Java programming problem

[whatsername]

If anyone is willing....I need some help with a homework assignment.

We are writing a program that creates a simple personal calender/schedule.

We have three classes:
Schedule()
BusyTime(ElapsedTime start, ElapsedTime duration)
ElapsedTime (int days, int hours, int minutes)

I have a pretty good idea where I am going once I get into it, but I am stuck on the toString of my 2D array in Schedule(). I can't find any example of how to do this as in my book all of the 2D arrays are printed out in the main method using System.out.println. In the output below, you can see that I've managed only to print the actual labels and have not even got them quite right. At this point I just want it to print out X's (null) for each time slot in the schedule.



public class Schedule {


//private int i= 0;
//private int j = 0;


public Schedule()
{
BusyTime [][] table = new BusyTime<28><24>;

for (int i = 0; i < 24; i ++)
for (int j = 0; j < 28 ; j ++);

}




public BusyTime firstFitInsert (BusyTime b)
{
return b;

}




public String hours()
{
int hours = 0;
String hourLabels = null;

if (hours <= 13)
hours ++;
hourLabels = hours + ":00 \n";
return hourLabels;



}




public String toString()
{

String dayLabels = " S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S S M T W T F S\n12:00";
System.out.println(dayLabels);

int hours = 0;
String hourLabels = null;

while (hours < 12)
{ hours ++;
hourLabels = " " + hours + ":00";
System.out.println (hourLabels);
}





return null;




}
}

OUTPUT:
S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S S M T W T F S
12:00
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00

[aePrime]

1. Here's an example.

Well, I don't have your BusyTime or ElapsedTime classes, but here's an example of printing out a 2D array. It's just nested loops. I used Java 5's new format option to make it pretty.

Your toString function shouldn't actually print anything out at all when it's done -- just return a string.

Of course, if I were really doing this, I'd probably just use Java's date classes.

public class Schedule
{
  private final int HOURS_IN_DAY = 24;
  private int daysInMonth;
  private char[][] myArray;

  public Schedule(int daysInMonth)
  {
    this.daysInMonth = daysInMonth;

    myArray = new char;
    for (int day = 0; day < daysInMonth; ++day) {
      for (int hour = 0; hour < HOURS_IN_DAY; ++hour) {
        myArray = 'X';
      }
    }
  }

  public String toString()
  {
    // This is quite clearly a hack to get the days of the week to line up with
    // the printed schedule. If I had taken more time, these numbers wouldn't
    // be hard-coded, but who wants to format a format string? Ick.
    String retString = "         ";

    // This function makes use of Java 5's format option. Yay!

    for (int i = 0; i < daysInMonth; ++i) {
      retString += String.format("%2c", translateNumberToWeekday(i));
    }

    for (int hour = 0; hour < HOURS_IN_DAY; ++hour) {
      retString += String.format("\n%8s ", translate24to12(hour));
      for (int day = 0; day < daysInMonth; ++day) {
        retString += String.format("%2c", myArray);
      }
    }

    return retString;
  }

  private String translate24to12(int hour)
  {
    if (hour == 0)
      return "Midnight";
    if (hour == 12)
      return "Noon";

    if (hour > 12)
      return (hour - 12) + ":00 PM";
    else
      return hour + ":00 AM";
  }

  private char translateNumberToWeekday(int day)
  {
    final int val = day % 7;
    switch (val) {
      case 0:
        return 'S';
      case 1:
        return 'M';
      case 2:
        return 'T';
      case 3:
        return 'W';
      case 4:
        return 'R';
      case 5:
        return 'F';
      case 6:
        return 'A';
    }

    // If we get an X, something is very wrong.
    return 'X';
  }
}

[whatsername]

2. Hey Thanks!

I wish I had checked back sooner. This assignment was past due and I turned it in incomplete. Some of the stuff you show me is too advanced for this beginner course. But I really appreciate the reply. I start up again in January with the next Java class, though, so I plan on finishing this assignment just so I know that I know what I'm doing.
I ended up with a 2D array of null BusyTime objects that printed out as follows:

SMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMT......
------------------
------------------

BusyTime@djlkf664
BusyTime@fjdi6sld



and so on for the month. Obviously my toString() wasn't returning what is should. Just pointing.

I really love doing this and I had a solid 'A' until this last assignment and the final. I'll still pass but it hurts me alot (mentally and academically)! Just the holiday season and being so pressed for time.

Thanks again, I'm sure I'll be back next semester asking for more help!
-L