Intro to Java Error: cannot find symbol - Class ArrayList

Question

this is my first time taking a programming language. Why is BlueJ giving me an error for both ArrayList? I want to test my inputs so that if they are in the arraylist it will return true, otherwise it will return false? Step 2 of this will be using a for loop.

private boolean isValidProvince(String province)
   {

    ArrayList<String> provinceList;
    provinceList = new ArrayList<String>(10);
    provinceList.add("British Columbia");
    provinceList.add("Alberta");
    provinceList.add("Saskatchewan");
    provinceList.add("Manitoba");
    provinceList.add("Ontario");
    provinceList.add("Quebec");
    provinceList.add("Newfoundland");
    provinceList.add("Prince Edward Island");
    provinceList.add("Nova Scotia");
    provinceList.add("New Brunswick"); 

    if(province.equals(province)){
                return true;
    }else{
    return false;
    }
}

Probably your code is missing the required import statement. We can't say without a [mcve]. — GhostCat, Jun 19 '18 at 03:55
You'll need a line like `import java.util.ArrayList;` right at the top of your code. — Dawood ibn Kareem, Jun 19 '18 at 03:55
And comparing if province is equal to itself does not look correct btw... You want to use provinceList.contains() instead. — GhostCat, Jun 19 '18 at 03:56

Rcordoval · Answer 1 · 2018-06-19T04:35:14.860

In order to use Arrays, you have to import the library correctly (at the top of the source code, outside the class). Also if you want to compare if the province string is on the list, you could use contains method, like this:

TestA Class

import java.util.ArrayList; // <- import!

public class TestA {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(isValidProvince("Alberta"));
        System.out.println(isValidProvince("Asd"));
        System.out.println(isValidProvince("TEst"));
        System.out.println(isValidProvince("British Columbia"));
    }

    private static boolean isValidProvince(String province) {

        ArrayList<String> provinceList;
        provinceList = new ArrayList<String>(10);
        provinceList.add("British Columbia");
        provinceList.add("Alberta");
        provinceList.add("Saskatchewan");
        provinceList.add("Manitoba");
        provinceList.add("Ontario");
        provinceList.add("Quebec");
        provinceList.add("Newfoundland");
        provinceList.add("Prince Edward Island");
        provinceList.add("Nova Scotia");
        provinceList.add("New Brunswick");

        return provinceList.contains(province); //will return true if contains province, false otherwise (this way you avoid if block
    }

}

Output:

In order to use *ArrayList,* you need to import the *class* correctly. — user207421, Jun 19 '18 at 05:26

Intro to Java Error: cannot find symbol - Class ArrayList

1 Answers1

TestA Class

Output: