Thread: Need help with parameter passing in my project? (Beginner)

For my Computer Science class, I was instructed to use Parameter passing to edit a project I recently created. I was supposed to have no global variables other than the ones needed for file reading. Using local variables, I was able to run the program successfully but when I used parameter passing for certain Strings and an int, the following error always pops up and I cannot find out how to solve it:

error: method isVowel in class VowelsRUs cannot be applied to given types;
isVowel();
^
required: String,String,String,String,int
found: no arguments
reason: actual and formal argument lists differ in length

This is my actual code:

//let's first import the classes we need
import java.io.*;
import java.util.StringTokenizer;
import java.util.HashSet;
 
public class VowelsRUs
{
//method variables
private static FileInputStream inFile;
private static InputStreamReader inReader;
private static BufferedReader reader;
private static StringTokenizer strTkn;
 
//class to get file and read it from the .txt
public static void main (String args[]) throws IOException
{
 
 
initFile();
isVowel();
inFile.close();
 
}
 
public static void initFile() throws IOException
{
//data-file input
inFile = new FileInputStream ("b:\\School\\!!AP Computer Science\\!!VHSAPCSDATA\\vowels.txt");
inReader = new InputStreamReader (inFile);
reader = new BufferedReader (inReader);
}
 
public static boolean isVowel(String suffixR, String wordR, String wordPlural, String wordSuffix, int leftmostIndex) throws IOException //Beggining of a gigantic method, this is where I can declare most of my local variables
{
 
String line, suffix, firstLetter, lastLetter, testLetter, vowelSeries, consonantSeries;
String word;
HashSet vowels = null;
 
//line can't be null for the while loop to work
line = "start";
 
while (line != null) {
 
//data file -> strings
line = reader.readLine(); //instructs it to read each line
 
if (line == null) {
break;
}
 
 
 
strTkn = new StringTokenizer(line);
 
word = strTkn.nextToken();
suffix = strTkn.nextToken();
 
 
 
//adding vowels for comparison later
vowels = new HashSet();
vowels.add("A");
vowels.add("C");
vowels.add("S");
vowels.add("L");
 
 
 
//setting output variables
wordPlural = word;
wordSuffix = word;
 
 
 
//reverse word for testing of the rules
for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++) {
wordR = word.substring(i, i+1) + wordR;
}
 
//reverse suffix for testing of the rules
for (int i = 0; i < suffix.length(); i++) {
suffixR = suffix.substring(i, i+1) + suffixR;
}
 
 
//Rule if wordR ends in a consonant
if (vowels.contains(wordR.substring(0,1)) == false) {
 
 
//Rule if wordR ends in more than one consonant
if (vowels.contains(wordR.substring(1,2)) == false) {
 
 
//Double the last letter, then add ‘H’
lastLetter = wordR.substring(0,1);
wordPlural = wordR.concat(lastLetter);
wordPlural = wordR.concat("H");
System.out.print("plural: " + wordR);
 
//Rule if suffix ends in a consonant
if (vowels.contains(suffixR.substring(1,2)) == false) {
//drop the leftmost letter of the final sequence of either vowels or consonants, then add the suffix
 
vowelSeries = word.substring(word.length()-leftmostIndex, word.length());
vowelSeries = vowelSeries.substring(1, vowelSeries.length());
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.substring(0, leftmostIndex);
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.concat(vowelSeries);
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.concat(suffix);
System.out.println("Suffix: " + wordSuffix);
 
//Rule if suffix ends in vowel
}else{
//add the first letter of the suffix, then add the suffix
firstLetter = suffix.substring(0,1);
wordSuffix = suffix.concat(firstLetter).concat(word);
System.out.println("Suffix: " + wordSuffix);
}
 
 
//Rule if wordR ends in 1 consonant
}else{
 
 
//original string
System.out.println("Original String: " + line);
//add “GH”
wordPlural = word.concat("GH");
System.out.println("Plural: " + wordPlural);
//add the suffix
wordSuffix = word.concat(suffix);
System.out.println("Suffix: " + wordSuffix);
}
 
//Rule if wordR ends in a vowel
}else{
 
//Rule if wordR ends in more than 1 vowel
if (vowels.contains(wordR.substring(1,2)) == true) {
 
 
 
//Index of leftmost of vowel series
for (int i = 0; i < wordR.length(); i++) {
if (vowels.contains(wordR.substring(i, i+1))) {
leftmostIndex++;
}else{
break;
}
}
 
 
//original String
System.out.println("Original String: " + line);
 
//double the last letter, then add ‘H’
lastLetter = wordR.substring(0,1);
wordPlural = word;
wordPlural = wordPlural.concat(lastLetter);
wordPlural = wordPlural.concat("H");
System.out.println("Plural: " + wordPlural);
 
//Rule if suffix ends in consonant
if (vowels.contains(suffixR.substring(1,2)) == false) {
//drop the leftmost letter of the final sequence of either vowels or consonants, then add the suffix
vowelSeries = word.substring(word.length()-leftmostIndex, word.length());
vowelSeries = vowelSeries.substring(1, vowelSeries.length());
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.substring(0, leftmostIndex);
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.concat(vowelSeries);
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.concat(suffix);
System.out.println("Suffix: " + wordSuffix);
//Rule if suffix ends in vowel
}else{
//add the first letter of the suffix, then add the suffix
firstLetter = suffix.substring(0,1);
wordSuffix = suffix.concat(firstLetter).concat(word);
System.out.println("Suffix: " + wordSuffix);
}
 
}else{
 
 
 
System.out.println("Original String: " + line);
 
//drop the final vowel and add ‘G’
wordPlural = word.substring(0, word.length()-1);
wordPlural = wordPlural.concat("G");
System.out.println("Plural: " + wordPlural);
 
//Rule if suffix ends in consonant
if (vowels.contains(suffixR.substring(1,2)) == false) {
//add the first letter of the suffix and then add the suffix
firstLetter = suffix.substring(0,1);
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.concat(firstLetter);
wordSuffix = wordSuffix.concat(suffix);
System.out.println("Suffix: " + wordSuffix);
 
//Rule if suffix ends in vowel
}else{
//drop the first letter of the suffix and add the rest of the suffix
suffix = suffix.substring(1, suffix.length());
wordSuffix = word;
wordSuffix = word.concat(suffix);
System.out.println("Suffix: " + wordSuffix);
 
}
}
} //line
 
    } //End of loop
     } //End of Method "doStuff()"
                          } //end of class "VowelsRUs" (Finally)

I am a new member to this forums, and I am also a beginner at Java so be nice! Can anyone help me solve this problem? I've been working on this project for hours. Thanks in advance!

Should I format it like this:
isVowel(String someVariable, String someVariable, String someVariable, String someVariable, int someInteger);

or like this:

isVowel(someVariable, someVariable..., someInteger);
Thanks for your help. Could you just show me the correct way to do it?

I am still a little confused about where to place it. Should I place it underneath the method isVowel? And you said to enclose it in brackets, do you mean like this?

public static void isVowel(String suffixR, String wordR, String wordPlural, String wordSuffix, int leftmostIndex) throws IOException

{
isVowel(String suffixR, String wordR, String wordPlural, String wordSuffix, int leftmostIndex);
}

Because right now when I place it like this, it gives me an error, could you use the program block I provided you and show me where to place it?

you must have to pass the argument in your method. for example ..

isVowel("suffixR","wordR","wordPlural","wordSuffix ",5);