Thread: Switch Case Problem help

Hi I'm fairly new to java, so please don't laugh at me for posting a stupid question.

As you can see on the code, I have created an Employee class, the constructors are set okay, and the print method is working fine. (disregard the calculate salary method)

So I'm having a problem in the getPosition() method where I'm having troubles in displaying the contents of a switch case statement when I enter a char

this is what the code looks like.

class Employee{
 
	String name;
	long empNo;
	int deptNo;
	char empPosition;
	int yearsOfExp;
	float salary;
 
	Employee(){				//default constructor
		name = "";
		empNo = 0;
		deptNo = 0;
		empPosition = 'E';
		yearsOfExp = 0;
		salary = 0;	
	}
 
	Employee(String n, long e, int d){
		name = n;
		empNo = e;
		deptNo = d;
		empPosition = 'E';
		yearsOfExp = 0;
		salary = 0;
	}
 
	Employee(String n, long e, int d, char em, int y){
		name = n;
		empNo = e;
		deptNo = d;
		empPosition = em;
		yearsOfExp = y;
		salary = 0;	
	}
 
	public char getPosition(char em){
 
		switch(em){
		case 'E':
			System.out.print("Entry");
			break;
		case 'M':
			System.out.print("Manager");
			break;
		case 'D':
			System.out.print("Dirctor");
			break;
		case 'P':
			System.out.print("Project Leader");
			break;
		default:
			System.out.print("N/A");
			//return em;
		}
 
	return em;
 
 
	}
	public void calculateSalary(){
 
	}
	public void print(){
		System.out.println("Employee Name: " + name);
		System.out.println("Employee Number: " + empNo);
		System.out.println("Department Number: " + deptNo);
		System.out.println("Position: " + empPosition);
		System.out.println("Years of Experience: " + yearsOfExp);
		System.out.println("Salary: " + salary);
		System.out.println();
	}
}
 
class EmployeeList{
	public static void main(String[] args) {
 
		Employee e1 = new Employee("John Doe",515542,10, 'M',2);
		Employee e2 = new Employee("a",515542,10, 'M',2);
		Employee e3 = new Employee("a",515542,10, 'M',2);
		Employee e4 = new Employee("a",515542,10, 'M',2);
		Employee e5 = new Employee("a",515542,10, 'M',2);
		e1.print();
		e2.print();
		e3.print();
		e4.print();
		e5.print();
	}
}

So when I try to run the program it should look like this

Employee Name: John Doe
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0

The "Position: M" must be "Position: Manager"

How do I make that happen?

This is the program output:


Employee Name: John Doe
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0

Employee Name: a
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0

Employee Name: a
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0

Employee Name: a
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0

Employee Name: a
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0

oh ok, so this is the current output:

Employee Name: John Doe
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0


The new output that I want to look like should be like this:

Employee Name: John Doe
Employee Number: 515542
Department Number: 10
Position: Manager //This part is the one that should display, instead of an M
Years of Experience: 2
Salary: 0.0

Originally Posted by Norm

Did you read the end of post #2?

Yes I do, how would I not return its argument?

Originally Posted by Norm

Why do you want to have the method return its argument?
Why not have it convert its code letter into a String and return that String that you can print out where you want to see the String instead of the code letter.

To be honest, I have no idea

I'm still learning, so how do I exactly convert the code letter into a string?

Originally Posted by Norm

Use the case statements in getPosition to set a String for the char passed to it. Have getPosition return the String.

Sorry I don't really know what to do, can you show it to me visually?

In my view, you're saying that it should look like this?

	public String getPosition(char em){
 
		switch(em){
		case 'E':
			System.out.print("Entry");
			break;
		case 'M':
			System.out.print("Manager");
			break;
		case 'D':
			System.out.print("Dirctor");
			break;
		case 'P':
			System.out.print("Project Leader");
			break;
		default:
			System.out.print("N/A");
			//return em;
		}
 
	return getPosition;

Wouldn't that cause an error?

Originally Posted by Norm

Define a String at the beginning of getPosition()
In each case statement replace System.out.print with an assignment statement that sets the String to the value for the char.
At the end of the getPosition() method return the String.

Ok I somehow got it, thanks for the help Norm!