Thread: Need help my values wont return

hi guys just joined the site im new to programming taking a course in uni started this year and had no previous programming knowledge before i started

import javax.swing.*;
class Project
{
	public static void main (String [] args)
	{
		String Title [] = new String [5]; //  array 1
		int Length [] = new int [5]; // array 2
		String Artist [] = new String [5]; // array 3
 
		Menu(Title, Length, Artist);
	}
 
	public static void Menu(String Title [],int Length [] , String Artist [])
	{
		//menu given, user can choose from options, has been converted into int for the next part
		int Menu = Integer.parseInt(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("\t" + "\t" +"Menu" + "\n" + "If you would like to enter more collections please enter: 1" +
															     "\n" + "If you would like to search for a specific song please enter: 2" + "\n" +
																  "If you would like to print the whole collection please enter: 3" + "\n" +
																   "If you would like to terminate the program enter: 4"));
 
		//if else statments will tell the program what to do with the information entered by the user.
 
		if (Menu == 1)
		{
			Input(Title, Length, Artist);
		}
		else if (Menu == 2)
		{
			Search(Title, Length, Artist);
		}
		else if (Menu == 3)
		{
			Print(Title, Length, Artist);
		}
		else if (Menu == 4)
		{
			final int Quit = 4;
		}
		else if ((Menu < 1) || (Menu > 4))
		{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Invalid entry please click OK to choose again");
		}
 
	}
 
	// method to input information
 
	public static void Input(String Title [], int Length [] , String Artist [])
	{
		// this loop here fills my arrays
		for (int count = 0; count < 5; count++)
		{
			String title = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter Title of the Song");// this will fill array 1
			return Title[count] = title;
 
			int length = Integer.parseInt(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter Length of the song in Seconds"));// this will fill array 2
			return Length[count] = length;
 
			String artist = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter the name of the Artist");// this will fill array 3
			return Artist[count] = artist;
		}
 
 
 
		Menu(Title, Length, Artist);
	}
 
	// method to search
 
	public static void Search(String Title [], int Length [] , String Artist [])
	{
		int Find = Integer.parseInt(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please Enter the Array you would like to access"));
 
		if (Find == 0)
 		{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, Title[0] + " " + Length[0] + " " + Artist[0]);
		}
		else if (Find == 1)
		{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, Title[1] + " " + Length[1] + " " + Artist[1]);
		}
		else if (Find == 2)
		{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, Title[2] + " " + Length[2] + " " + Artist[2]);
		}
		else if (Find == 3)
		{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, Title[3] + " " + Length[3] + " " + Artist[3]);
		}
		else if (Find == 4)
		{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, Title[4] + " " + Length[4] + " " + Artist[4]);
		}
 
		Menu(Title, Length, Artist);
 
	}
 
	//method to print the whole colloction available
 
	public static void Print(String Title [], int Length [] , String Artist [])
	{
		// print out entire array (collections)
		JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "1 " + Title[0] + " " + Length[0] + " " + Artist[0] + "\n" +
											 "2 " + Title[1] + " " + Length[1] + " " + Artist[1] + "\n" +
						  					  "3 " + Title[2] + " " + Length[2] + " " + Artist[2] + "\n" +
									   	       "4 " + Title[3] + " " + Length[3] + " " + Artist[3] + "\n" +
						       					"5 " + Title[4] + " " + Length[4] + " " + Artist[4] + "\n");
		Menu(Title, Length, Artist);
	}
 
	//method to quit
 
	public static void Quit()
	{
		System.exit(0);
	}
}

this is my error

you have a method named Input, which has a return type 'void' means that this method doesnt return anything so it should not have a return statement inside of it


you might have a look at this
Returning a Value from a Method (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Classes and Objects)

thanks for the reply
I realised that before and changed public static void to public static int however it wouldn't let the strings pass and gave me an error saying incompatible data types and referred to the Title and the Artist

been stuck on this for over a day and i just cant get my head around it

Firstly, make the three arrays global. They are only visible inside the main method. After that, just remove the three 'return' statements in the input method but leave the Title[count] = title; part in place - as Norm suggested.

sorry if this sounds dumb how do i make the arrays global

The OP PM'ed me with a question on global variables. I am posting my response here for the greater good

Originally Posted by sajeed

thanks for you post but im new to programming how do i make the array global

Oh that's cool. You should read up on variable scope and visibility.

Basically, when you define a variable - be it a primitive data type (int, double, String, etc), an object or an array the variable is only visible to the 'block' it is in. For example, consider this simple if statement.

if (true) {
    int myInteger = 3;
}
System.out.println(myInteger);

This code will not compile, there is a syntax error. It will complain that it cannot find myInteger when it tries to println. This is because myInteger falls out of scope and is not visible outside of the if statement. The correct way to do this is:

int myInteger = 0;
if (true) {
    myInteger = 3;
}
System.out.println(myInteger);

This will compile. Do you see the difference? Instead of defining the variable inside the if statement, I instantiated it before hand. This makes the variable visible to the if statement and the println after it.

Making a variable global is the same idea. This time, we create the variable in the class, not in a method. Like so.

public class MyClass {
 
     public int myGlobalInteger = 0;
 
     public void foo() {
            int myLocalInteger = 3;
            myGlobalInteger = 3;
     }
 
    public void bar() {
            System.out.println(myLocalInteger);  
            System.out.println(myGlobalInteger);      
    }
}

In this example, the first println will not compile. myLocalInteger is not visible to the method bar(). The second println will compile because myGlobalInteger is visible to the entire class.

I hope this helps.