figure 22-3. Of course, the heavy black lines don’t
appear in the application when it’s run. We added them to help you visualize the
six cells of this grid. Here, the grid has two columns and three rows. As a result,
the grid has six cells, and each cell holds a component.
With the GridBagLayout manager, you can create layouts that resize
properly to fit the window size, and automatically look right if the user is using
a font size other than the default. However, it can often require a fair amount of
tweaking and testing to get a layout to look exactly right.
Using the GridBagLayout manager typically involves using the three classes
described in this figure. These classes are stored in the java.awt package and are
designed to work together.
First, the GridBagLayout class defines the layout manager that you provide
to the container’s setLayout method. This works the same as it does for the
BorderLayout and FlowLayout managers described in the previous chapter.
Second, the GridBagConstraints class contains multiple fields that control
how components are laid out within the grid. This includes how much padding
they have, how they resize if the window is resized, and so on. You’ll learn more
about using this class in the next figure.
Third, the Insets class defines the amount of space between components in
the grid, as well as the amount of space between components and the edge of the
container. This space is often referred to as padding.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 579

Six components in a grid of two columns and three rows

The package that contains the layout manager classes

java.awt

Three classes for working with the GridBagLayout manager

Class Description
GridBagLayout Creates a layout manager that can lay out components in a grid.
GridBagConstraints Specifies how the GridBagLayout manager lays out its components. This
object controls horizontal and vertical space, whether components resize
or not, how they resize, and several other aspects of component behavior.
Insets Specifies the amount of padding that the GridBagConstraints object
applies between a component and the edge of the container.

Description
•• The GridBagLayout manager is more complicated than the layout managers
presented in the previous chapter. However, it’s also the most powerful and flexible
layout manager in Swing.
•• To lay out components in a grid, you can use the GridBagConstraints class with the
GridBagLayout class as shown in the next figure.
•• To specify the padding between components, you can use the Insets class with the
GridBagConstraints class as shown in figure 22-5.

Figure 22-3 An introduction to the GridBagLayout manager

580 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to lay out components in a grid

Figure 22-4 shows how to use a GridBagConstraints object to control the
layout of components inside a container that uses the GridBagLayout manager.
This figure starts by showing some fields of the GridBagConstraints class.
To start the gridx and gridy fields control the position on the grid where the
component is placed. In this figure, for example, both the gridx and gridy fields
are set to a value of 0 for the “Code:” label. As a result, the layout manager
places this label in the cell at the top left corner of the grid. Here, the coordinates
represent cells, not pixels.
The first text field has a gridx value of 1 and a gridy value of 0. As a result,
the layout manager places this text field in the cell that’s at the intersection of the
second column and the first row. The second text field has a gridx value of 1 and
a gridy value of 1. As a result, the layout manager places this label in the cell at
the intersection of the second row and the second column. And so on.
The anchor field controls where the layout manager places the component
within the cell if the cell is larger than the component. By default, the layout
manager places the component in the center of the cell. However, you can
specify an anchor value of LINE_END to align the component with the right
side of the cell. In this figure, for example, the first three labels have an anchor
field that’s set to this value. Similarly, you can use an anchor value of
LINE_START to align the component with the left side of the cell. In this figure,
for example, all of the text fields have an anchor field that’s set to this value.
Although LINE_START and LINE_END are two of the most common
values for the anchor field, many other possible values exist. To view a complete
list, see the API documentation for the anchor field.
The LINE_START and LINE_END values are relatively new to Java. Prior
to their introduction, developers commonly used the WEST and EAST values
instead of the LINE_START and LINE_END values. However, for new develop-
ment, it’s recommended that you use the newer LINE_START and LINE_END
values because they are more portable across regions.
The gridwidth and gridheight fields determine how many cells the compo-
nent takes up. As a result, setting the gridwidth field to 2 causes the component
to take up two horizontal cells rather than one. In this figure, for example, the
fourth label takes up two horizontal cells rather than one.
The code example begins by creating a JPanel object. By default, a JPanel
object uses the FlowLayout manager. That’s why the second statement uses the
setLayout method to set the layout manager to the GridBagLayout manager.
After setting the layout manager, this code creates a new GridBagConstraints
object. In practice, it’s common to use the variable named c for this, so that’s
what this code does.
After creating the GridBagConstraints object, this codes sets the gridx,
gridy, and anchor fields of the GridBagConstraints object. Then, it adds the
components to the panel, and passes the GridBagConstraints object as the
second parameter.
This code resets the gridx, gridy, and anchor fields before adding every label.
Reusing a GridBagConstraints object as shown in this figure makes it easy to
view and edit the coordinates and alignment of each component. However, if
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 581

Some common fields of the GridBagConstraints class

Field Description
gridx, gridy Sets the x and y coordinates of the component in the grid
where 0, 0 is the top left cell of the grid.
anchor Sets where the component is displayed if the component is
smaller than the cell that is its display area. The most
commonly used are LINE_START and LINE_END. In older
versions of Java, these were called WEST and EAST.
gridwidth, gridheight Sets the number of horizontal and vertical cells that the
component occupies.

Code that uses a GridBagConstraints object

JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());

GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();

c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 0; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_END;

panel.add(new JLabel("Code:"), c);
c.gridx = 1; c.gridy = 0; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
panel.add(codeField, c);
c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 1; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_END;
panel.add(new JLabel("Description:"), c);
c.gridx = 1; c.gridy = 1; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
panel.add(descriptionField, c);
c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 2; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_END;
panel.add(new JLabel("Price:"), c);
c.gridx = 1; c.gridy = 2; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
panel.add(priceField, c);
c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 3; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
c.gridwidth = 2;
panel.add(new JLabel ("This label spans both columns."), c);

The resulting layout

Description
•• You can reuse the same GridBagConstraints object for multiple widgets. However,
you must reset any values you don’t want to use in the next widget.

Figure 22-4 How to lay out components in a grid

582 Section 5 Real-world skills

you don’t reset values, you may end up accidentally reusing the values that were
set for a previous component, which may cause strange layout behavior. As a
result, you need to make sure to reset all values, or you need to create a new
GridBagConstraint object for each component.

How to add padding

By default, a GridBagConstraints object doesn’t provide any padding
between components or between components and the edge of the container.
That’s why the components displayed in the previous figure don’t have any
padding between them. And that’s why there’s no padding between the compo-
nents and the edge of the container.
To make this layout more visually appealing, you can use the insets field of
the GridBagConstraints object to apply some padding as shown in figure 22-5.
This field uses an Inserts object to determine the amount of padding around
a component. Here, the four parameters of the Insets object are the top, left,
bottom, and right padding in pixels. If you think of a clock, these values are in a
counterclockwise direction, starting at the top of the clock.
In this figure, the insets field of the GridBagConstraints object is set to an
Insets object that specifies 5 pixels of padding for the top, left, and right of the
component and no padding for the bottom of the component. Since this code
uses the same Insets object for all components in the container, the label at the
bottom of the layout touches the bottom edge of the container. However, the rest
of the components are separated by 5 pixels of padding. This padding makes this
layout more visually appealing than the layout in the previous figure.
When working with an Insets object, there are two important things to
remember. First, unlike a GridBagConstraints object, you can’t change the values
of an Insets object and then reuse it. If you do, your layout will behave strangely.
Second, if you set 5 pixels of top spacing and 5 pixels of bottom spacing, the
spacing between components is actually 10 pixels. In other words, the layout
uses five pixels of space at the bottom of one component and five pixels of space
at the top of the component in the next row for a total of 10 pixels.
Of course, the same thing is true with left and right spacing. In this figure,
for example, the left side of the longest label has a small amount of padding
between its first letter and the left edge of the window. Similarly, the right edge
of the longest text field has a small amount of padding between it and the right
edge of the window. However, there is twice the padding between the end of
the labels and the beginning of the text fields. That’s because this area uses the
padding from the right side of the label and the padding from the left side of the
text box.
Most of the time, you only need to use the insets field of the
GridBagConstraints object to specify external padding. However, if you need to
specify internal padding, you can use the ipadx and ipady fields shown in this
figure. These fields determine how much padding is placed inside the compo-
nent. For example, if you set the ipadx and ipady values of a JButton component
to 10, the layout displays 10 pixels of padding between the text of the JButton
component and the edges of the button.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 583

More common fields of the GridBagConstraints class

Field Description
insets Uses an Insets object to specify how much external padding
should be applied to the component.
ipadx, ipady Sets how much internal padding to add to the width and
height of the component. The value applies to both sides.

The Insets class

Constructor Description
Insets(top, left, bottom, right) Specifies the top, left, bottom,
and right padding in pixels.

To create an Insets object and add it to a GridBagConstraints object

GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 0, 5);

c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 0; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_END;

panel.add(new JLabel("Code:"), c);
c.gridx = 1; c.gridy = 0; c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.LINE_START;
panel.add(codeField, c);

// the rest of the code that adds the labels and text boxes

The example from the previous figure with insets

Description
•• If you forget the order of the parameters for the constructor of the Insets class, it
may help to remember that they start at the top and go counterclockwise.

Figure 22-5 How to add padding

584 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to avoid a common pitfall

Figure 22-6 demonstrates a common pitfall with GUI layout and shows how
to avoid it. To start, this figure shows the same form shown in the previous figure
after a user resized it by shrinking its horizontal width slightly. This caused all of
the text fields to collapse. What’s going on here?
Basically, if the container isn’t wide enough to display the component at
its specified size, the GridBagLayout manager assigns the minimum size to the
component instead. By default, a component has a minimum size of 0. As a
result, this causes the width of the text fields to completely collapse.
One common way to solve this problem is to use the setMinimumSize
method on the text fields to set the preferred and minimum sizes to the same
value as shown in this figure. Here, the first statement creates a new Dimension
object that’s 100 pixels wide and 20 pixels tall. Then, the next four statements
set the preferred and minimum sizes of the text fields for the product code and
price to that Dimension object.
After that, the sixth statement creates a second new Dimension object with a
width of 250 and a height of 20. Then, the next two statements sets the preferred
and minimum sizes of text field for the product description to that Dimension
object. As a result, the code and price text fields are 100 pixels wide and the
description text field is 250 pixels wide.
If you run this code now and shrink the width of the window, the text fields
don’t collapse. However, the labels begin to collapse as the GridBagLayout
manager tries to give the text fields their minimum size and still stay within the
window. If you continue to press the issue by shrinking the window even further,
the edges of the text fields eventually disappear outside the window.
Because the labels start collapsing, you might say that we solved one
problem, but created another. In some sense, that’s true. And this shows that the
GridBagLayout manager is complex and often requires a lot of tweaking to get a
layout to behave exactly as intended.
For the Product Manager application, the user is unlikely to have any need to
resize this window. As a result, the solution described in this figure is probably
adequate.
Another possible solution to this problem is to make it so the user can’t
resize the window. To do that, you can call the setResizable method of the
window and pass it a value of false. Again, for the Product Manager application,
this solution is acceptable. However, you should use this technique with caution
as most users expect to be able to resize a window, especially if it helps the
window fit better on their display.
There is a third possible solution that’s more elegant but also more difficult
to code. This solution involves using the weightx, weighty, and fill fields of the
GridBagConstraints object to control how the components are resized when the
user resizes a window. The weightx and weighty fields control how to distribute
any extra horizontal or vertical space among the components. This allows you
to specify a percentage for each component. In addition, the fill field determines
whether the component resizes if the container is resized. A component can be
set to resize either horizontally, vertically, both, or not at all.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 585

A common problem that occurs after horizontal resizing

A constructor of the Dimension class

Constructor Description
Dimension(width, height) Specifies the width and height of a component in pixels.

Two methods you can use to fix this problem

Method Description
setMinimumSize(Dimension) Specifies the minimum width and height of a component in pixels.
setPreferredSize(Dimension) Specifies the preferred width and height of a component in pixels.

Code that sets the preferred and maximum sizes

Dimension dim1 = new Dimension(100, 20);
codeField.setPreferredSize(dim1);
codeField.setMinimumSize(dim1);
priceField.setPreferredSize(dim1);
priceField.setMinimumSize(dim1);

Dimension dim2 = new Dimension(250, 20);

descriptionField.setPreferredSize(dim2);
descriptionField.setMinimumSize(dim2);

The improved example after horizontal resizing

Three ways to fix this problem

1. Use the window’s setResizable method to prevent the user from resizing the
window. However, you should use this technique sparingly since users often expect
to be able to resize a window.
2. Use the component’s setPreferredSize and setMinimumSize methods. This isn’t a
perfect solution, but it’s acceptable for most applications.
3. Use the weightx, weighty, and fill fields of the GridBagConstraints class to control
how the components are resized. This technique can yield the best results, but it
also requires the most tweaking.

Description
•• When a window is resized horizontally, components (especially text fields) can
sometimes collapse to a size of zero. This is a common problem.

Figure 22-6 How to avoid a common pitfall

586 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to code a data entry form

Most applications need to get input from the user. For example, it’s common
for an application to need a user to enter or edit the data that’s stored in a
database. To do this, most applications use a special type of window known as a
form.
Often, you want to use a special type of window known as a dialog, or
dialog box, to display a form. To do that in Swing, you can use the JDialog
component. This allows you to create custom dialogs that work similarly to the
built-in dialogs that are available from the JOptionPane class.

