How to name and access an array which its name is not specified?

[sahar sa]

Dear friends,
I face with a complex case which makes me confused,it's about how to name and access an array which its name is not exactly specified!! let me explain.
I have to build several array which their name are not axactly specified and is depends on the time which "for" block will be executed. e.g.:

for(int i=0;i<j;i++)
{
 Object[] "BookBuyerAgent"+i= new Object[State,uT,uT1,uT2];
}

here, BookBuyerAgent+i is suppose to be my array name. Then, I will have number of arrays called as: BookBuyerAgent0, BookBuyerAgent1, BookBuyerAgent2,...

now I need to have access to those arrays in another block, but I dont know even how can I make it???: what I need is some thing like this:

for(int i=0;i<j;i++)
{
 Object[] "BookBuyerAgent"+i= new Object[State,uT,uT1,uT2];
 state = "BookBuyerAgent"+i[0].toString();
 uT= (Double)"BookBuyerAgent"+i[1];
}

but it doesnt work.

any idea please??

Thank you so much,
Sahar.

[avi sinha]

you can't use a runtime value for a variable name.

what i can suggest is create a map and put a String , array pair in it. you can generate the string value at runtime.

sample code can be

  
import java.util.*;

public class RuntimeArray{

public static void main(String args[]){
HashMap h1=new HashMap();
ArrayList a1;                               // arrayList will reduce the overhead otherwise you can use array too
for(int i=0;i<100;i++)
{
	String name = "BookBuyerAgent"+i;
              a1=new ArrayList();   
            // anything you want to put inside
              a1.add(4);
              //.
             //.

              h1.put(name,a1);
}

}

}
  

you can access the ArrayList using name key.
avi sinha

[Alexey Saenko]

Hi Sahar,

Of course, this snippet won't work, because any using of quoter in the code says to jvm create a new String object or get a String object from the pool. And, also, it is not possible to name variables and methods in runtime (for this you should read more about java reflections).

In java all two- dimensional arrays are not tables like in other programming languages. They are arrays of arrays. Therefore, you can make what you want by creating an array of arrays in the following way:

Object[][] bookBuyerAgent;

and then use it like:

for(Object[] objArray : bookBuyerAgent)  {  
  objArray = new Object[State,uT,uT1,uT2];  
  state = objArray[0].toString();  
  uT= (Double) objArray[1];  
}  

and so on.

[Alexey Saenko]

And just a little addition,

avi sinha wrote:

  
HashMap h1=new HashMap();
ArrayList a1;                               // arrayList will reduce the overhead otherwise you can use array too

you can access the ArrayList using name key.

Yes, it is right, but don't forget to use generics in map and list declarations. Also, it is recommended to use only interfaces for types:

Map h1=new HashMap();
List a1;

[avi sinha]

ya its correct and of course a better way to implement collection classes along with generics but in my opinion for a newbie at first they should have
some experience of using Collection classes(without generics).

and generics should be used, when they can understand why it is being used and when they can distinguish its effects.


avi sinha

[sahar sa]

Woow! Dear avi sinha and Alexey Saenko Thank you so much for your very complete and usefull advise!!
I love this forum!!

Sahar.

[avi sinha]

sahar sa wrote:Woow! Dear avi sinha and Alexey Saenko Thank you so much for your very complete and usefull advise!!
I love this forum!!

Sahar.

we too.

avi sinha