Thread: File I/O

Hello everyone,

I am in my 2nd term of Computer Software Development and I am nearing the end of my first Java class. My teacher has assigned a 2-part Java program called "Save the Barns". The first part of the program is having the user write records for "Save the Barns PAC"; listing the name, address, city, state, zip, party affiliation, gender identity, and contribution and then outputting those records to a file called "contributors.dat". The first part was a piece of cake for me, however my problems lie in the 2nd part of this project. For the last part we are supposed to input the contributors.dat file but only read in the gender, party affiliation, and contribution. With this information we are to create a summary report called "savethebarns.prt" using formatting that makes the .prt look professional. For some reason I cannot wrap my head around this project. Perhaps it's because of the many snow days we've had, I dunno... but could someone help me? One of the problems I am running into is this: "Exception in thread "main" java.util. MissingFormatArgumentException: Format specifier '52s'"

Any help would be greatly appreciated as it is due tomorrow and I am currently stuck babysitting a not-so-sleepy 3 year old. Thanks!

/**
 * Save the Barns Part Two
 *This program reads the contributor file and generates a summary .prt file
 **/
 
 import javax.swing.*;
 import java.util.*;
 import java.io.*;
 import java.text.*;
 
 class SaveTheBarnsPartTwo
 {
 	//input variables
 	static String iRecord;
 	static String iParty;
 	static String iGender;
 	static double iContribution;
 
 	//calculated variables
 	static int cRecCtr = 0;
 	static int cMaleCtr = 0, cFemaleCtr = 0;
 	static int cDemCtr = 0, cRepCtr = 0, cIndCtr = 0;
 	static int dMaleCtr = 0, dFemaleCtr = 0;
 	static int rMaleCtr = 0, rFemaleCtr = 0;
 	static int iMaleCtr = 0, iFemaleCtr = 0;
 	static double dMaleContr = 0, dFemaleContr = 0;
 	static double rMaleContr = 0, rFemaleContr = 0;
 	static double iMaleContr = 0, iFemaleContr = 0;
 
 	//other variables
 	static String eofSw = "N"; //switch to determine end of file
 	static String contrRec = "Y"; //switch to determine contributions over $500
 	//input-output variables
 	static Scanner myScanner; //scanner for input file
 	static Scanner scanner; //scanner for console 
 	static File inFile;
 	static File outFile;
 	static FileOutputStream fos;
 	static PrintWriter pw;
 	static DecimalFormat df1 = new DecimalFormat("0000.00");
 	static DecimalFormat df2 = new DecimalFormat("00000.00");
 	static DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yy");
 	public static void main(String [] args) throws IOException
 	{
 		init();
 
 		while(!eofSw.equals("Y"))
 		{
 			mainline();
 		}
 
 		closing();
 	}
 
 	public static void init() throws IOException
 	{
 
 		scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
 		String lineSeparator = System.getProperty("line.separator");
 		scanner.useDelimiter(lineSeparator);
 
 		myScanner = new Scanner("contributors.dat");
 
 		inFile = new File("contributors.dat");
 		myScanner = new Scanner(inFile);
 
 		outFile = new File("savethebarns.prt");
 		fos = new FileOutputStream(outFile, true);
 		pw = new PrintWriter(fos);
 
 		summaryDisplay(); //calls the summary method to display input to output file
 
 
 		//print
 
 		/**
 		inFile = new File("contributors.dat");
 		myScanner = new Scanner(inFile);
 
 		inFile = new File("contributors.dat");
 		myScanner = new Scanner(inFile);
 
 		scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
 
 		outFile = new File("SaveTheBarns.prt");
 		myScanner = new Scanner(outFile, true);
 		String lineSeparator = System.getProperty("line.separator");
 		myScanner.useDelimiter(lineSeparator);
 		**/
 
 		System.out.print("Would you like to only process records with contribution ");
 		System.out.print("over $500?");
 		contrRec = scanner.next();
 
 		//priming read
 		input();
 	}
 
 	public static void input() throws IOException
 	{
 		try
 		{
 			//read the record
 			iRecord = myScanner.next();
 
 			cRecCtr++; //Add to overall record counter
 
 			//split the record into fields
 			//only cares to put these 3 fields into a summary .prt
 
 			iParty = iRecord.substring(72, 73);
 			iGender = iRecord.substring(73, 74);
 			iContribution = Double.parseDouble(iRecord.substring(70, 89));
 