How to create a custom dialog

Figure 22-7 begins by showing one of the most common JDialog construc-
tors. This constructor takes three parameters. The first parameter specifies the
owner, or parent, of the dialog. Typically, the parent of a dialog is the JFrame
component for the main window of the application.
The second parameter specifies the title of the dialog. This works the same
as setting the title for a JFrame component.
The third parameter determines whether the dialog is modal. If a dialog is
modal, Java prevents the user from interacting with any other part of the applica-
tion until the user has responded to the dialog. You should use modal dialogs
with caution as they can annoy users if they aren’t necessary. As a general rule,
you should only use a modal dialog when the application can’t continue the
current operation until the user responds to the dialog.
The code example creates a NameDialog class that defines a dialog. This
class begins by extending the JDialog class. Then, it creates a private JTextField
component named dialogNameField.
The constructor of the NameDialog class takes one argument: the parent
frame. Within this constructor, the first statement uses the super keyword to
call the constructor of the JDialog class and it passes the parent frame, a title
of “Name Dialog”, and a boolean value of true. As a result, the NameDialog
component is a modal dialog. The second statement in the constructor continues
by setting the default close operation to DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE. As a result,
the dialog is closed and its resources are released if the user closes it with the
window’s close button. Without this code, Java would hide the dialog but not
free its resources. And the third statement sets the layout of the dialog to the
FlowLayout manager.
The constructor continues by creating the components for the dialog and
adding them to the dialog. First, it creates a text field and sets its width to 20
characters. Then, it creates two buttons and adds action listeners to them. Here,
the code for the action listener of the Okay button is shown in the next figure,
and the code for action listener of the Cancel button just calls the dialog’s
dispose method. This closes the dialog and releases any resources it was using.
After adding components to the dialog, this code calls the pack method to
set the size of the dialog to the minimum size needed to hold the components.
Finally, this code calls the setVisible method to make the dialog visible.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 587

A commonly used JDialog constructor

Constructor Description
JDialog(parent, title, isModal) Specifies the parent frame of the dialog, the title
of the dialog, and whether the dialog is modal.

A class for a custom dialog

public class NameDialog extends JDialog {

private JTextField dialogNameField;

public NameDialog(java.awt.Frame parent) {

super(parent, "Name Dialog", true);
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
this.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

dialogNameField = new JTextField();

dialogNameField.setColumns(20);

JButton okayButton = new JButton("Okay");

okayButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
// TODO: Add code here
});

JButton cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");

cancelButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
dispose();
});

this.add(new JLabel("Name:"));
this.add(dialogNameField);
this.add(okayButton);
this.add(cancelButton);
this.pack();

this.setVisible(true);
}
}

A statement that displays this dialog

new NameDialog(this);

The dialog produced by the above code

Description
•• A modal dialog prevents the user from interacting with other parts of the applica-
tion until they have responded to the dialog.
•• On most operating systems, a JDialog component is displayed on top of its parent
frame, has fewer window controls than a JFrame (for example, no maximize or
minimize buttons), and does not get its own entry in the taskbar.
Figure 22-7 How to create a custom dialog
588 Section 5 Real-world skills

At first glance, it might seem there aren’t that many differences between a
JFrame component and a JDialog component. However, on closer inspection,
there are few important differences. First, a dialog is designed to have a parent
window. As a result, a dialog is displayed on top of its parent window, even if
the dialog is not the active window. Second, on most operating systems, a dialog
has fewer window controls. On Windows, for example, a dialog has a close
button but no minimize, maximize, or restore buttons. Third, on most operating
systems, a dialog doesn’t get an entry in the taskbar or window list. As a result,
you can’t switch directly to the dialog using window switch commands. Instead,
you need to switch to the window that owns the dialog. Fourth, as described
earlier, a dialog can be modal.

How to pass data between a dialog and its parent

Figure 22-8 shows how to get and set the data contained in a dialog. In this
figure, the dialog only works with the data that’s stored in a single text field.
However, it’s possible for a dialog to work with the data that’s stored in multiple
components. For example, the Product form shown later in this chapter works
with the data that’s stored in three text fields.
The first two examples show how to set data in a dialog. Here, the first
example shows a modified version of the constructor from the previous figure.
However, it includes an additional parameter for a String object that specifies the
name that’s stored in the dialog. This parameter provides a way to pass data to
the dialog. Then, the code in the constructor can set the data on the components
in the dialog. In this figure, for example, the constructor calls the setText method
of the text field to set it to the name parameter.
The second example shows code that calls the constructor of the dialog. This
code is stored in the parent frame. It begins by passing the keyword named this
to refer to the object itself. In this case, this means that this code is passing the
frame itself to the NameDialog constructor. Next, it gets the value from a text
field in the frame by calling its getText method and passing the String object
that’s returned as the second parameter. As a result, the text field in the dialog
displays the same text as the text field in the frame.
The third and fourth examples show how to get data from a dialog. To do
that, the third example adds a public method named setNameText to the frame
that the dialog can call. This method takes a String object as a parameter. Within
this method, the code sets the text on the text field in the frame by calling its
setText method and passing it the name parameter.
The fourth example shows the code for the action listener of the dialog’s
Okay button. Within this action listener, the first statement gets a reference to
the NameFrame object by calling the getOwner method and casting the Window
object that’s returned to the NameFrame type. This cast is necessary because
the Window type doesn’t include the setNameText method. Then, the second
line of code calls the setNameText method on the frame, and passes it the text
that’s stored in the text field of the dialog. Finally, the third line of code calls the
dispose method of the dialog. This closes the dialog and frees any resources it
was using.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 589

How to set data in a dialog

A constructor of the dialog class that allows you to set data
public NameDialog(java.awt.Frame parent, String name) {
super(parent, "Name Dialog", true);
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
this.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

dialogNameField = new JTextField();

dialogNameField.setColumns(20);
dialogNameField.setText(name);

Code from the frame that calls this constructor

new NameDialog(this, frameNameField.getText());

A method of the Window class

Method Description
getOwner() Returns a Window object for the owner or parent of a dialog.
You typically cast this Window object to a more specific type.

How to get data from a dialog

A method in the frame class that the dialog can call
public void setNameText(String name) {
frameNameField.setText(name);
}

Code in the dialog that calls this method

okayButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
NameFrame frame = (NameFrame) getOwner();
frame.setNameText(dialogNameField.getText());
dispose();
});

Description
•• Within the dialog class, you can code a constructor that allows the main window to
set data in the dialog.
•• Within the class for the main window, you can code a method that allows the dialog
to return set data to the main window.
•• To close a dialog, you can call its dispose method. This closes the dialog object and
frees any resources that it’s using.

Figure 22-8 How to pass data between a dialog and its parent frame
590 Section 5 Real-world skills

The Product form

This chapter finishes by presenting the code for the Product form. This form
is the data entry form used by the main window of the Product Manager applica-
tion described in the previous chapter.

The user interface

Figure 22-9 shows the user interface for the data entry form. To start, if the
user clicks on the Add button in the main window, this form has a title of Add
Product, doesn’t display any text in its three text fields, and has an Add button.
However, if the user clicks on the Edit button in the main window, this form has
a title of Edit Product, displays the text for the selected product in its text fields,
and has a Save button.
If the user doesn’t enter valid data for a product, the application uses the
JOptionPane class to display a built-in dialog that asks the user to enter valid
data. In this figure, for example, the last dialog displays the message that’s
displayed if the user leaves one of the text fields blank. However, this application
would display a different message if the user had entered an invalid number for
the product price.
The Product form inherits the JDialog class. As a result, it is a custom
dialog. On Windows, a dialog only includes a close button in its upper-right
corner. In other words, it doesn’t include minimize, maximize, or restore buttons
like the main window for the Product Manager application. However, this is
specific to the Windows operating system. These buttons may vary depending on
the operating system.
The Product form uses the BorderLayout manager. Within this layout, it
contains two panels.
The first panel contains the three labels and their corresponding text fields.
This panel uses the GridBagLayout manager to lay out these labels and text
fields. Then, this panel is added to the center of the border layout. As a result, it
gets all available space that isn’t taken up by any other components.
The second panel uses a right-aligned FlowLayout manager. This panel lays
out the two buttons for the form. Then, this panel is added to the south area of
the border layout. As a result, this panel gets its preferred height, and the width
expands to take up the entire horizontal space of the container. In this case, that
means that the panel’s height is just tall enough to hold the buttons, and the
panel’s width is the entire width of the window.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 591

The Add Product dialog

The Edit Product dialog

One of the data validation dialogs

Description
•• The Product Manager application uses the same dialog to add a new product or to
edit an existing product. The only difference in appearance is the title of the dialog
and the text that’s displayed on the first button.
•• When you add or edit a product, the Product form uses built-in dialogs to display
validation messages if the fields for the product are missing or not valid.

Figure 22-9 The user interface for the Product form

592 Section 5 Real-world skills

The ProductForm class

Figure 22-10 shows the code for the ProductForm class. To start, this class
extends the JDialog class. This is a common way to create a custom dialog.
Within the class, the first five statements create instance variables that
refer to some of the components on the form. The first three are the JTextField
components that hold the product code, description, and price. The next two are
the JButton components. The first button confirms the operation that adds a new
product to the database or updates an existing one. The second button cancels the
dialog and closes it.
The sixth statement creates an instance variable of the Product type. This
variable can hold the data for the new product that’s being added or the existing
product that’s being edited.
This class defines two constructors. Here, the first constructor displays the
Add Product form that’s used to add a new product, and the second constructor
displays the Edit Product form that’s used to edit an existing product.
The first constructor accepts three parameters: (1) the parent frame, (2) the
dialog title, and (3) whether the dialog is modal. Within this constructor, the first
statement passes these parameters to the constructor of the super class. Then, the
second statement calls the initComponents method shown later in this class.
The second constructor adds a fourth parameter: a Product object that
contains the data for the selected product. Within this constructor, the first
statement calls the previous constructor by using the keyword named this, which
refers to an instance of the current class. Then, the second statement sets the
product instance variable to the product parameter.
After that, this constructor sets the text of the confirm button to “Save”. That
way, the button on the Edit Product form is labeled “Save” instead of “Add”.
This is necessary because the initComponents method shown later in this class
sets the text of this button to “Add”. In addition, this constructor uses the setText
methods on the three text fields to set their values to reflect the appropriate
values stored in the Product object.
The initComponents method contains the code that performs most of the
setup of the dialog. The method begins by creating new instances of JTextField
and JButton components for the instance variables declared at the beginning
of the class. Next, the code sets the default close operation of the dialog to
DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE. As a result, Java disposes the dialog and frees its
resources when the user clicks on the close button of the dialog.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 593

The ProductForm class

package mma.ui;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.WindowConstants;

import mma.business.Product;
import mma.db.DBException;
import mma.db.ProductDB;

@SupressWarnings("serial")
public class ProductForm extends JDialog {
private JTextField codeField;
private JTextField descriptionField;
private JTextField priceField;
private JButton confirmButton;
private JButton cancelButton;

private Product product = new Product();

public ProductForm(java.awt.Frame parent, String title, boolean modal) {

super(parent, title, modal);
initComponents();
}

public ProductForm(java.awt.Frame parent, String title,

boolean modal, Product product) {
this(parent, title, modal);
this.product = product;
confirmButton.setText("Save");
codeField.setText(product.getCode());
descriptionField.setText(product.getDescription());
priceField.setText(Double.toString(product.getPrice()));
}

private void initComponents() {

codeField = new JTextField();
descriptionField = new JTextField();
priceField = new JTextField();
cancelButton = new JButton();
confirmButton = new JButton();

setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);

Figure 22-10 The ProductForm class (part 1 of 4)

594 Section 5 Real-world skills

The next two lines of code create Dimension objects and assign them a
width of 100 pixels and 300 pixels respectively, with both having a height of
20 pixels. Then, the code sets the preferred size and minimum size of the code
and price text fields to the shorter Dimension object. It also sets the preferred
and minimum size of the description text field to the longer Dimension object.
In both cases, this prevents the pitfall described earlier in this chapter where the
text fields collapse to a width of zero if the user resizes the dialog.
The next section of the initComponents method creates the two buttons. To
start, it sets the text of the first button to “Cancel” and adds an action listener to
it that calls a method named cancelButtonActionPerformed that’s shown later
in this class. Then, it sets the text of the second button to “Add” and adds an
action listener to it that calls a method named confirmButtonActionPerformed.
However, if the user is editing an existing product instead of adding one, the
setText method call here is overridden by the setText method call in the second
constructor as discussed on the previous page.
The next section creates a new JPanel to store the text fields and their
corresponding labels. To start, this code sets the layout manager for the panel to
the GridBagLayout manager. Then, it adds the text fields and labels for the form
to the panel. To make working with the GridBagConstraints object easier, the
calls to the panel’s add method use a helper method called getConstraints that’s
shown later in this class. This method takes three parameters: An x coordinate
for the grid row, a y coordinate for the grid column, and an anchor value.
The next section creates another JPanel for the buttons. To start, this code
sets the layout manager to a FlowLayout manager with right alignment. Then, it
adds the confirm and cancel buttons to the layout.
The last section adds the panel that contains the labels and text fields to the
center area of the dialog’s BorderLayout manager. Then, it adds the panel that
contains the buttons to the south area of the dialog’s BorderLayout manager.
Like a JFrame component, a JDialog component uses the BorderLayout manager
by default. As a result, it isn’t necessary to explicitly set the layout. Finally, the
last statement uses the pack method to size the dialog by packing it so it’s just
large enough to hold all of the components.
Note that none of this code sets the location of this form or makes this form
visible. As a result, the parent frame must do that. For example, the main frame
of the Product Manager application could display the Add Product form like this:
ProductForm productForm = new ProductForm(this, "Add Product", true);
productForm.setLocationRelativeTo(this);
productForm.setVisible(true);
This displays a modal version of this form in the middle of the main window.
The getConstraints method creates and returns a GridBagConstraints
object with the specified parameters. This method begins by creating a new
GridBagConstraints object. Then, it sets the insets field to a new Insets object
that has five pixels of spacing on the top, left, and right, but no spacing on the
bottom. Next, it sets the gridx, gridy, and anchor fields of the GridBagConstraints
object to the corresponding parameters. Finally, it returns the new
GridBagConstraints object.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 595

