How can I create a program that stores a numerous amount of names/numbers in an array by clicking a button without the method resetting my counter?

Question

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
  int clicked = 0;
 if(arg == "Enter")
 {
     clicked++;
 }

 if (clicked == 0)
{
names[0] = nameField.getText();
numbers[0] = numberField.getText();
}

if( clicked == 1)
{
names[1] = nameField.getText();
numbers[1] = numberField.getText();
}

 if(arg == "Print")
 {
   String name = nameField.getText();
   String number = numberField.getText();
   JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,names[0] + numbers[0] + names[1] + numbers[1] + numbers[2] + names[2],"Info",JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
 }

My program must take multiple names and numbers and be able to enter them into an array. After all of the data is entered, it must be able to be printed. I am having trouble under the Enter method because it continues to reset everytime instead of remaining constant. It only allows me to print the last typed name/number instead of saving all of the content. I am unsure of how to fix this and would be grateful for any suggestions at this point.

Answer 1

You could start by moving int clicked out of this function.

Right now your actionPerformed function each time its called reset your clicked to 0 since you are setting it to 0 at the beggining of it.

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
    int clicked = 0;   //HERE is your problem
    if(arg == "Enter");
    ...

Making it a variable of class instead of function should help.

EDIT: You can do something like this:

int clicked = 0 
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
    if(arg == "Enter"){
         names[clicked] = nameField.getText();
         numbers[clicked] = numberField.getText();
         clicked++;
    }

As it was mentioned you could also use List , since it would save problems if you don't know how big of an array u need.

List<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
List<String> numbers = new ArrayList<String>();

And in use

    if(arg == "Enter"){
         names.add(nameField.getText());
         numbers.add(numberField.getText());
    }

Answer 2

Instead of an array, you could use an ArrayList , it will allow you to add elements without having to supply an index.

Without givening away too much, like this:

ArrayList<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
...
names.add("Johnny"); // Adds to the end of the list
names.add("Frank");

That way you don't need to keep the 'clicked' count.

You can use .get(i) to get the element at index i . Or just loop over the entire list using a for each loop:

for(String name : names) { // i.e. for each 'name' in 'names'
    System.out.println(name);
    // Or do something else with 'name'
}