Hollow rectangle with 3 methods

Question

This is my code:

    int width;
    int height;

    put("Enter the width of the rectangle: ");
    width = input.nextInt();

    put("Enter the height of the rectangle: ");
    height = input.nextInt();

    rectangle( height, width );
}

public static void put(String text){
    System.out.print( text );
}

public static void put(String text, int Number){
    int plus;
    for ( plus = Number ; plus >=  1; plus-- ){
        System.out.print( text);
    }
}

public static void rectangle(int height, int width){
    int column;
    int row;

    for ( row = 1; row <= height; row++){
        put("*", width);
        put("\n");
    }
}

i want to create a hollow rectangle, and i have to modify only by the rectangle () method

******
*    *
*    *
******

It should be something like this ^

Any idea?

edit one

I find a way to add the first row and the last row with this code

public static void rectangle(int height, int width) {
    int column;
    int row;

    for (row = 1; row <= height; row++) {
        if (row == 1 || row == height) {
            put("*", width);
        }
        else {
            put(" ");
        }
        put("\n");
    }
}

I think that now I should control the width so I can print the two missed stars in the first and last column. I couldn't find the way to connect the rectangle method with second put method.

Any ideas please?

Answer 1

Try thinking of this in terms of rows and columns. In the first and last rows ( row = 1 or row = height ), you have a * in each column. In any other row, you have a * in the first and last column and a space in the rest of the columns.

As pointed out in the comments, it looks like you're putting * in each column unconditionally, but as described above you only want to do that for the first and last row.

Edit: If you want to include a blank line on even rows, here's a hint: the definition of an "even" number is "exactly divisible by 2" - think about how you could implement that in Java.