The ProductForm class (continued)

Dimension shortField = new Dimension(100, 20);
Dimension longField = new Dimension(300, 20);
codeField.setPreferredSize(shortField);
codeField.setMinimumSize(shortField);
priceField.setPreferredSize(shortField);
priceField.setMinimumSize(shortField);
descriptionField.setPreferredSize(longField);
descriptionField.setMinimumSize(longField);

cancelButton.setText("Cancel");
cancelButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
cancelButtonActionPerformed();
});

confirmButton.setText("Add");
confirmButton.addActionListener((ActionEvent) -> {
confirmButtonActionPerformed();
});

// JLabel and JTextField panel

JPanel productPanel = new JPanel();
productPanel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
productPanel.add(new JLabel("Code:"),
getConstraints(0, 0, GridBagConstraints.LINE_END));
productPanel.add(codeField,
getConstraints(1, 0, GridBagConstraints.LINE_START));
productPanel.add(new JLabel("Description:"),
getConstraints(0, 1, GridBagConstraints.LINE_END));
productPanel.add(descriptionField,
getConstraints(1, 1, GridBagConstraints.LINE_START));
productPanel.add(new JLabel("Price:"),
getConstraints(0, 2, GridBagConstraints.LINE_END));
productPanel.add(priceField,
getConstraints(1, 2, GridBagConstraints.LINE_START));

// JButton panel
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
buttonPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
buttonPanel.add(confirmButton);
buttonPanel.add(cancelButton);

// add panels to main panel

setLayout(new BorderLayout());
add(productPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
pack();
}

private GridBagConstraints getConstraints(int x, int y, int anchor) {

GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 0, 5);
c.gridx = x; c.gridy = y; c.anchor = anchor;
return c;
}

Figure 22-10 The ProductForm class (part 2 of 4)

596 Section 5 Real-world skills

The next two methods in the class are the event handlers for the buttons. The
first event handler is called if the user presses the cancel button. The statement
within this method calls the dispose method of the dialog to close the dialog and
free its resources.
The second event handler is called if the user presses the confirm button. To
start, it uses an if statement that calls the validateData method shown later in this
class. This method makes sure the user entered all required data and that all of
the data is valid. If so, the event handler continues by calling the setData method
shown later in this class. This method gets the data from the form and sets that
data in the product instance variable.
The second if statement in the event handler checks whether the application
is editing an existing product or adding a new one. To do that, it checks the text
of the confirm button. If the text of the confirm button is “Add”, this code calls
the doAdd method shown later in this class. This method adds a new product to
the database. However, if the text of the button is not “Add”, this code calls the
doEdit method shown later in this class. This method updates an existing product
in the database.
The validateData method makes sure that the user has entered data for all
three text fields and that the user has entered a valid number for the product
price. To start, this code gets String objects for the product code, description, and
price variables by calling the getText methods on the corresponding text fields.
Then, this code uses an if statement to check whether all three fields in the form
contain values. If they don’t, the variables defined earlier are null or empty. In
that case, the code uses the JOptionPane class to display a dialog that contains a
message that asks the user to fill in all fields. Then, it returns a value of false.
This code also verifies that the price the user entered is a valid number. To
do this, it codes a statement that attempts to convert the price string to a double
value within a try statement. If this statement isn’t able to convert the string to a
double value, it throws a NumberFormatException, which causes the catch block
to be executed.
The catch block uses the JOptionPane class to display a dialog that contains
a message that informs the user that the data entered in the price field is not a
valid price. Then, it attempts to move the focus to the text field for the price.
However, this statement might not be able to move the focus. As a result, you
shouldn’t count on it working. Finally, the catch block returns a value of false.
If the user has entered data for all three fields, and the price is a valid
number, the validateData method returns a value of true. This indicates that the
data in the form is valid.
The setData method begins by getting the data contained in the form’s text
fields by calling their getText methods. Once again, to get a double value for the
price, this code needs to convert the String object returned by the getText method
to a double value. Then, this method sets this data in the instance variable for the
Product object by using its set methods.
For this method, the code doesn’t catch the NumberFormatException that
may be thrown by the parseDouble method because the validateData method
shown earlier has already made sure that the user has entered a valid number for
the price.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 597

The ProductForm class (continued)

private void cancelButtonActionPerformed() {
dispose();
}

private void confirmButtonActionPerformed() {

if (validateData()) {
setData();
if (confirmButton.getText().equals("Add")) {
doAdd();
} else {
doEdit();
}
}
}

private boolean validateData() {

String code = codeField.getText();
String name = descriptionField.getText();
String priceString = priceField.getText();
double price;
if (code == null || name == null || priceString == null ||
code.isEmpty() || name.isEmpty() || priceString.isEmpty()) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "Please fill in all fields.",
"Missing Fields", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
return false;
} else {
try {
price = Double.parseDouble(priceString);
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,
"The data entered in the price field is invalid",
"Invalid Price",
JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
priceField.requestFocusInWindow();
return false;
}
}
return true;
}

private void setData() {

String code = codeField.getText();
String name = descriptionField.getText();
String priceString = priceField.getText();
double price = Double.parseDouble(priceString);
product.setCode(code);
product.setDescription(name);
product.setPrice(price);
}

Figure 22-10 The ProductForm class (part 3 of 4)

598 Section 5 Real-world skills

The next two methods, doEdit and doAdd, are almost identical, except
that the doEdit method calls the update method of the ProductDB class, and
the doAdd method calls the add method of the ProductDB class. Then, these
methods both call the dispose method to close the dialog and free its resources.
Next, they call the fireDataBaseUpdatedEvent method.
The fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent notifies the main window that a new record
has been added to the database or that an existing record has been updated. In
turn, the main window notifies the table model that the table data needs to be
updated to reflect the changes made to the database as shown in the previous
chapter. To do this, the code begins by getting a reference to the parent window
of the dialog by calling the getOwner method. However, this method returns a
Window object. As a result, this code must cast it to the ProductManagerFrame
type before it can call its fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent method.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 599

The ProductForm class (continued)

private void doEdit() {
try {
ProductDB.update(product);
dispose();
fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent();
} catch (DBException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}

private void doAdd() {

try {
ProductDB.add(product);
dispose();
fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent();
} catch(DBException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}

private void fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent() {

ProductManagerFrame mainWindow = (ProductManagerFrame) getOwner();
mainWindow.fireDatabaseUpdatedEvent();
}
}

Figure 22-10 The ProductForm class (part 4 of 4)

600 Section 5 Real-world skills

Two methods that use the ProductForm class

Figure 22-11 shows the two methods of the ProductManagerFrame class
that use the ProductForm class. These methods weren’t implemented in the
previous chapter, but now you can see how they work. In short, they contain the
code that’s executed when the user clicks on the Add or Edit button in the main
window of the Product Manager application.
The code for the Add button begins by creating a modal Add Product
dialog. Then, it attempts to set the location of that dialog so it’s relative to
the current window. In this case, the current window is the Product Manager
window. On Windows, this centers the dialog on the current window. However,
this is platform specific, and some operating systems may ignore this method
completely.
After attempting to set the location of the dialog, this code uses the
setVisible method to display the dialog to the user. As a result, this code displays
an Add Product dialog like the one shown earlier in this chapter.
The code for the Edit button begins by getting an index for the selected row
from the table of products. If the index is -1, this code uses the JOptionPane
class to displays a dialog that contains a message that indicates that no product
has been selected. Otherwise, this code gets a Product object that corresponds
with the selected row in the table.
After getting a Product object, this code creates a modal Edit Product dialog
and passes this Product object to the dialog. This allows the dialog to display the
data for the selected product. Then, it attempts to set the location of the dialog
relative to the Product Manager window. Finally, it displays the dialog to the
user. As a result, this code displays an Edit Product dialog like the one shown
earlier in this chapter.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 601

Two methods that use the ProductForm class

private void doAddButton() {
ProductForm productForm = new ProductForm(this, "Add Product", true);
productForm.setLocationRelativeTo(this);
productForm.setVisible(true);
}

private void doEditButton() {

int selectedRow = productTable.getSelectedRow();
if (selectedRow == -1) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,
"No product is currently selected.",
"No product selected",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
} else {
Product product = productTableModel.getProduct(selectedRow);
ProductForm productForm =
new ProductForm(this, "Edit Product", true, product);
productForm.setLocationRelativeTo(this);
productForm.setVisible(true);
}
}

Figure 22-11 Two methods that use the ProductForm class

602 Section 5 Real-world skills

How to use threads with Swing

At this point, you should understand how to code an application like the
Product Manager application. However, if you need to perform a long running
operation in response to a GUI event, you may run into a problem similar to the
one shown in figure 12-12.

A common problem
The first code example calls a method that could potentially take a long time
to complete. Because this method was called in response to the user pressing a
print button in the GUI, it runs on a special thread known as the event dispatch
thread, or EDT. All actions that are a result of an event run on the EDT, as do all
Swing operations that update the display, and respond to events.
Unfortunately, this means that the printProductList method also runs on the
EDT, which results in it becoming blocked until the method returns. As a result,
it can’t process other events, or redraw the screen if required. This causes the
application to become unresponsive to any other user events. In addition, the
display can become corrupt if it needs to be repainted, such as if it is resized, or
minimized and then restored.
At first, you might think you can solve this problem by running the print-
ProductList method on a new thread using the techniques shown in the second
code example. Unfortunately, it’s unsafe to perform any GUI operations outside
of the EDT, so this code causes a new problem, which is that this code runs the
JOptionPane dialog on a new thread rather than on the EDT, which can result in
display corruption.

How to solve the problem

The solution to this problem is to run the printProductList method on
another thread, but perform the GUI updates on the EDT. Fortunately, Swing
provides the SwingWorker class for doing just that.
The last code sample in the figure uses the SwingWorker class to solve this
problem. To start, this code begins by creating a SwingWorker object using
an inner class. Within the inner class, the code overrides the doInBackground
method, and calls the printProductList method from it. This method runs on a
worker thread, which allows the EDT to continue to process events. Although
this method can return an object, this example doesn’t need to do that, so it
returns a null instead.
The inner class also includes a done method that’s called when the
doInBackground method finishes. The done method runs on the EDT. As a
result, you can safely update the GUI from this method.
The SwingWorker class has other methods as well, including ones that allow
you to safely update the GUI before the long running operation has finished.
However, these methods aren’t covered in this book. For more information, you
can view the API documentation for this class or search the Internet.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 603

Code that may cause the GUI to become unresponsive

private void doPrintButton() {
printProductList(); // This method may take a long time to run.
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(ProductManagerFrame.this,
"Product list has been printed."); // This code updates the GUI.
}

Code that keeps the GUI responsive but shouldn’t update the GUI
private void doPrintButton() {
Thread printThread = new Thread() {
// This method runs on a background thread (not the EDT).
// As a result, the GUI remains responsive.
// However, it isn't safe to update the GUI from this thread.
@Override
public void run() {
printProductList(); // This method may take a long time to run.
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(ProductManagerFrame.this,
"Product list has been printed."); // NOT safe!
}
};
printThread.start();
}

Code that keeps the GUI responsive and can update the GUI
private void doPrintButton() {
SwingWorker worker = new SwingWorker() {
// This method runs on a background thread (not the EDT).
// As a result, the GUI remains responsive.
@Override
protected Object doInBackground() throws Exception {
printProductList(); // This method may take a long time to run.
return null;
}

@Override
// This method runs on the EDT after the background thread finishes.
// As a result, it's safe to update the GUI from this method.
protected void done() {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(ProductManagerFrame.this,
"Product list has been printed."); // Safe!
}
};
worker.execute();
}

Description
•• Any code that runs in response to a Swing event runs on a special thread called the
event dispatch thread or EDT. All code that updates the GUI should run on this thread.
•• If you run a task that takes a long time on the EDT, the GUI becomes unresponsive.
•• If you use the techniques shown in chapter 18 to start a new thread, the GUI remains
responsive. However, you can’t safely update the GUI from this new thread.
• To allow the GUI to remain responsive while a long-running task runs and to be able
to update the GUI when that task finishes, you can use the SwingWorker class.

Figure 22-12 How to use threads with Swing

604 Section 5 Real-world skills

Perspective
In this chapter, you learned all of the remaining skills you need to know to
complete the Product Manager application. You learned how to use the JLabel
and JTextField classes to create labels and text fields for data entry forms. You
learned how to work with the GridBagLayout manager to create professional
looking forms. You learned how to use the JDialog class to create a modal data
entry form. And you learned how to pass data back and forth between two
windows in an application.
There’s still plenty more to learn about working with Swing. For example,
you may want to learn about other types of controls such as check boxes, radio
buttons, combo boxes, and lists. You may want to learn how to display photo-
graphs or other graphics in Swing. You may want to learn about other layout
managers. You may want to learn more about using the SwingWorker class to
create threads in Swing. Or, you may want to learn how to use a GUI builder
tool that’s available from your IDE. Whatever you decide to learn next about
Swing, the skills presented in the last two chapters are a solid foundation that
you can build on.