 		}
 
 		catch (Exception e )
 		{
 			eofSw = "Y";
 		}
 	}
 
 	public static void mainline() throws IOException
 	{
 		//output the record
 		//if-statements, add to accumulators, etc.
 		System.out.println(iParty + " " + iGender + " " + iContribution);
 
 		if(contrRec.equals("Y") || contrRec.equals("y"))
 		{
 			if(iContribution > 500)
 			{
 				if(iGender.equals("M") || iGender.equals("m"))
 				{
 					male();
 					cMaleCtr++;
 				}
 
 				else
 				{
 					female();
 					cFemaleCtr++;
 				}
 
 				if(iParty.equals("D") || iParty.equals("d"))
 				{
 					cDemCtr++;
 				}
 
 				else
 				{
 					if(iParty.equals("R") || iParty.equals("r"))
 					{
 						cRepCtr++;
 					}
 
 					else
 					{
 						cIndCtr++;
 					}
 				}
 			}
 		}
 
 		else
 		{
 			if(iGender.equals("M") || iGender.equals("m"))
 				{
 					male();
 					cMaleCtr++;
 				}
 
 				else
 				{
 					female();
 					cFemaleCtr++;
 				}
 
 				if(iParty.equals("D") || iParty.equals("d"))
 				{
 					cDemCtr++;
 				}
 
 				else
 				{
 					if(iParty.equals("R") || iParty.equals("r"))
 					{
 						cRepCtr++;
 					}
 
 					else
 					{
 						cIndCtr++;
 					}
 				}
 		}
 
 
 
 		//loop read
 		input();
 
 	}
 
 	public static void male()
 	{
 		switch(iParty)
 		{
 			case "D":
 			case "d":
 				//add to the Democrat/Male counter
 				dMaleCtr++;
 				//add to the Democrat/Male contribution accumulator
 				dMaleContr = dMaleContr + iContribution;
 				break;
 
 			case "R":
 			case "r":
 				rMaleCtr++;
 				rMaleContr = rMaleContr + iContribution;
 				break;
 
 			case "I":
 			case "i":
 				iMaleCtr++;
 				iMaleContr = iMaleContr + iContribution;
 				break;
 		}
 	}
 
 	public static void female()
 	{
 		switch(iParty)
 		{
 			case "D":
 			case "d":
 				dFemaleCtr++;
 				dFemaleContr = dFemaleContr + iContribution;
 				break;
 
 			case "R":
 			case "r":
 				rFemaleCtr++;
 				rFemaleContr = rFemaleContr + iContribution;
 				break;
 
 			case "I":
 			case "i":
 				iFemaleCtr++;
 				iFemaleContr = iFemaleContr + iContribution;
 				break;
 		}
 	}
 
 	public static void summaryDisplay() throws IOException
 	{
 		Date date = new Date();
 
 		//write record to the file
 
 		pw.println(String.format("%52s") +
 			String.format("%14s", "Save The Barns") +
 			String.format("%52s") +
 			String.format("%6s", "Date: ") +
 			String.format("%8s", (dateFormat.format(date))));
 
 		pw.println(String.format("%56s") +
 			String.format("%19s", "Contribution Report") +
 			String.format("%57s"));
 
 		pw.println(" ");
 
 		pw.println(String.format("%5", "Group") +
 			String.format("%25s") +
 			String.format("%12s", "Record Count") +
 			String.format("%26s") +
 			String.format("%18s", "Total Contribution") +
 			String.format("%27s") +
 			String.format("%20s", "Average Contribution"));
 
 
 	}
 
 	public static void closing()
 	{
 		System.out.println("Thank you for using the Save the Barns PAC program!");
 		System.out.println("Have a good day!");
 	}
 }

The program isn't completely finished here. I have a few more modules to add in.

Originally Posted by Norm

Did you look up that error message to see what caused it? It's a class that you can look up in the API doc.
Then look at the line where the exception happened and see why.

I have no idea what API doc means or anything.

Wow, this is an overly complex bit of code. It's very hard to follow!

Do you perhaps have a format specifier without a corresponding argument?

Check your code at the line specified in the error message. i.e. where it reads:

		// write record to the file
 
		pw.println(String.format("%52s")
				+ String.format("%14s", "Save The Barns")
				+ String.format("%52s") + String.format("%6s", "Date: ")
				+ String.format("%8s", (dateFormat.format(date))));

"%52s" means format a string 52 characters, right justified. However the compiler doesn't know which string to use.

Hello,

I have managed to fix this code. I changed the formatting of the pw.println so that it works. The main problem I was having was that I had initialized the PrintWriter and the FileOutputStream above the main module and then again in the fileOutput module, so my program had two different PrintWriters. Another issue was that I was calling my modules before adding to the accumulators, so the values would never have anything in them and would not reach the fileOutput because of the different PrintWriters. Thank you for all your help though!