Returning searched results in an array in Java without ArrayList
- by Crystal
I started down this path of implementing a simple search in an array for a hw assignment without knowing we could use ArrayList. I realized it had some bugs in it and figured I'd still try to know what my bug is before using ArrayList. I basically have a class where I can add, remove, or search from an array.
public class AcmeLoanManager
{
public void addLoan(Loan h)
{
int loanId = h.getLoanId();
loanArray[loanId - 1] = h;
}
public Loan[] getAllLoans()
{
return loanArray;
}
public Loan[] findLoans(Person p)
{
//Loan[] searchedLoanArray = new Loan[10]; // create new array to hold searched values
searchedLoanArray = this.getAllLoans(); // fill new array with all values
// Looks through only valid array values, and if Person p does not match using Person.equals()
// sets that value to null.
for (int i = 0; i < searchedLoanArray.length; i++) {
if (searchedLoanArray[i] != null) {
if (!(searchedLoanArray[i].getClient().equals(p))) {
searchedLoanArray[i] = null;
}
}
}
return searchedLoanArray;
}
public void removeLoan(int loanId)
{
loanArray[loanId - 1] = null;
}
private Loan[] loanArray = new Loan[10];
private Loan[] searchedLoanArray = new Loan[10]; // separate array to hold values returned from search
}
When testing this, I thought it worked, but I think I am overwriting my member variable after I do a search. I initially thought that I could create a new Loan[] in the method and return that, but that didn't seem to work. Then I thought I could have two arrays. One that would not change, and the other just for the searched values. But I think I am not understanding something, like shallow vs deep copying???....