Summary
• You can use the JLabel class to create labels that label other components on a form.
•• You can use the JTextField class to create text fields, also known as text
boxes that allow a user to enter data.
•• You can use the GridBagLayout manager to create professional looking
form layouts that lay out the components in a grid. This class has two helper
classes: GridBagConstraints and Insets.
•• You can use the JDialog class to create a dialog that stays on top of its parent
window.
•• A dialog can be modal, which means it prevents users from interacting with
any other part of the application until they have responded to the dialog.
However, you should only use modal dialogs when the application cannot
complete an operation until the user responds to the dialog.
•• Any code that runs in response to a Swing event runs on a special thread
called the event dispatch thread or EDT.
•• To prevent the GUI from becoming unresponsive during long running tasks,
as well as make sure GUI updates happen safely on the EDT, you can use
the SwingWorker class.
 Chapter 22 How to develop a GUI with Swing (part 2) 605

Exercise 22-1 Create a new GUI

In this exercise, you’ll create a GUI application that calculates the area and
perimeter of a rectangle based on its length and width. When you’re done, the
application should look like this:

Review the existing code for the application

1. Import the project named ch22_ex1_AreaAndPerimeter_start that’s in the
ex_starts folder.
2. Open the Rectangle class in the murach.business package and review its fields
and methods.
3. Open the AreaAndPerimeterFrame class and examine the existing code. Note
that:
•• This class extends the JFrame class.
•• This class has a constructor that sets up the frame and calls the initCom-
ponents method.
•• This class contains several methods such as the initComponents method
that haven’t been implemented.
•• This class contains a getConstraints method that has been implemented.
This method works like the getConstraints method shown in this
chapter.
4. Open the Main class and note that it creates a new instance of AreaAndPerim-
eterFrame class.
5. Run the application. This should display a frame that doesn’t contain any
components. Then, resize the frame to make it larger so you can see its title.
Add the components to the frame
6. Add instance variables for the four text fields and two buttons.
606 Section 5 Real-world skills

7. Add code to the initComponents method that initializes the frame and its
components. This method should:
•• Create the four text fields.
•• Modify the text fields for the area and perimeter so the user can’t edit
them.
•• Set the minimum and preferred dimension for all four fields.
•• Create the two buttons.
•• Create a panel that uses the GridBagLayout manager. Then, add the
four labels and text fields to this panel. To do that, you can use the
getConstraints method. Finally, add this panel to the center of the frame.
•• Create a panel that uses the FlowLayout manager with right alignment.
Then, add the two buttons to this panel. Finally, add this panel to the
bottom of the frame.
•• Pack the frame to set its size.
8. Run the application. This should display a frame that looks like the frame
shown above. However, if you click on one of the buttons, it should not
perform an action.
Handle the events that occur when the user clicks the buttons
9. Add action listeners to both of the buttons. These action listeners should call
the computeButtonClicked and resetButtonClicked methods.
10. Implement the computeButtonClicked method. This method should get the
text that the user entered into the text fields for the length and width and
attempt to convert this text to double values.
•• If the user enters an invalid length or width, this method should use a
dialog to display a user-friendly error message. Then, the user can try
again.
•• If the user enters a valid length and width, this method should calculate
the area and perimeter and set the corresponding text fields. To do that,
you can use the Rectangle class.
11. Implement the resetButtonClicked method. This method should set all four
text fields to empty strings.
 Appendix A
How to set up Windows
for this book
This appendix shows how to install and configure the software that we recom-
mend for developing Java applications on a Windows system. For the first 18
chapters of this book, you only need to install the Java Development Kit (JDK),
the Eclipse IDE, and the source code for this book. However, for the last four
chapters in this book, you need to install MySQL and MySQL Workbench, and
you need to create the database for this book.
As you read this appendix, please remember that most websites are
updated constantly. As a result, some of the procedures in this appendix may
have changed since this book was published. Nevertheless, these procedures
should still be good guides to installing the software. And if there are signifi-
cant changes, we will post updates on our website (www.murach.com).

How to install the JDK................................................................................ 608

How to install Eclipse................................................................................... 610
How to install the source code for this book................................................612
How to install MySQL and MySQL Workbench......................................... 614
How to create the database for this book..................................................... 616
How to restore the database for this book.................................................... 616
608 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book

How to install the JDK

Figure A-1 shows how to install the Java Development Kit (JDK) for Java
8. The code in this book has been tested against Java 8. However, Java is back-
wards compatible. As a result, the code in this book should work equally well
with later versions of Java.
 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book 609

The URL for the JDK download

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads

Procedure
1. Go to the download page for Java SE. If necessary, you can search the Internet to
find this page.
2. Click the Download button for Java. This button should have a label under it that
says something like Java Platform (JDK) 8u45.
3. Follow the instructions for downloading the installer program for your operating
system.
4. Save the installer program to your hard disk.
5. Run the installer program by double-clicking on it.
6. Respond to the resulting dialog boxes. When you’re prompted for the JDK folder,
use the default folder.

The default JDK folder for Java 8, update 45

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_45

Notes
•• For more information about installing the JDK, you can refer to the Oracle website.

Figure A-1 How to install the JDK

610 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book

How to install Eclipse

Figure A-2 shows how to download and install the Eclipse IDE. Unlike most
programs, Eclipse doesn’t use an installer program. As a result, you can install
Eclipse by unzipping its zip file anywhere you want on your hard drive. Once
you’ve unzipped the zip file for Eclipse, we recommend pinning the eclipse.exe
file to your taskbar. This makes it easy to start Eclipse.
When you install Eclipse, make sure that the version of Eclipse matches the
version of the JDK. This is important because a 64-bit version of Eclipse won’t
work with a 32-bit version of the JDK and a 32-bit version of Eclipse won’t
work with a 64-bit version of the JDK.
 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book 611

The URL for the Eclipse download

http://www.eclipse.org

Procedure
1. Go to the download page for Eclipse. If necessary, you can search the Internet to
find this page.
2. Find the “Eclipse IDE for Java Developers” download.
3. Download the zip file for your version of Windows. This version must match the
version of the JDK you downloaded in the previous figure. For example, if you’re
using a 64-bit version of the JDK, you must use a 64-bit version of Eclipse.
4. When the download has finished, move the zip file to a suitable location on your
hard disk and unzip it.
5. Navigate to the eclipse folder that contains the eclipse.exe file.
6. Pin the eclipse.exe file to your taskbar. To do that, right-click on the eclipse.exe file
and select the Pin to Taskbar command.

Notes
•• For more information about installing Eclipse, you can refer to the Eclipse website.
•• If you get an error when you try to start Eclipse that indicates that Java failed to
start, you may have a 32-bit vs. 64-bit mismatch. You may be able to fix this issue
by uninstalling all versions of the JDK except the one you installed in the previous
figure.

Figure A-2 How to install Eclipse

612 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book

How to install the source code for this book

Figure A-3 shows how to download and install the source code for this
book. This includes the source code for the applications presented in this book
as well the starting points and solutions for the exercises that are at the end of
each chapter. When you finish this procedure, you can review the applications
presented in this book and you can do the exercises.
 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book 613

The Murach website

www.murach.com

The folders for the book applications and exercises

C:\murach\java_eclipse\book_apps
C:\murach\java_eclipse\ex_starts
C:\murach\java_eclipse\ex_solutions

Procedure
1. Go to www.murach.com.
2. Find the page for Murach’s Beginning Java with Eclipse.
3. If necessary, scroll down to the FREE Downloads tab.
4. Click the FREE Downloads tab.
5. Click the Download Now button for the exe file, and respond to the resulting pages
and dialog boxes. This should download an installer file named bjwe_allfiles.exe to
your hard drive.
6. Use Windows Explorer to find the exe file on your C drive.
7. Double-click this file and respond to the dialog boxes that follow. This should
install the files for this book in folders that start with C:\murach\java_eclipse

How to use a zip file instead of a self-extracting zip file

•• Although we recommend using the self-extracting zip file (bjwe_allfiles.exe)
to install the downloadable files as described above, some systems won’t allow
self-extracting zip files to run. In that case, you can download a regular zip file
(bjwe_allfiles.zip) from our website. Then, you can unzip the files stored in this zip
file into the C:\murach folder. If the C:\murach folder doesn’t already exist, you
will need to create it.

Notes for other versions of the JDK

•• This source code should work with JDK 1.8 (Java 8) or later.
•• If you’re using an earlier version of the JDK, you can still view the source code, but
you might need to change the source level version in the project settings, and you
won’t be able to compile and run applications that use the features of Java intro-
duced with later versions of the JDK.

Figure A-3 How to install the source code for this book
614 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book

How to install MySQL and MySQL Workbench

Figure A-4 shows how to install all of the software that you’ll need to
work with a MySQL database. This includes the MySQL Community Server
and MySQL Workbench. This software is available for free from the MySQL
website. We tested the procedure in this figure against MySQL 5.6 and MySQL
Workbench 6.3. However, you should be able to use similar procedures to install
earlier and later versions of these products.
When you install MySQL on your computer, you need to specify a password
for the root user. When you do, make sure to remember the password that you
enter. If security isn’t a concern for you as you’re learning, we recommend using
“sesame” as the password. That way, the password will be easy to remember.
If you get a “status: failed” message at the end of this installation, you may
need to install the Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable Package. To do that, you can
go to the MySQL Workbench Prerequisites page shown in this figure and follow
the directions there.
MySQL is a database server that’s free and easy to use. Since it’s designed
to run on most modern computers, it’s ideal for developers who want to install
it on their own computer so they can learn how to work with MySQL databases.
That’s why the last four chapters of this book assume that you have installed the
MySQL server on your computer as shown in this figure.
MySQL Workbench is a free graphical tool that makes it easy to work with
MySQL databases. Since MySQL Workbench is an ideal tool for working with
MySQL, it is bundled with the Community Server in one convenient installation
package.
However, if you want to install MySQL or MySQL Workbench separately,
you can do that too. For example, if you want to install the latest version of
MySQL Workbench, you can do that by searching the Internet for “MySQL
Workbench” to find the download for the latest version. Then, you can download
it and install it.
All of the skills for working with MySQL Workbench that are presented in
this book were tested against version 6.3. As a result, if you’re using this version
of MySQL Workbench, these skills should work exactly as described. However,
MySQL Workbench is being actively developed and is changing quickly. As a
result, if you’re using a later version of MySQL Workbench, these skills may not
work exactly as described, but they should work similarly.
 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book 615

The URL for the MySQL Installer download

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/installer/

Procedure
1. Find the download page for the MySQL Installer for Windows. This page is
currently available at the URL shown above. If necessary, you can search the
Internet for “MySQL Installer for Windows”.
2. Follow the instructions provided on that web page to download the installer file to
your hard drive.
3. Find the installer file on your hard drive and run it.
4. Respond to the resulting dialog boxes. You can accept most of the default options,
but you should specify a password for the root user. Make sure to remember the
password that you enter. If security isn’t a concern for you as you’re learning, we
recommend using “sesame” as the password.
5. To make sure that the database has been installed correctly, start MySQL
Workbench when the installation is finished. Then, use the password you entered in
the previous step to log in to the database server as the root user.

The default installation folder for MySQL 5.6

C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6

Recommended username and password

Username: root
Password: sesame

The URL for the MySQL Workbench Prerequisites

http://dev.mysql.com/resources/wb62_prerequisites.html

How to install the MySQL Workbench Prerequisites

1. Find the download page for the MySQL Workbench Prerequisites. This page is
currently available at the URL shown above. If necessary, you can search the
Internet for “MySQL Workbench Prerequisites”.
2. Follow the instructions provided on that web page to download the installer file to
your hard drive.
3. Find the installer file on your hard drive and run it.

Notes
•• If you get a “status: failed” message when trying to install or upgrade to MySQL
Workbench 6.3 using the MySQL installer, you may need to install the Visual C++
2013 Redistributable Package. The MySQL Workbench Prerequisites page has
directions and links for doing that.
•• You can also install MySQL Server and MySQL Workbench separately. For more
information about that, you can visit the Downloads page of the MySQL website.
•• To make it easy to start MySQL Workbench, you may want to pin the program to
your taskbar or add a shortcut to your desktop.

Figure A-4 How to install MySQL and MySQL Workbench

616 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book

How to create the database for this book

If an application uses a database, you must create the database before the
application can work correctly. For example, the application at the end of this
book uses a database named mma. The easiest way to create this database is
to use MySQL Workbench to run the SQL script shown in figure A-5. If you
downloaded the source code for this book as described earlier in this appendix,
this script should be in the folder shown in this figure.
To determine if the SQL script ran successfully, you can review the results
in the Output window. In this figure, for example, the Output window shows as
a series of statements that have executed successfully. In addition, the Navigator
window shows that the database named mma has been created.
However, if the script encounters problems, MySQL Workbench displays
one or more errors in the Output window. Then, you can read these errors to
figure out why the script isn’t executing correctly.
Before you can run the create_database.sql script, the database server must
be running. When you install MySQL on most systems, the MySQL database
server starts every time you start your computer, which is usually what you
want. However, if it isn’t running on your system, you can use the Server
Administration tab of MySQL Workbench to start it. To do that, click on the
Home tab, click on the Startup / Shutdown item, and use the resulting screen to
start the server. Or, if SQL Notifier is available on your system, you can use that
to start the MySQL server.

How to restore the database for this book

As you work with the applications that are presented in this book, you may
make changes to the database or its tables that you didn’t intend to make. In that
case, you may want to restore the database to its original state so your results
match the results shown in this book. To do that, you can run the create_data-
base.sql file again. This drops the database described in this figure and recreates
it.
 Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book 617

The script that creates the database

C:\murach\java_eclipse\db\create_database.sql

MySQL Workbench after executing the create_database.sql file

Execute SQL
Script button

Open SQL Script

File button

How to create the database

1. Start MySQL Workbench.
2. Connect as the root user to an instance of MySQL that’s running on the localhost
computer. To do that, double-click on the stored connection named “Local instance
MySQL56” and enter the password for the root user if prompted.
3. Open the script file by clicking the Open SQL Script File button in the SQL Editor
toolbar. Then, use the resulting dialog box to locate and open the create_database.
sql file. When you do, MySQL Workbench displays this script in a code editor tab.
4. Execute the script by clicking the Execute SQL Script button in the code editor
toolbar. When you do, the Output window displays messages that indicate whether
the script executed successfully.

How to restore the database

•• Run the create_database.sql script again to drop the database and recreate it.

