Issue with reading from a file in java

Question

I'm trying to read through a file and create some objects/print information in a different format.

I've got most of it correct, but for some reason when it loops through I get "String index out of range: 0" every time it finishes one if statement (It will print the first object before it happens).

I've done some research on the issue, and I think it's happening because of the next line looking for a char at position 0 again (ID.charAt(0)). However, I have another program I've done this way and it works perfectly. Is there any chance y'all could take a look at it and show me where I might have messed up?

Thank you for any help. I have asked several questions here before and you never fail to help me learn!

Code

import java.io.File;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class PayrollSystemTest2 {

    /**
     * @param args
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        Scanner input;
        input =  new Scanner(new File("EmployeePayrollInfo.txt"));
        Employee[] Emp = new Employee[20];

        while(input.hasNext())
        {
            String ID = input.nextLine();

            if (ID.charAt(0) == 'S')
            {
                String first = input.nextLine();
                String last = input.nextLine();
                String ssn = input.nextLine();
                Date DayOfBirth = new Date(input.nextInt(),input.nextInt(),input.nextInt());
                double salary = input.nextDouble();
                Emp[0] = new SalariedEmployee(first, last, ssn, DayOfBirth, ID, salary);
                System.out.println(Emp[0].toString());
            }
            else if (ID.charAt(0) == 'H')
            {
                String first = input.nextLine();
                String last = input.nextLine();
                String ssn = input.nextLine();
                Date DayOfBirth = new Date(input.nextInt(),input.nextInt(),input.nextInt());
                double hourlyWage = input.nextDouble();
                double hoursWorked = input.nextDouble();
                Emp[1] = new HourlyEmployee(first,last,ssn,DayOfBirth,ID,hourlyWage,hoursWorked);
                System.out.println(Emp[1].toString());
            }
            else if (ID.charAt(0) == 'C')
            {
                String first = input.nextLine();
                String last = input.nextLine();
                String ssn = input.nextLine();
                Date DayOfBirth = new Date(input.nextInt(),input.nextInt(),input.nextInt());
                Double sales = input.nextDouble();
                Double rate = input.nextDouble();
                Emp[2] = new CommissionEmployee(first,last,ssn,DayOfBirth,ID,sales,rate);
                System.out.println(Emp[2].toString());
            }
            else if (ID.charAt(0) == 'B')
            {
                String first = input.nextLine();
                String last = input.nextLine();
                String ssn = input.nextLine();
                Date DayOfBirth = new Date(input.nextInt(),input.nextInt(),input.nextInt());
                Double sales = input.nextDouble();
                Double rate = input.nextDouble();
                Double salary = input.nextDouble();
                Emp[3] = new BasePlusCommissionEmployee(first,last,ssn,DayOfBirth,ID,sales,rate,salary);
                System.out.println(Emp[3].toString());
            }
            else if (ID.charAt(0) == 'P')
            {
                String first = input.nextLine();
                String last = input.nextLine();
                String ssn = input.nextLine();
                Date DayOfBirth = new Date(input.nextInt(),input.nextInt(),input.nextInt());
                Double Wage = input.nextDouble();
                Double Pieces = input.nextDouble();
                Emp[4] = new PieceWorker(first,last,ssn,DayOfBirth,ID,Wage,Pieces);
                System.out.println(Emp[4].toString());
            }

        }
        input.close();


    }
}

File I'm trying to read from

S100
Sully
Ross
111-11-1111
8 15 1979
900.00
H205
Joe
Aggie
222-22-2222
3 6 1993
15.25
40
C102
Rev
Elee
333-33-3333
11 22 1985
20000
.065
B115
Johnny
Football
444-44-4444
06 28 1965
12000
.05
400
P206
Miss
Bizbee
555-55-5555
11 06 1977
1.25
1000
X

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 20 '13 at 04:37

3

This applies to all you blocks, but basically when you do...

double salary = input.nextDouble();

It is leaving the new line character in the scanner, so when you do the next String ID = input.nextLine();, it is reading the remainder of the line, which is basically blank...

Try adding input.nextLine(); at the end of each section, for example...

double salary = input.nextDouble();
input.nextLine();

Also, your DayOfBirth is wrong. Apart from being deprecated, the Date constructor expects the values in year, month, day order ;)

answered Nov 20 '13 at 04:37

MadProgrammer

343,457
22
230
366

Thank you so much! That makes a lot more sense now and everything works perfectly. I was unaware that nextDouble() stayed on the same line. Thanks again! – user2774647 Nov 20 '13 at 04:41
@user2774647 You date's of births are wrong, watch out for those. The input seems to be month, day, year – MadProgrammer Nov 20 '13 at 04:42
Yeah, I actually created my own Date class for this which is in Month, Day, Year order so it actually outputs correctly on my end. Sorry for not mentioning that! – user2774647 Nov 20 '13 at 04:52
1

So long as it doesn't suddenly freak you out ;) – MadProgrammer Nov 20 '13 at 04:53

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 20 '13 at 04:34

0

It is possible that the first line of your input has no content, other than just being a blank line (a new line character). Try to print out the ID variable BEFORE the first if statement, and see what you end up with.

answered Nov 20 '13 at 04:34

Sherz

568
2
14

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 20 '13 at 10:38

0

My reason is similar to MadProgrammer reason but instead of adding input.nextLine(); at the end of each section we can add

if(input.hasNext()){
input.nextLine(); 
}

at the end of while loop only once.

answered Nov 20 '13 at 10:38

Prashant Kumar

69
3

Issue with reading from a file in java

3 Answers3