Converting long distances/times in seconds to seperate parts in a String

[Mark Shrauve]

Hey

Ive had an assignment for a huge program and I conquered it all well but once again, I get caught on one of the simplest parts because we weren't really taught how to actually do this. So say you have a distance of 325 inches. I then would convert that to feet by dividing it by 12 and getting 27.083. I have no clue how to return that value as a String and tell the program that what's before the decimal is the feet (the 27) and whats after the decimal (the .08 which I have to also tell the program to round) are the inches. I also have to do this with time as well to do this with time so lets say the longest time is 60.3 seconds. I have no idea how to convert that to each seperate part as well as in 1 minute and .03 seconds.

Thanks alot I really do appreciate it

(I thought of using a String tokenizer or a split method but again, we were never taught that in my class so why would we use it? I know it has to be more simple)

[jiju ka]

 double distanceInch = 325;
 double  FEET = 12;
 double distanceFeet = distanceInch / FEET ;
 ..
  ..
//above is what you have
 //convert distanceFeet to String
 // new String(distanceFeet)
 //find index of . using String.indexof
 //use substring to get value before index and after

If needed String.length() can be used to find length and trim can be used to trim off white spaces.

There are other ways to accomplish the same.

[jiju ka]

Ideally you have to Formatter objects to do this. Since StringTokenizer is not in your study yet, Formatters will be more advanced to you.

[Mark Shrauve]

Originally posted by jiju ka:

 double distanceInch = 325;
 double  FEET = 12;
 double distanceFeet = distanceInch / FEET ;
 ..
  ..
//above is what you have
 //convert distanceFeet to String
 // new String(distanceFeet)
 //find index of . using String.indexof
 //use substring to get value before index and after

If needed String.length() can be used to find length and trim can be used to trim off white spaces.

There are other ways to accomplish the same.

Hey

I wasnt sure of how to exactly use the indexof method and the substring. Did I get anything right because I still am getting errors.

public String distanceConversion(){

double tempDist = getLongestDistance();
double total = 0;
double feet = 12;

double newTotal = (tempDist/feet);

String distanceFeet = (" " + newTotal);

String newStr = distanceFeet.indexOf(".");

String partBefore =  distanceFeet.substring(newStr);
String partAfter  = distanceFeet.substring(newStr);

String p = System.out.println(partBefore);

return p;

}
  

[Jaime M. Tovar]

I will do it like this:

first we have a 325 inches, we divide by 12 and get 27.0833333 we assign it to a value but only the 27 part. Then i will multiply the 27 * 12 and get 324, then we substract 325 - 324 and get 1, this is the inches part

double a = 325;
int f = (int) a / 12;
int in = (int) a - (f * 12);

[Campbell Ritchie]

Jim Tovar writes,

first we have a 325 inches, we divide by 12 and get 27.0833333 we assign it to a value but only the 27 part. Then i will multiply the 27 * 12 and get 324, then we substract 325 - 324 and get 1, this is the inches part

double a = 325;
int f = (int) a / 12;
int in = (int) a - (f * 12);

Your method will work, but it is quicker to declare the a variable as an int, then find the feet using a / 12 and the inches using a % 12.

Beware of repeated dividing and multiplying, otherwise one day you will get 0.0833333 * 12 = 0.9999996, which when cast to an int comes out as 0.

[Campbell Ritchie]

. . . and sorry for posting twice, but if you want a String you can use

 . . . = String.format("Your length is %dft %din", a / 12, a % 12); 

[jiju ka]

public static void main(String str[])
{
System.out.println(distanceConversion1());
System.out.println(distanceConversion2());
}

public static String distanceConversion1()
{
double distanceFeet = 325;//getLongestDistance();
int feet = 12;
double distanceInch = (distanceFeet / feet);

String parsableString = Double.toString(distanceInch);
int dot_index = parsableString.indexOf('.');


String partBefore = null;
if(dot_index == 0 )
{
partBefore = "0"; //or ""
}
else
{
partBefore = parsableString.substring(0, dot_index);
}

String partAfter = parsableString.substring(dot_index);

int inchPart = (int)(Float.parseFloat(partAfter) * feet);

return partBefore + " feets; " + inchPart + " inches";
}

public static String distanceConversion2()
{
double distanceFeet = 325;//getLongestDistance();
int feet = 12;
int totalFeet = (int)(distanceFeet / feet);
int totalInch = (int)(distanceFeet % feet);
return totalFeet + " feets; " + totalInch + " inches";
}

Two algorithms; second one is theoretically true(you need to do something else - [casting] to yield right answer). See which suites your purpose.

[Stan James]

Maybe ...

Distance d = new Distance(123);
System.out.print(d.toString());
 
class Distance
{
   private int feet = 0;
   private int inches = 0;
   private static final int INCHES_PER_FOOT = 12;
   public Distance( int inches )
   {
      this.feet = inches / INCHES_PER_FOOT;
      this.inches = inches % INCHES_PER_FOOT;
   }
   public String toString()
   {
      return feet + " feet and " + inches + inches;
   }
}

This could grow with more constructors for feet & inches, conversions to yards, miles, furlongs, whatever you need.

For grins, google "123 inches in feet". They don't break down the anwwer you want, tho.
[ November 01, 2005: Message edited by: Stan James ]