Description
•• For the create_database.sql file to run, the database server must be running. By
default, the database server is automatically started when you start your computer.
If it isn’t running on your system, you can use MySQL Notifier to start it.

Figure A-5 How to create and restore the database for this book
 Appendix B
How to set up Mac OS X
for this book
This appendix shows how to install and configure the software that we recom-
mend for developing Java applications on a Mac OS X system. For the first 18
chapters of this book, you only need to install the Java Development Kit (JDK),
the Eclipse IDE, and the source code for this book. However, for the last four
chapters in this book, you need to install MySQL and MySQL Workbench, and
you need to create the database for this book.
As you read this appendix, please remember that most websites are
updated constantly. As a result, some of the procedures in this appendix may
have changed since this book was published. Nevertheless, these procedures
should still be good guides to installing the software. And if there are signifi-
cant changes, we will post updates on our website (www.murach.com).

How to install the JDK.................................................................................620

How to install Eclipse...................................................................................622
How to install the source code for this book................................................624
How to install the MySQL Community Server............................................626
How to install MySQL Workbench..............................................................628
How to create the databases for this book....................................................630
How to restore the databases........................................................................630
How to update the password for the root user..............................................632
620 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to install the JDK

Figure B-1 shows how to install the Java Development Kit (JDK) for Java
8. The code in this book has been tested against Java 8. However, Java is back-
wards compatible. As a result, the code in this book should work equally well
with later versions of Java.
 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 621

The URL for the JDK download

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads

Procedure
1. Go to the download page for Java SE. If necessary, you can search the Internet to
find this page.
2. Click the Download button for Java. This button should have a label under it that
says something like Java Platform (JDK) 8u45.
3. Follow the instructions for downloading the installer program for your operating
system.
4. Save the installer program to your hard disk.
5. Run the installer program by double-clicking on it.
6. Respond to the resulting dialog boxes. When you’re prompted for the JDK folder,
use the default folder.

The default JDK folder for Java 8, update 45

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45

Notes
•• For more information about installing the JDK, you can refer to the Oracle website.

Figure B-1 How to install the JDK

622 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to install Eclipse

Figure B-2 shows how to download and install the Eclipse IDE. Unlike most
programs, Eclipse doesn’t use an installer program. As a result, you can install
Eclipse by unzipping its tar.gz file anywhere you want on your hard drive. Once
you’ve unzipped the tar.gz file for Eclipse, we recommend adding the Eclipse
program to the Dock. This makes it easy to start Eclipse.
When you install Eclipse, make sure that the version of Eclipse matches the
version of the JDK. This is important because a 64-bit version of Eclipse won’t
work with a 32-bit version of the JDK and a 32-bit version of Eclipse won’t
work with a 64-bit version of the JDK.
 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 623

The URL for the Eclipse download

http://www.eclipse.org

Procedure
1. Go to the download page for Eclipse. If necessary, you can search the Internet to
find this page.
2. Find the “Eclipse IDE for Java Developers” download.
3. Download the tar.gz file for your operating system. This version must match the
version of the JDK that you downloaded in the previous figure. For example, if
you’re using a 64-bit version of the JDK, you must use a 64-bit version of Eclipse.
4. When the download has finished, use the Finder to move the tar.gz file to a suitable
location on your hard disk. Then, double-click on the tar.gz file to unzip it. This
should create a folder named eclipse that contains the Eclipse program.
5. Add the Eclipse program to the Dock. To do that, use the Finder to drag the icon for
the Eclipse program from the eclipse folder and drop it on the Dock.

Notes
•• For more information about installing Eclipse, you can refer to the Eclipse website.
•• If you get an error when you try to start Eclipse that indicates that Java failed to
start, you may have a 32-bit vs. 64-bit mismatch. You may be able to fix this issue
by uninstalling all versions of the JDK except the one you installed in the previous
figure.

Figure B-2 How to install Eclipse

624 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to install the source code for this book

Figure B-3 shows how to download and install the source code for this book.
This includes the source code for the applications that are presented in this book
as well as the source code for the starting points and solutions for the exercises
that are presented at the end of each chapter.
When you finish this procedure, the book applications, exercise starts, and
exercise solutions should be in the folders that are shown in this figure. Then,
you can review the applications that are presented in this book, and you’ll be
ready to do the exercises in this book.
As you read this book, you’ll notice that it often instructs you to right-click,
which is a common technique on Windows. On a Mac, right-clicking is not
enabled by default. Instead, you can use the Ctrl-click instead of the right-click.
Or, if you prefer, you can enable right-clicking by editing the system preferences
for your mouse. Then, you can follow the instructions in this book more closely.
 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 625

The Murach website

www.murach.com

The folders for the book applications and exercises

/murach/java_eclipse/book_apps
/murach/java_eclipse/ex_starts
/murach/java_eclipse/ex_solutions

Procedure
1. Go to www.murach.com.
2. Find the page for Murach’s Beginning Java with Eclipse.
3. If necessary, scroll down to the FREE Downloads tab.
4. Click the FREE Downloads tab.
5. Click the Download Now button for the zip file, and respond to the resulting pages
and dialog boxes. This should download a zip file named bjwe_allfiles.zip to your
hard drive.
6. Use the Finder to locate the zip file on your hard drive, and double-click on it to
unzip it. This creates the java_eclipse folder and its subfolders.
7. If necessary, use the Finder to create the murach folder directly on your hard drive.
8. Use the Finder to move the java_eclipse folder into the murach folder.

A note about right-clicking

•• This book often instructs you to right-click, because that’s common in Windows.
On a Mac, right-clicking is not enabled by default. However, you can enable right-
clicking by editing the system preferences for your mouse.

Notes for other versions of the JDK

•• This source code should work with JDK 1.8 (Java 8) or later.
•• If you’re using an earlier version of the JDK, you can still view the source code, but
you might need to change the source level version in the project settings, and you
won’t be able to compile and run applications that use the features of Java intro-
duced with later versions of the JDK.

Figure B-3 How to install the source code for this book
626 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to install the MySQL Community Server

MySQL Community Server is a database server that’s free and easy to use.
Since it’s designed to run on most modern computers, it’s ideal for developers
who want to install it on their own computer so they can learn how to work with
a MySQL database. That’s why this book assumes that you have installed the
Community Server on your computer as shown in figure B-4.
When you install the Community Server on your computer, the root user is
created automatically so you can log in to the server. However, a password isn’t
assigned to this user by default. In other words, the server is not secure. If you
want to secure the server, you can assign a password to the root user as described
later in this appendix.
In addition to the server itself, the download for MySQL Community Server
includes the MySQL preference pane. You can use the MySQL preference
pane shown in this figure to start and stop the server and to control whether the
MySQL server starts automatically when you start your computer.
All of the SQL statements presented in this book have been tested against
the MySQL Community Server 5.6. As a result, you can use the statements
presented in this book to work with this version of the database. Since MySQL
is backwards compatible, these statements should also work with future versions
of MySQL. In addition, most statements presented in this book work with earlier
versions of MySQL, and we have done our best to identify any statements that
don’t.
 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 627

The URL for downloading the MySQL Community Server

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/

How to download and install the MySQL Community Server

1. Find the download page for the MySQL Community Server. This page is currently
available at the URL shown above. If necessary, you can search the Internet for
“MySQL Community Server download”.
2. Follow the instructions provided on that web page to download the appropriate disk
image (DMG) file for your operating system to your hard drive.
3. Find the DMG file on your hard drive and double-click it. This opens a window with
a package (PKG) file in it with a filename like mysql-5.6.25-osx10.9-x86_64.pkg.
4. Double-click the PKG file for MySQL, and respond to the resulting dialog boxes to
install it.
5. Make sure MySQL has been installed correctly by going to System Preferences
under the Apple menu and clicking on the MySQL icon. If the MySQL preference
pane indicates that the server is running or if you can start the server, MySQL is
installed correctly.

The MySQL preference pane

Description
•• You can use the MySQL preference pane to start and stop MySQL and to control
whether MySQL starts automatically when you start your computer.
•• To display the MySQL preference pane, use the Apple menu to display the System
Preferences dialog box. Then, click the MySQL icon.

Figure B-4 How to install the MySQL Community Server

628 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to install MySQL Workbench

MySQL Workbench is a free graphical tool that makes it easier to work with
MySQL databases. To install MySQL Workbench, you can use the first proce-
dure in figure B-5.
After you install MySQL Workbench, you should make sure that it’s config-
ured for use with this book. To do that, you may need to add a connection as
described in the second procedure in this figure.
All of the skills for working with MySQL Workbench that are presented in
this book were tested against version 6.3. As a result, if you’re using this version
of MySQL Workbench, these skills should work exactly as described. However,
MySQL Workbench is being actively developed and is changing quickly. As a
result, if you’re using a later version of MySQL Workbench, these skills may not
work exactly as described, but they should work similarly.
 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 629

The URL for downloading MySQL Workbench

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/

How to download and install MySQL Workbench

1. Find the download page for MySQL Workbench. This page is currently available
at the URL shown above. If necessary, you can search the Internet for “MySQL
Workbench download”.
2. Follow the instructions provided on that web page to download the disk image
(DMG) file for MySQL Workbench.
3. Find the DMG file on your hard drive and double-click on it. Then, respond to the
resulting dialog boxes.

How to configure MySQL Workbench for this book

1. Start MySQL Workbench.
2. If the MySQL Connection section of the Home tab contains a connection named
“localhost”, you can use that connection to code and run SQL statements.
3. If the MySQL Connections section doesn’t include a connection, you’ll need to
create one so you can use it to code and run SQL statements. To do that, click the
+ icon to the right of MySQL Connections section. Then, enter “Local instance
MySQL56” for the connection name in the resulting dialog box and click the OK
button.

Notes
•• Although you can use any names you want for the connections you create in
MySQL Workbench, “Local instance MySQL56” is the name of the default con-
nection that is created on a Windows system for MySQL version 5.6, and that’s the
name we use in this book.
•• To make it easy to start MySQL Workbench, you may want to keep this application
in your dock.

Figure B-5 How to install MySQL Workbench

630 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to create the databases for this book

Before you can run the SQL statements presented in this book, you need to
create the three databases described in the previous figure. The easiest way to
do that is to use MySQL Workbench to run the SQL script that’s stored in the
create_databases.sql file. The procedure for doing this is described in figure B-6.
To determine if the SQL script ran successfully, you can review the results
in the Output window. In this figure, for example, the Output window shows
a series of statements that have executed successfully. In addition, the Object
Browser window shows that the three databases have been created. The other
database, named Test, is a database that comes with MySQL.
If the script encounters problems, MySQL Workbench displays one or more
errors in the Output window. Then, you can read these errors to figure out why
the script isn’t executing correctly.
Before you can run the create_databases.sql script, the database server must
be running. By default, the database server is automatically started when you
start your computer, so this usually isn’t a problem. However, if it isn’t running
on your system, you can start it as described in figure B-3.

How to restore the databases

As you work with the code that’s presented in this book, you may make
changes to the databases or tables that you don’t intend to make. In that case,
you may want to restore the databases to their original state so your results
match the results shown in this book. To do that, you can run the
create_databases.sql file again. This drops the three databases described in this
appendix and recreates them.
 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 631

The script that creates the database

/murach/java_eclipse/db/create_database.sql

MySQL Workbench after executing the create_database.sql file

Execute SQL
Script button

Open SQL Script

File button

How to create the database

1. Start MySQL Workbench.
2. Connect as the root user to an instance of MySQL that’s running on the localhost
computer. To do that, double-click on the stored connection named “Local instance
MySQL56” and enter the password for the root user if prompted.
3. Open the script file by clicking the Open SQL Script File button in the SQL Editor
toolbar. Then, use the resulting dialog box to locate and open the create_database.
sql file. When you do, MySQL Workbench displays this script in a code editor tab.
4. Execute the script by clicking the Execute SQL Script button in the code editor
toolbar. When you do, the Output window displays messages that indicate whether
the script executed successfully.

How to restore the database

•• Run the create_database.sql script again to drop the database and recreate it.

Description
•• For the create_database.sql file to run, the database server must be running. By
default, the database server is automatically started when you start your computer.
If it isn’t running on your system, you start it as described in figure B-4.

Figure B-6 How to create and restore the database for this book
632 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book

How to update the password for the root user

When you install the Community Server on your computer, the root user is
created automatically so you can log in to the server. However, a password isn’t
assigned to this user by default. In other words, the server is not secure. As a
result, we recommend that you assign a password of “sesame” to the root user by
running the SQL script described in figure B-7.
Of course, a password of “sesame” is a weak password that isn’t secure
either. So, for a production system, you’d want to modify this script to assign a
secure password to the root user that can’t be easily cracked.
 Appendix B How to set up Mac OS X for this book 633

The script that updates the password

/murach/java_eclipse/db/update_root_password.sql

Procedure
1. Start MySQL Workbench.
2. Connect as the root user to an instance of MySQL that’s running on the localhost
computer. To do that, click on the stored connection for the root user. Since a
password hasn’t been assigned to the root user, you don’t need to enter a password.
3. Open the update_root_password.sql file by clicking the Open SQL Script File
button in the SQL Editor toolbar and navigating to the /murach/java_ eclipse/db
folder.
4. Click the Execute SQL Script button. This should update the root password to
“sesame”.
5. Use the MySQL preference pane shown earlier in this appendix to stop and start the
MySQL server.

Description
•• By default, the root user doesn’t have a password. This is not secure.
•• For this book, you can run a script like the one shown in this figure to change the
password for the root user to “sesame”.
•• For a production system, you can modify the script shown in this figure to make the
password for the root user more secure.

