Java: Arrays/methods: Cannot find symbol

Question

TERADENWOORDEN is the array with [0][0] = book and [0][1] = lord of the rings

CATEGORIES = amount of categories

geefNamenCat is a method that returns an input.readString() to gekozenCat

am I doing something wrong here?

public void catKiezen() {
   boolean bevatGekozen = false;
   String gekozenCat
    do {
        gekozenCat = geefNamenCat();
        for (String[] TeradenwoordenLijst : Arrays.asList(TERADENWOORDEN))
            if (Arrays.asList(TeradenwoordenLijst).contains(gekozenCat)) {
                bevatGekozen = true;
                break;
            }
        if (! bevatGekozen) {
            System.out.println("De opgegeven categorie is ongeldig.");
        }
    } while (! bevatGekozen);
   String woordVanCat = woordBepalen (gekozenCat);
}

public String woordBepalen(String teBepalenWoordVanCat) {
    for (int p = 0; p < CATEGORIES; p++)
       if (TERADENWOORDEN[p][0].equals(teBepalenWoordVanCat))
       return TERADENWOORDEN[p][1];
}

in the end i get an error cannot find symbol for the line String woordVanCat = woordBepalen (gekozenCat);

update:

I am now getting a 'missing return statement'

public String woordBepalen(String teBepalenWoordVanCat) {
    for (int p = 0; p < CATEGORIES; p++) {
        if (TERADENWOORDEN[p][0].equals(teBepalenWoordVanCat)) {
        return TERADENWOORDEN[p][1];
        }
    }
}

PermGenError · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-05 17:54:28Z

5

you have declared String gekozenCat = geefNamenCat(); inside your do-while and trying to access it outside the loop.gekozenCat is only confined with-in your do-while. declared it outside do-while if you want to access it outside your do-while.

answered Jan 5, 2013 at 17:54

PermGenError

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4 Comments

SJuan76 Over a year ago

Why don't you try to compile it?

Jente Over a year ago

Alright so that did indeed do the trick, I feel dumb now. Anyway it gave me a new error. Missing return statement. I guess this is because the return is inside the loop too? I have updated the original post

PermGenError Over a year ago

@Jente absolutely, check gefei answer. he mentioned it in his answer :)

Jente Over a year ago

Thanks a lot everyone. Was superfast too! :)

gefei · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-05 18:14:24Z

2

as far as I can see your method woordBepalen does not compile, because the compiler is not sure that it has a well-defined value to return

public String woordBepalen(String teBepalenWoordVanCat) {
    for (int p = 0; p < CATEGORIES; p++)
       if (TERADENWOORDEN[p][0].equals(teBepalenWoordVanCat))
       return TERADENWOORDEN[p][1];
}

EDIT

You'll have to define what do return in case for no p TERADENWOORDEN[p][0].equals(teBepalenWoordVanCat) holds. Like this:

 public String woordBepalen(String teBepalenWoordVanCat) {
        for (int p = 0; p < CATEGORIES; p++) {
           if (TERADENWOORDEN[p][0].equals(teBepalenWoordVanCat))
             return TERADENWOORDEN[p][1];
        }
        return null;
 }

It's up to you to decide if returning null is the right thing to do. Another possibility is throwing an exception

edited Jan 5, 2013 at 18:14

answered Jan 5, 2013 at 17:55

gefei

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2 Comments

Jente Over a year ago

Sjuan76 predicting the future. Some simple fix for this too then I guess?

Jente Over a year ago

Awesome! Thank you very much guys. I would upvote if I could but i need 4 more rep ;p

SJuan76 · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-05 17:56:05Z

1

The scope of gekozenCat is inside the do..while block. Outside that block, you have not defined it so that causes the error.

In general, if you have a block { }, variables defined inside that block will only be available inside that block (and after they have been defined).

answered Jan 5, 2013 at 17:56

SJuan76

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