Convert byte to string

[Lawrence Keeney]

I have been working on this problem all day and just can't seem to get it to work.

I have a program where I am inputing a character through an FTP connection. The character is located in the byte in[0]. I am trying to convert in[0] to a string using toString().

I have been able to get it to work using the String.valueOf, but the resulting string contains the ASCII representation of the character.

I have tried all combinations of converting the in[0] to a string variable z and can not get any of them to compile. Is there a simple way to do this?

[Lawrence Keeney]

I got this to work by using the following code;

The byte (in[]) is the character rectived.

[code}
y = (new String(in));
[/code]

I thought I would have to do it using toString().

[Wayne L Johnson]

You can use the "new String(byte[])" constructor:

public class TestChar {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      byte[] rawData = { 72, 101, 108, 108, 111 };
      String strData = new String(rawData);
      System.out.println("Str: " + strData);
   }
}

[Lawrence Keeney]

Wayne,

Thanks for your quick response.

I guess that is what I essentially did with my code.

I still don't understand why toString() did not work.

[Jon Poulton]

The toString() method gives you a String representation of the object you call it on and the resultant String <i>should not be used programmatically</i>. What use is it? Use toString() for debugging.

toString() methods do not just "convert things into Strings", which is a common misconception. Also, you cannot call methods on primitives, only objects. If you were using an array of byte primitives, and tried to call toString() I dont think it would compile..

[Jon Poulton]

Oh yeah, There are some exceptions to the rule (as usual). You can use toString if you're doing something like:

Integer i = new Integer(5);
String five = i.toString();
// five.equals("5")

But be careful, this doesnt work for most object types. Try not to use toString() to do things in your programs other than debug.

[Lawrence Keeney]

Jon,

Thanks for the reply.

Most of the code I wrote using toString() did not compile, and when they did compile they did not work.

I am having a real hard time learning Java. I have written some quite complex programs in both Pascal and "C", but I seem to have a mental block when it comes to Java.

[Jon Poulton]

Dont worry about it. I came from C and had the same problem. It takes time to get used to thinking in terms of Objects, Classes, Interfaces etc.

My advice is to go and do as many of the SUN tutorials (trails) as you can (starting with the Learning the Language trail) and also download Bruce Eckels "Thinking in Java" which is both free, and a decent book on OO and Java as a language.

Good luck

Jon

[Lawrence Keeney]

Jon,

Thanks for the tips.

The Sun site looks so intimidating to me. I'll have to go back and take a look again.

[Jon Poulton]

Sun Java tutorials:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html

Bruce Eckels TIJ:
http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/

If you get stuck just post on a forum!
Jon