Figure B-7 How to update the password for the root user
634 BLOB objects (Binary Large Objects)

Index
Adding records to tables, 500, 501
Addition operator, 174, 175
compound, 178, 179
Adjuster (date/time), 400, 401
anchor field (GridBagConstraints), 580, 581
And operator, 200, 201
- operator, 174-177 Android app, 12, 13
-- operator, 176, 177 Android Studio IDE, 18, 19
! operator, 200, 201 Annotation (@Override), 280, 281
!= operator, 81, 198, 199 Anonymous class, 338, 339
% operator, 174, 175 Anonymous functions (lambda), 378, 379
%= operator, 178, 179 API documentation, 68, 69
& operator, 200, 201 Append
&& operator, 200, 201 data to a file, 446, 447
* operator, 174, 175 data to a string, 54, 55, 234, 235
*= operator, 178, 179 append method (StringBuilder), 242, 243
/ operator, 174, 175 Applet, 10, 11
/= operator, 178, 179 Application, 8, 9
@author tag (javadoc), 346, 347 Argument, 38, 39, 66, 67
@Override annotation, 280, 281 sending to method, 112, 113
@param tag (javadoc), 346, 347 Arithmetic expression, 52, 53, 174, 175
@return tag (javadoc), 346, 347 Arithmetic operators, 52, 53, 174, 175
@version tag (javadoc), 346, 347 Array
| operator, 200, 201 assigning values to, 256, 257
|| operator, 200, 201 comparing, 266, 267
+ operator compared to a collection, 358, 359
numbers, 174-177 copying, 266, 267
strings, 54, 55 creating, 254, 255
++ operator, 176, 177 creating references to, 266, 267
+= operator, 178, 179 referring to elements, 256, 257
< operator, 81, 198, 199 Array list, 360, 361, 364, 365
<= operator, 81, 198, 199 Array of arrays, 262, 263
<> operator (generics), 362, 363 ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, 256, 257
<code> tag (HTML), 346, 347 ArrayList class (java.util), 360, 361, 364-369
-= operator, 178, 179 constructor, 364, 365
-> operator (lambda), 382, 383 Arrays class, 264, 265
== operator, 81, 198, 199 ASCII character set, 168, 169
> operator, 81, 198, 199 Assign
>= operator, 81, 198, 199 value to variable, 170, 171
values to array elements, 256, 257
A Assignment operator, 170, 171
Assignment statement, 48-51, 120, 121
Absolute path name, 436, 437 Asynchronous thread, 476, 477
abstract class, 298, 299 Augmented assignment operator, 178, 179
advantages, 310, 311 Autoboxing, 358, 359, 370, 371
compared to interfaces, 310, 311 AutoCloseable interface (java.lang), 416, 417
abstract keyword, 298, 299 Autoflush feature, 444, 445
abstract method, 298, 299 Automatic driver loading, 508, 509
Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), 334, 335, 532-535 AWT (Abstract Window Toolkit), 334, 335, 532-535
AbstractTableModel class, 548, 549
Access modifier, 34, 35, 108, 109, 280, 281
Accessors (set and get), 108, 109
B
Action listener, 540, 541 Base class, 276, 277
ActionListener interface, 338, 339 BigDecimal class, 186-189
actionPerformed method, 540, 541 Binary file, 438, 439
add method (ArrayList), 366, 367 Binary operator, 174, 175
add method (BigDecimal), 186, 187 Binary stream, 438, 439
add method (BorderLayout), 546, 547 binarySearch method (Arrays class), 264, 265
add method (JFrame, JPanel), 538, 539 Bit, 168, 169
addActionListener method, 540, 541 BLOB objects (Binary Large Objects), 512, 513
 Block comment Confirm an operation (JOptionPane) 635

Block comment, 36, 37 charAt method (String), 236, 237

Block of code, 34, 35, 202, 203 charAt method (StringBuilder), 244, 245
Block scope, 80-83, 202, 203 Checked exception, 410, 411, 426, 427
Blocked state (thread), 468, 469 throwing, 422, 423
Blocking (dialog box), 558, 559 Child class, 276, 277
Boolean ChronoUnit enumeration, 400, 401
expression, 80, 81, 198-201 Class, 14-17, 34, 35
type, 168, 169 declaration, 34, 35
value, 80, 81, 198, 199 diagram, 98, 99, 138, 139
variable, 198, 199 documentation, 344, 345
BorderLayout manager, 542, 543, 546, 547 field, 116, 117
BoxLayout manager, 542, 543 importing, 64, 65
break statement, 206-208 instance of, 66, 67
with loops, 218, 219 method, 116, 117
Breakpoints (debugging), 156, 157 storing in packages, 134-137
Buffer, 440, 441 structuring an app with, 132, 133
Buffered Class class, 508, 509
input stream, 448, 449 ClassCastException (java.lang), 294, 295
output stream, 444, 445 clear method (ArrayList class), 368, 369
stream, 440, 441 CLOB (Character Large Object), 512, 513
BufferedReader class (java.io), 448-451 clone method (Object class), 278, 279
BufferedWriter class (java.io), 444, 445 Close a project (Eclipse), 28, 29
Built-in dialog box, 558, 559 close method (BufferedReader class), 450, 451
Business classes, 132, 133 close method (PrintWriter class), 446, 447
Business objects, 132, 133 close method (ResultSet), 510, 511
Business tier, 132, 133 CLOSED_OPTION (JOptionPane), 562, 563
Button Code completion feature, 44, 45
add to panel, 538, 539 Code editor, 24, 25, 38-41
handle event, 540, 541 Code execution (tracing), 154, 155
byte type, 168, 169 code tag (HTML), 346, 347
Bytecodes, 16, 17 Coding error, 150, 151
Collection, 358-361
compared to an array, 358, 359
C Collection framework, 360, 361
Collection interface (java.util), 360, 361
C# (compared to Java), 6, 7
Column
C++ (compared to Java), 6, 7
database, 484, 485, 488, 489
Call stack, 412, 413
file, 446, 447
debugging, 160, 161
Command prompt, 8, 9
Calling
Comment
methods, 66, 67, 112, 113
end-of-line, 36, 37
static fields, 122, 123
single-line, 36, 37
static methods, 122, 123
coding, 36, 37
Camel case, 170, 171
javadoc, 344, 345
Camel notation, 46
Comparable interface, 264, 265
CANCEL_OPTION (JOptionPane), 562, 563
compareTo method, 396, 397
capacity method (StringBuilder class), 242, 243
Comparing
CardLayout manager, 542, 543
objects, 296, 297
Case label (switch statement), 206-208
primitive types, 198, 199
Case structure, 206, 207
variables, 80, 81
Case-sensitive language, 50, 51
Compile a project (Eclipse), 26, 27
Casting, 52, 53, 182, 183
Compiler (Java), 16, 17
objects, 294, 295
Compile-time error, 148, 149
catch block, 222, 223
Component, 532, 533
catch clause (try statement), 414, 415
hierarchy, 534, 535
Catching an exception, 72, 73, 220-223, 414, 415
grid, 580, 581
Central processing unit (CPU), 464, 465
Component class (java.awt), 534, 535
char type, 168, 169
Compound assignment operator, 178, 179
Character
Concatenate strings, 54, 55, 234, 235
input stream, 448, 449
Concurrency (threads), 476, 477
output stream, 444, 445
Confirm an operation (JOptionPane), 560, 561
stream, 438, 439
636 Connect to a database Double-precision number

Connect to a database, 508, 509 Database connection, 494, 495

Connector/J driver, 506, 507 Database drivers, 506, 507
Console, 8, 9 Database management system (DBMS), 484, 485
input, 70, 71 Database server, 494, 495
output, 38, 39 Database tier, 132, 133
Console application, 8, 9, 532, 533 Date/time APIs, 390-403
Console window (Eclipse), 26, 27 Date/time objects, 392, 393
Constant, 172, 173 adjust, 398, 399
in an enumeration, 340, 341 compare, 396, 397
in an interface, 309 format, 402, 403
Constructor, 66, 67, 102, 103 DayOfWeek enumeration, 392, 393
coding, 106, 107 DB2, 484, 485
Container class (java.awt), 534, 535 DBMS (database management system), 484, 485
contains method (ArrayList class), 368, 369 DDL (Data Definition Language), 498
continue statement (with loops), 218, 219 Debugger, 156-161
Control statements, 80-85 Debugging applications, 148, 149
Convert Declare
numbers to strings, 76, 77 array, 254, 255
strings to numbers, 72, 73 classes, 34, 35
copyOf method (Arrays class), 266, 267 enumerations, 340, 341
Counter variable, 212, 213 typed collection, 362, 363
while loop, 82 variable, 48, 49, 170, 171
CPU (central processing unit), 464, 465 Decrement operator, 176, 177
CREATE DATABASE statement (SQL), 496, 497 Deep copy (array), 266, 267
CREATE TABLE statement (SQL), 496, 497 Default constructor, 106, 107
Create user (SQL), 496, 497 Default label (switch statement), 206, 207
createDirectories method (Files class), 434, 435 Default methods (interface), 322, 323
createDirectory method (Files class), 434, 435 Default value (database), 488, 489
createFile method (Files class), 434, 435 DEFAULT_OPTION (JOptionPane), 560, 561
Current row pointer (SQL), 498, 499 Delete
Current working directory (CWD), 436, 437 files, 434, 435
currentThread method (Thread class), 471, 474, 475 projects from Eclipse, 28, 29
Cursor, 510, 511 records from tables, 500, 501, 514, 515
result set (SQL), 498, 499 delete method (Files class), 434, 435
Custom exception classes, 426-429 delete method (StringBuilder class), 244, 245
DELETE statement (SQL), 500, 501, 514, 515
deleteCharAt method (StringBuilder class), 244, 245
D Delimited text file, 446, 447
Delimiter, 446, 447
Data
Derived class, 276, 277
append to file, 446, 447
Desktop application, 8, 9
delete from table, 514, 515
Diagram (class), 98, 99
get from a result set, 512, 513
Dialog box, 586, 587
insert into table, 496, 497, 514, 515
built-in, 558, 559
pass between form and dialog, 588, 589
passing data to form, 588, 589
update table, 514, 515
Diamond operator, 362, 363
Data Definition Language (DDL), 498
Dimension, 584, 585
Data entry form, 586, 587
Directories (working with), 434-437
Data hiding, 98
divide method (BigDecimal class), 186, 187
Data Manipulation Language (DML), 498
Division operator, 174, 175
Data type (declaring), 48, 49
compound, 178, 179
Database, 484, 485, 492, 493
DML (Data Manipulation Language), 498
connecting to, 508, 509
Documentation
create (SQL), 496, 497
API, 68, 69
create on Mac, 630, 631
class, 344, 345
create on Windows, 616, 617
generating, 348, 349
drop (SQL), 496, 497
viewing, 348, 349
restore on Mac, 630, 631
Double class, 72, 73
restore on Windows, 616, 617
double data type, 48, 49, 168, 169
select (SQL), 496, 497
Double-precision number, 168, 169
doubleValue method (BigDecimal class) for loop 637

doubleValue method (BigDecimal class), 186, 187 Exception, 72, 73, 220, 221, 410, 411
do-while loop, 214, 215 catching, 72, 73, 414, 415, 220-223
DriverManager class, 508, 509 chaining, 428, 429
Drivers (database), 506, 507 checked, 426, 427
DROP DATABASE statement (SQL), 496, 497 custom, 426-429
eating, 416
handling, 72, 73
E hierarchy, 220, 221
multi-catch, 420, 421
Eating exceptions, 416
propagation, 412, 413
Eclipse, 20-29
swallowing, 416
code editor, 42, 43
throwing, 72, 73, 412, 413, 422, 423
create class, 40, 41
try-with-resources, 416, 417
import project, 22, 23
unchecked, 426, 427
install on Mac, 622, 623
when to throw, 424, 425
install on Windows, 610, 611
Exception class (java.lang), 410, 411
Java source code, 42, 43
creating, 426-429
new project, 40, 41
Exception handler, 220- 222, 410- 413
packages, 136, 137
testing, 424, 425
syntax error, 46, 47
executeUpdate method, 514, 515
two or more projects, 28, 29
Execution (tracing), 154, 155
workbench, 20, 21
exists method (Files class), 434, 435
workspace, 20, 21
EXIT_ON_CLOSE value, 536, 537
EDT (event dispatch thread), 602, 603
Explicit cast, 182, 183
EE (Enterprise Edition), 4, 5
Extend a class, 276, 277, 282, 283
Elements
extends keyword, 282, 283, 316, 317
array, 254, 255
assigning values, 256, 257
Empty string, 54, 55
Encapsulation, 98, 99
F
End-of-line comment, 36, 37 Falls through (switch statement), 208, 209
endsWith method (String), 236, 237 Field,
Enhanced for loop (array), 260, 261 class, 98, 99, 102-105
Enum class (java.lang), 342, 343 database, 484, 485
enum keyword, 340, 341 file, 446, 447, 574, 575
Enumeration, 340, 341 File I/O, 438, 439
Enumeration type, 342, 343 FileNotFoundException (java.io), 442, 443
EOFException (java.io), 442, 443 FileReader class (java.io), 448, 449
Equality operator, 81, 198, 199 Files (working with), 434-437
equals method (Arrays class), 266, 267 Files class (java.nio.file), 434-437
equals method (Object class), 278, 279, 296, 297 FileWriter class (java.io), 444, 445
equals method (String class), 80, 81, 236, 237 fill method (Arrays class), 264, 265
equals method (overriding), 296, 297 final class, 300, 301
equalsIgnoreCase method (String class), 80, 81, 236, 237 final keyword, 172, 173, 300, 301
Error final method, 300, 301
coding, 150, 151 final parameter, 300, 301
compile-time, 152, 153 final variable, 172, 173
determining cause of, 152, 153 finally clause (try statement), 414, 415
Java, 150, 151 fireTableDataChanged method, 548, 549
logic, 152, 153 Fixed-width layout, 542, 543
runtime, 152, 153 float type, 168, 169
syntax, 150, 151 Floating-point number, 168, 169
Error class (java.lang), 410, 411 FlowLayout manager, 542-545
ERROR_MESSAGE (JOptionPane), 558, 559 constructor, 544, 545
Escape sequences, 56, 57 flush method (PrintWriter class), 446, 447
Event, 334, 335 flushing the buffer, 440, 441
handler, 540, 541 Folders (working with), 434-437
listener, 540, 541 for loop, 216, 217
Event dispatch thread (EDT), 602, 603 array, 258, 259
638 for statement INFORMATION_MESSAGE (JOptionPane)

for statement, 216, 217 Grant privileges (SQL), 496, 497

array, 258, 259 GRANT statement (SQL), 496, 497
foreach loop, 260, 261 Graphical user interface (GUI), 334, 335, 532, 533
Foreign key, 486, 487 Greater Than operator, 81, 198, 199
Form, 534, 535, 586, 587 Greater Than Or Equal operator, 81, 198, 199
data entry, 586, 587 GridBagConstraints, 578-581
format method (DateTimeFormatter), 402, 403 GridBagLayout, 542, 543, 578, 579
format method (NumberFormat), 76, 77 gridheight field (GridBagConstraints), 580, 581
formatStyle.FULL constant, 402, 403 GridLayout manager, 542, 543
formatStyle.LONG constant, 402, 403 gridwidth field (GridBagConstraints), 580, 581
formatStyle.MEDIUM constant, 402, 403 gridx field (GridBagConstraints), 580, 581
formatStyle.SHORT constant, 402, 403 gridy field (GridBagConstraints), 580, 581
forName method (Class class), 508, 509 GUI (graphical user interface), 8, 9, 334, 335, 532, 533
Forward-only result set, 510, 511 unresponsive problem, 602, 603
Frame class (java.awt), 534, 535
Frame, 334, 335, 534-537
add panel, 538, 539 H
how to display, 536, 537
HALF_DOWN (RoundingMode), 186, 187
FROM clause (SELECT statement), 498, 499
HALF_EVEN (RoundingMode), 186, 187
Function (lambda), 378, 379
HALF_UP (RoundingMode), 186, 187
Functional interface (lambda), 382, 383
Handle exception, 72, 73
Hash code, 278, 279
G hashCode method (Object class), 278, 279
HashMap class (java.util), 360, 361
Generics, 362, 363 HashSet class (java.util), 360, 361
get accessor, 108, 109 Horizontal resizing problem, 584, 585
get method, 102, 103, 108, 109 HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS, 556, 557
ArrayList class, 366, 367 HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED, 556, 557
Paths class, 434-437 HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER, 556, 557
getClass method (Object), 278, 279 HTML documentation
getColumnCount method, 548, 549 generating, 348, 349
getColumnName method, 548, 549 viewing, 348, 349
getConnection method, 508, 509 HTML tags (in javadoc), 346, 347
getCurrencyInstance method (NumberFormat), 76, 77
getDayOfMonth method, 394, 395
getDayOfWeek method, 394, 395 I
getDayOfYear method, 394, 395
I/O exceptions, 442, 443
getFileName method (Path), 435
I/O operations, 438, 439
getHour method, 394, 395
IDE (Integrated Development Environment), 18, 19
getMessage method (Throwable), 418, 419
Identifier, 150, 151
getMinute method, 394, 395
Identity of an object, 100, 101
getMonth method, 394, 395
if/else statement, 84, 85, 202-205
getMonthValue method, 394, 395
nested, 84, 85, 204, 205
getName method (Path), 435
IllegalArgumentException (java.lang), 424, 425
getName method (Thread), 471
Immutable strings, 242, 243
getNameCount method (Path), 435
Implementing interfaces, 308, 309, 314-316
getNano method, 394, 395
implements keyword, 314, 315
getNumberInstance method (NumberFormat), 76, 77
Implicit cast, 182, 183
getOwner method (Window), 588, 589
import statement, 64, 65
getParent method (Path), 435
static, 342, 343
getPercentInstance method (NumberFormat),74, 75
Increment operator, 176, 177
getRoot method (Path), 435
Index
getRowCount method (AbstractTableModel), 548, 549
array, 256, 257
getSecond method, 394, 395
string, 238, 239
getSelectedRow method (JTable), 554, 555
indexOf method (ArrayList class), 368, 369
getSelectedRows method (JTable), 554, 555
indexOf method (String), 236, 237
getText method (JTextField), 576, 577
Inequality operator, 81, 198, 199
getValueAt method (AbstractTableModel), 548, 549
Infinite loop, 82, 83, 212, 213
getYear method, 394, 395
INFORMATION_MESSAGE (JOptionPane), 558, 559
Inherit a class JVM (Java virtual machine) 639

Inherit a class, 316, 317 Java compiler, 16, 17

Inheritance, 276, 277 Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), 506
using with interfaces, 320, 321 Java Development Kit (JDK), 4, 5
Initializing Java driver
constants, 172, 173 native protocol all, 506, 507
variables, 48, 49, 170, 171 native protocol partly, 506, 507
Injection attack (SQL), 514, 515 net protocol all, 506, 507
Inner class, 334-337 Java EE, 4, 5
Input file, 438, 439 Java errors (common), 150, 151
Input stream, 438, 439, 448, 449 Java interpreter, 16, 17
InputStreamReader class (java.io), 448, 449 Java ME, 4, 5
insert method (StringBuilder class), 244, 245 Java plug-in, 16, 17
INSERT statement (SQL), 496, 497, 500, 501, 514, 515 Java runtime environment (JRE), 16, 17
Insets class (GridBagLayout), 578, 579, 582, 583 Java SE, 4, 5
insets field (GridBagConstraints), 582, 583 Java source code, 42, 43
Inspect variables (debugging), 158, 159 Java virtual machine (JVM), 16, 17
Instance of a class, 66, 67, 98, 99 java.awt package, 542, 543, 578, 579
Instance variable, 102-105 java.io package, 434, 435, 440, 441
instanceof keyword, 294, 295 java.lang package, 64, 65
Instantiation java.math.BigDecimal class, 186, 187
object, 66, 67 java.math.RoundingMode enumeration, 186, 187
array, 254, 255 java.nio package, 440, 441
int data type, 48, 49, 168, 169 java.nio.file package, 436, 437
Integer, 168, 169 java.text package, 390, 391
Integer class, 72, 73 java.time package, 390, 391
Integrated Development Environment (IDE), 18, 19 java.util package, 390, 391
IntelliJ IDE, 18, 19 javadoc
interface keyword, 312, 313 comments, 344, 345
Interface, 308, 309 tags, 346, 347
advantages, 310, 311 viewing, 348, 349
coding, 312, 313 JavaFX 532-534
compared to abstract class, 310, 311 javax.swing package, 536, 537
implementing, 314, 315 JButton class (javax.swing), 534, 535, 538, 539
inheriting, 320, 321 constructor, 538, 539
using as type, 318, 319 JComponent class (javax.swing), 534, 535
Interpreter (Java),16, 17 JDBC (Java Database Connectivity), 506
InterruptedException (java.lang), 470-473 JDBC driver manager, 506, 507
IOException (java.io), 442, 443 JDBC-ODBC bridge driver, 506, 507
ipadx field (GridBagConstraints), 582, 583 JDialog constructor, 586, 587
ipady field (GridBagConstraints), 582, 583 JDK (Java Development Kit), 4, 5
isAfter method, 396, 397 install on Mac, 620, 621
isBefore method, 396, 397 install on Windows, 608, 609
isDirectory method (Files), 434, 435 JFrame class (javax.swing), 534-527
isEmpty method (ArrayList), 368, 369 JIT (Just-in-time compiler), 16, 17
isEmpty method (String), 236, 237 JLabel class (javax.swing), 534, 535
isInterrupted method (Thread), 471 constructor, 574, 575
isReadable method (Files), 434, 435 Join strings, 54, 55, 234, 235
isRegularFile method (Files), 434, 435 JOptionPane message, 558, 559
isWritable method (Files), 434, 435 JPanel class (javax.swing), 534, 535, 538, 539
Iteration structure, 82 JRE (Java runtime environment), 16, 17
JScrollPane, 556, 557
JSP (Java Server Page), 10
J JTable
constructor, 554, 555
J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition), 4
terminology, 548, 549
J2SE (Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition), 4
widget, 548, 549
Jagged array, 262, 263
JTextField class (javax.swing), 534, 535
Java API (Application Programming Interface), 55
constructor, 576, 577
Java classes (importing), 64, 65
Just-in-time compiler (JIT compiler), 16, 17
Java collection framework, 360, 361
JVM (Java virtual machine), 16, 17
640 Key-value pair NO_OPTION (JOptionPane)

K in an interface, 309
naming, 108, 109
Key-value pair, 360, 361 overloading, 122, 123
Keywords (Java), 46-48 overriding, 282, 283
signature, 122, 123
static, 66, 67
L Microsoft SQL Server, 484, 485
Middle tier, 132, 133
Label, 574, 575 min method (Math), 184, 185
Lambda expression, 378-383, 540, 541 minus method (LocalDateTime), 400, 401
lambda operator, 382, 383 minusWeeks method, 400, 401
last method (ResultSet), 510, 511 Mobile app, 12, 13
lastIndexOf method (String), 236, 237 Modal dialog box, 558, 559, 586, 587
Late binding, 284 Model (for table), 548, 549
Layering Modulus operator, 174, 175
input streams, 448, 449 compound, 178, 179
output streams, 444, 445 Month enumeration, 392, 393
streams, 440, 441 Multi-catch block, 420, 421
Layout manager, 542, 543, 578, 579 Multi-layered architecture, 132
Length (array), 254, 255 Multiple inheritance, 308
length field (array), 258, 259 MULTIPLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION, 554, 555
length method (String), 238, 239 Multiplication operator, 174, 175
length method (StringBuilder), 242, 243 compound, 178, 179
Less Than operator, 81, 198, 199 multiply method (BigDecimal class), 186, 187
Less Than Or Equal operator, 81, 198, 199 Multithreading, 464, 465
Libraries, 24, 25 Multi-tier architecture, 132
Life cycle of a thread, 468, 469 Mutable strings, 242, 243
Linked list, 360, 361 MySQL, 484, 485, 490-501
LinkedList class (java.util), 360, 361 install on Windows, 614, 615
List interface (java.util), 360, 361 install on Mac, 626, 627
Literal value, 50, 51 update password on Mac, 632, 633
LocalDate class, 392-401 MySQL preference pane (Mac), 626, 627
LocalDateTime class, 392-401 MySQL Workbench, 490-501
LocalTime class, 392-401 install on Mac, 628, 629
Locking objects, 476, 477 install on Windows, 614, 615
Locks (synchronized keyword), 476, 477
Logic error, 148, 149, 152, 153
Logical operators, 200, 201 N
long type, 168, 169
Loops, 212-219 Name elements (of a path), 434, 435
array, 258-261 name method (enumeration), 342, 343
Naming conventions
constants, 172, 173
M classes, 34, 35
variables, 48, 49, 170, 171
Main class, 34, 35 Narrowing conversion, 182, 183
main method, 14, 15, 34, 35 Native protocol all Java driver, 506, 507
declaration, 34, 35 Native protocol partly Java driver, 506, 507
Main thread, 464, 465 Negative sign operator, 176, 177
Main window, 536, 537 Nested
Many-to-many relationship, 486, 487 if statement, 84, 85, 204, 205
Map interface (java.util), 360, 361 loop, 262, 263
Math class, 184, 185 Net protocol all Java driver, 506, 507
max method (Math class), 184, 185 NetBeans IDE, 18, 19
ME (Micro Edition), 4, 5 new keyword, 110, 111
Members of a class, 102, 103 New state (thread), 468, 469
Method, 14, 15, 34, 35, 98, 99 newDirectoryStream method (Files class), 434, 435
calling, 66, 67, 112, 113 next method (ResultSet), 510, 511
calls, 120, 121 nextLine method (Scanner class), 70, 71
chaining, 76, 77 NIO.2, 436, 437
coding, 108, 109 NO_OPTION (JOptionPane), 562, 563
Not operator public keyword 641

Not operator, 200, 201 Padding components

notExists method (Files class), 434, 435 GridBagConstraints, 582, 583
now method (LocalDateTime), 392, 393 GridBagLayout, 578, 579
Null, 54, 55 Padding strings, 246, 247
database, 488, 489 Panel
NumberFormat class, 76, 77 add buttons, 538, 539
Numbers to strings (converting), 76, 77 add to frame, 538, 539
Numeric variables, 48, 49 Parameter, 98, 99, 120, 121
comparing, 80, 81 of an interface type, 318, 319
Parameter list (of a method), 108
Parent class, 276, 277
O Parent form, 586, 587
passing data to child form, 588, 589
Object, 100, 101
parse method (LocalDateTime), 392, 393
casting, 294, 295
parseDouble method (Double), 72, 73
comparing, 296, 297
parseInt method (Integer), 72, 73
creating, 66, 67, 110, 111
Parsing strings, 234, 235
identity of, 100, 101
Passing argument
state of, 100, 101
by reference, 120, 121
Object class, 278, 279, 342, 343, 466, 467
by value, 120, 121
Object diagram, 100, 101
Password for root user (update), 632, 633
Object reference, 110, 111
Path interface (java.nio.file), 434-437
ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), 506, 507
Path name
of method (LocalDateTime), 392, 393
absolute, 436, 437
ofLocalized methods, 402, 403
relative, 436, 437
ofLocalizedDate method, 402, 403
Paths class (java.nio.file), 434-437
ofLocalizedDateTime method, 402, 403
Pivot, 532-534
ofLocalizedTime method, 402, 403
PLAIN_MESSAGE (JOptionPane), 558, 559
OK_CANCEL_OPTION (JOptionPane), 560, 561
Platform independence, 16, 17
OK_OPTION (JOptionPane), 562, 563
Plug-in (Java), 16, 17
One-dimensional array, 262, 263
plus method (date/time), 400, 401
One-to-many relationship, 486, 487
plusWeeks method (date/time), 400, 401
One-to-one relationship, 486, 487
Polymorphism, 284, 285
Operand, 52, 53, 174, 175
Positive sign operator, 176, 177
in a Boolean expression, 198, 199
Postfix an operand, 176, 177
Or operator, 200, 201
pow method (Math class), 184, 185
Oracle, 484, 485
Predicate interface (java.util), 384, 385
ORDER BY clause (SELECT statement), 498, 499
Prefix an operand, 176, 177
Order of precedence, 180, 181
Prepared statements (JDBC), 516, 517
ordinal method (enumeration), 342, 343
Presentation tier, 132, 133
Output file, 438, 439
Project (Eclipse), 20, 21
Output stream, 438, 439
Primary key, 484, 485
character, 444, 445
Primitive data types, 48, 49, 168, 169
Overloading
comparing to each other, 198, 199
constructors, 106, 107
compared to reference types, 120, 121
methods, 122, 123
print method (PrintWriter class), 446, 447
Overriding
print method (System.out object), 38, 39
annotation for, 280, 281
Printing output to the console, 38, 39
methods, 276, 277, 282, 283
println method (PrintWriter class), 446, 447
equals method, 296, 297
println method (System.out object), 38, 39
Owner, 586, 587
printStackTrace method (Throwable class), 418, 419
PrintWriter class (java.io), 444-447
P Private (fields and methods), 98, 99
private keyword, 108, 109
Package, 14, 15, 24, 25, 34, 35, 134, 135 class declaration, 34, 35
Java, 64, 65 superclass, 280, 281
Eclipse, 136, 137 Public (fields and methods), 98, 99
storing classes in, 134-137 public keyword, 108, 109
Package naming, 134, 135 class declaration, 34, 35
superclass, 280, 281
642 Query (SQL) Size (array)

Q S
Query (SQL), 498-501 Scale, 186, 187
Querying tables (SQL), 498, 499 Scanner class, 70, 71
QUESTION_MESSAGE (JOptionPane), 558, 559 Schema, 492, 493
Scientific notation, 168, 169
Scope of a class, 34, 35
R Scroll pane, 556, 557
Scrollbar, 556, 557
random method (Math class), 184, 185
ScrollPaneConstants, 556, 557
RDBMS (relational database management system), 484
SDK (Software Development Kit), 4, 5
Reader class hierarchy (java.io), 448, 449
SE (Standard Edition), 4, 5
Reading
Select database (MySQL), 496, 497
from console, 70, 71
SELECT statement (SQL), 496-501
from text files, 450, 451
Selection structure, 84, 202, 203
readLine method (BufferedReader class), 450, 451
Servlet, 10, 11
Read-only result set, 510, 511
set accessor, 108, 109
Record
Set interface (java.util), 360, 361
database, 484, 485
set method, 102, 103, 108, 109
file, 446, 447
ArrayList class, 368, 369
Rectangular array, 262, 263
setBorder method (JTable), 554, 555
Refactor, 136, 137
setCharAt method (StringBuilder), 244, 245
Reference type, 110, 111
setColumns method (JTextField), 576, 577
array, 266, 267
setDefaultCloseOperation method, 536, 537
compared to primitive type, 120, 121
setEditable method (JTextField), 576, 577
Referential integrity (MySQL), 490, 491
setEnabled method, 538, 539
Relational database, 484, 485
setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy, 556, 557
Relational operators, 80, 81, 198, 199
setLayout method, 542, 543
Relationships (between tables), 486, 487
setLookAndFeel method, 536, 537
Relative path name, 436, 437
setMaximumFractionDigits method, 76, 77
Remove a project (Eclipse), 28, 29
setMaximumSize method, 584, 585
remove method (ArrayList), 368, 369
setMinimumFractionDigits method, 76, 77
replace method (StringBuilder), 244, 245
setMinimumSize method (JTextField), 576, 577
Resizing problem, 584, 585
setModel method (JTable), 554, 555
Result set (SQL), 498-501, 510, 511
setPreferredSize method, 576, 577, 584, 585
get data from, 512, 513
setResizable method, 584, 585
ResultSet methods, 510, 511
setScale method (BigDecimal class), 186, 187
return statement, 108, 109
setSelectionMode method (JTable), 554, 555
Return type, 108, 109
setText method, 538, 539
Return value (of a method), 112, 113
JLabel, 574, 575
RIAs (rich Internet applications), 532, 533
JTextField, 576, 577
Rich Internet applications (RIAs), 532, 533
setToolTipText method, 538, 539
root user (update password), 632, 633
setVerticalScrollBarPolicy, 556, 557
round method (Math class), 184, 185
setVisible method, 538, 539
Rounding errors (fixing), 188, 189
Shallow copy (array), 266, 267
RoundingMode enumeration, 186, 187
short type, 168, 169
Row,
Short-circuit operators, 202, 203
database, 484, 485
showConfirmDialog method (JOptionPane), 560-563
file, 446, 447
showMessageDialog method (JOptionPane), 558, 559
Row pointer, 510, 511
Signature
Run a project (Eclipse), 26, 27
constructor, 106, 107
run method (Runnable interface), 466, 467
method, 122, 123
run method (Thread class), 466, 467, 471
Significant digits, 168, 169
Runnable interface (java.lang), 466, 467
SINGLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION, 554, 555
implementing, 474, 475
SINGLE_SELECTION, 554, 555
Runnable state (thread), 468, 469
Single-line comment, 36, 37
Runtime error, 148, 149, 152, 153
Single-precision number, 168, 169
Runtime exception, 148, 149
Size (array), 254, 255
RuntimeException class (java.lang), 220, 221, 410, 411
size method Thread scheduler 643

size method StringUtil class, 246, 247

ArrayList class, 366, 367 Structured Query Language (SQL), 490
Files class, 434, 435 Subclass, 220, 221, 276, 277
sleep method (Thread class), 466, 467, 471-475 casting to superclass, 294, 295
Software Development Kit (SDK), 4, 5 creating, 282, 283
sort method (Arrays class), 264, 265 substring method (String), 240, 241
Source code, 16, 17 substring method (StringBuilder), 244, 245
install on Mac, 624, 625 subtract method (BigDecimal), 186, 187
install on Windows, 612, 613 Subtraction operator, 174, 175
Special characters, 56, 57 compound, 178, 179
split method (String class), 450, 451 super keyword, 282, 283
SQL (Structured Query Language), 490 Superclass, 276, 277
SQL injection attack, 514, 515 casting to subclass, 294, 295
SQL script, 496, 497 creating, 280, 281
SQL Server, 484, 485 Swallowing exceptions, 416
SQL statement, 494, 495 Swing, 334, 335, 532-535
enter and execute, 494, 495 inheritance hierarchy, 534, 535
sqrt method (Math class), 184, 185 threads, 602, 603
Stack trace, 160, 161, 220, 221, 412, 413 switch statement, 202, 206, 207
Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT), 532-535 SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit), 532-535
start method (Thread class), 466-473 synchronized keyword, 476, 477
startsWith method (String), 236, 237 Synchronous threads, 476, 477
State of an object, 100, 101 Syntax error, 46, 47, 148-151
Statements, 36, 37 common, 150, 151
static field, 116, 117 System.err object, 438
calling, 122, 123 System.in object, 70, 71, 438
coding, 114, 115 System.out object, 38, 39, 438
importing, 342, 343
when to use, 116
static import, 342, 343 T
static keyword, 114, 115
Table (database), 484, 485
static method, 66, 67, 116, 117
adding records, 500, 501
calling, 122, 123
deleting records, 500, 501
coding, 114, 115
querying (SQL), 498, 499
interface, 322, 323
relationships between, 486, 487
importing, 342, 343
updating records, 500, 501
when to use, 116
Table (JTable), 548, 549
Step through code (debugging), 158, 159
adding a scrollbar to, 556, 557
stop method (Thread class), 466- 469
creating, 554, 555
Storing classes in packages, 134-137
creating a model for, 548, 549
Stream, 438, 439
Terminated state (thread), 468, 469
buffered, 440, 441
Testing
layering, 440, 441
applications, 148, 149
String, 38, 39, 54, 55
exception handlers, 424, 425
appending, 54, 55, 234, 235
Text box, 574-577
comparing, 80, 81, 236, 237
Text field, 574-577
concatenating, 54, 55, 234, 235
Text file, 438, 439, 444-455
converting to number, 72, 73
delimited, 446, 447
escape sequences, 56, 57
reading, 450, 451
index, 238, 239
writing, 446, 447
joining, 54, 55, 234, 235
this keyword, 106, 107, 124, 125
modifying, 240, 241, 244, 245
Thread, 464- 473
padding, 246, 247
concurrency, 476, 477
parsing, 234, 235
creating, 470-475
special characters, 56, 57
life cycle, 468, 469
String class, 234, 235
putting to sleep, 471-475
String literal, 54, 55
synchronizing, 476, 477
String object, 54, 55
with Swing, 602, 603
StringBuffer class, 242, 243
Thread class (java.lang), 466, 467, 470-473
StringBuilder class, 242, 243
Thread scheduler, 464, 465, 468, 469
644 Thread states YES_OPTION (JOptionPane)

Thread states, 468, 469

Thread-safe, 476, 477
W
Three-tier architecture, 132, 133 Waiting state (thread), 468, 469
Throw an exception, 72, 73, 220, 221, 412, 413, 422, 423 WARNING_MESSAGE (JOptionPane), 558, 559
throw statement, 424, 425 WHERE clause (SELECT statement), 498, 499
Throwable class (java.lang), 410, 411, 418, 419 while loop, 82, 83, 212, 213
constructor, 424, 425, 428, 429 while statement, 82, 83, 212, 213
Throwable hierarchy, 410, 411 Widening conversion, 182, 183
throws clause, 422, 423 Widget, 532, 533
Times, 392, 393 top-level, 534, 535
comparing, 396, 397 Window (main), 536, 537
formatting, 402, 403 Window class (java.awt), 534, 535
toAbsolutePath method (Path), 435 withDayOfMonth method, 398, 399
toArray method (ArrayList), 368, 369 withDayOfYear method, 398, 399
toFile method (Path), 435 withHour method, 398, 399
Toolkit, 532, 533 withMinute method, 398, 399
Tooltip, 538, 539 withMonth method, 398, 399
Top-level widget, 534, 535 withYear method, 398, 399
toString method Workbench (Eclipse), 20, 21
BigDecimal class, 186, 187 Workbench (MySQL)
Object class, 278, 279 install on Mac, 628, 629
StringBuilder class, 244, 245 install on Windows, 614, 615
Throwable class, 418, 419 Workspace (Eclipse), 20, 21
Trace execution, 154, 155 Wrapper class, 72, 73, 362, 363, 370, 371
Transaction processing (MySQL), 490, 491 Writer hierarchy, 444, 445
TreeMap class (java.util), 360, 361 Writing text files, 446, 447
trim method (String), 240, 241
try block, 222, 223
try/catch statement, 222, 223, 414, 415 Y
try-with-resources statement, 416, 417
Two-dimensional array, 262, 263 YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION (JOptionPane), 560, 561
Type variable, 362, 363 YES_NO_OPTION (JOptionPane), 560, 561
Typed collection, 362, 363 YES_OPTION (JOptionPane), 562, 563
Type-safe enumerations, 340, 341

U
UIManager class, 536, 537
UML (Unified Modeling Language), 98, 99
Unary operator, 176, 177
Unchecked exception, 410, 411, 426, 427
Unicode character set, 168, 169
Unicode characters, 438, 439
Unified Modeling Language (UML), 98, 99
UPDATE statement (SQL), 500, 501, 514, 515
User thread, 470, 471

V
VALUES clause (SQL), 496, 497
Variable, 48, 49, 170, 171
array, 254, 255
initializing, 48, 49, 170, 171
numeric, 48, 49
string, 54-57
VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS, 556, 557
VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED, 556, 557
VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER, 556, 557
void keyword, 108, 109
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What software you need for this book
•• Java SE 8 (JDK 1.8) or later.
•• Eclipse IDE 4.4 or later.
•• MySQL 5.6 or later.
•• MySQL Workbench 6.3 or later.
•• You can download this software for free and install it as described in appendix A
(Windows) or appendix B (Mac OS X).

The downloadable files for this book

•• Complete source code for the applications presented in this book, so you can view
the source code and run the applications as you read each chapter.
•• Starting points for the exercises presented at the end of each chapter, so you can get
more practice in less time.
•• Solutions to the exercises, so you can check your work.

How to install the source code for this book

1. Go to murach.com.
2. Go to the page for Murach’s Beginning Java with Eclipse.
3. Follow the instructions there to download the zip file that contains the source code
for the applications and exercises for this book.
4. Unzip all files. This creates the java_eclipse folder that contains these subfolders:
book_apps, ex_starts, ex_solutions, and db.
5. If necessary, create the murach folder on your hard drive.
6. Copy the java_eclipse folder into the murach folder.
•• For more information, please see appendix A (Windows) or B (Mac OS X).

How to set up the database for this book

1. Install the source code for this book as described above.
2. Use MySQL Workbench to run the create_database.sql script that’s in the db folder.
This creates the database described in this book.
3. If a password hasn’t been assigned to the root user, which is common on new
installations of MySQL on Mac OS X, run the update_root_user.sql script that’s in
the db folder. This sets a password for the root user.
•• For more information, please see appendix A (Windows) or B (Mac OS X).

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