Formatting User input

**tamtimtom** · February 4th, 2014, 07:40 PM

Hey everyone!

So, I have been given a piece of work to do for College that requires me to format user input. For example:

This is an example of text that will have straight left and right margins after formatting

will transform into:

This..is..an.example
of..text..that..will
have..straight..left
and...right..margins
after.....formatting

The user inputs the width, in the case above being 20. Each line has to therefore be 20 characters long. All spaces are to be replaced with full stops.

I do not want an answer, and just need help to guide me in where I should start! My progress so far results in

This.is.an.example.o
f.text.that.will.hav
e.straight.left.and.
right.margins.after.
formatting..........

Any guidance is much appreciated, I am at a total loss after working on it for about four hours!!

public class Main
{
 
 
    public static void main ( String args[])
 
    {
 
        System.out.println("Please input the desired length for the text");
        int length = BIO.getInt();
 
        System.out.println("Please input the text you wish to edit");
        String text = BIO.getLine();
 
        int number = text.length() % length;
        System.out.println(number);
 
        text = text.replace(' ', '.');
        int i = 0;
        while ( i < text.length() )
        {
            for (int x = 0; x < length; x++)
            {
                if (i < text.length())
                {
                    System.out.print (text.charAt(i));
                    i = i + 1;
                }
 
 
            }
            if (i == text.length())
            {
                for (int y = 0; y < number; y++)
                {
                    System.out.print(".");
                }
            }
            System.out.println();
        }
 
    }
}

**GregBrannon** · February 5th, 2014, 02:29 AM

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for taking the time to learn to post code correctly.

full stop = period or '.', right?

The general algorithm I would start with is to determine the number of words on the line, the number of characters those words contain, the number of 'padding' characters that must be added, then distribute those padding characters as evenly as possible between the words.

**andbin** · February 5th, 2014, 04:15 AM

Originally Posted by tamtimtom

Any guidance is much appreciated, I am at a total loss after working on it for about four hours!!

You need more "logic" .... more more logic. Not just a simple replace and a bunch of loops!

First, split the long string into an array of strings, each item containing only one word (no spaces around).

From "This is an example of ........."

obtain an array with strings:

"This" "is" "an" "example" "of" .........

Then start summing the lengths, taking in account 1 slot between words:

"this" space "is" (7) is less than 20? continue.
"this" space "is" space "an" (10) is less than 20? continue.
"this" space "is" space "an" space "example" (18) is less than 20? continue.
"this" space "is" space "an" space "example" space "of" (21) is less than 20? No, you have to go back, ignore now "of" and so remains:

"this" space "is" space "an" space "example"

The sum of characters (excluding spaces) is 15. You have 5 "slots" left to arrive at 20: distribute the dots '.' uniformly to have:

this..is..an.example

And then continue starting again from "of".

**tamtimtom** · February 5th, 2014, 04:21 AM

Thank you both so much! I shall have another crack today!

Makes so much more sense to split the words individually and determine how many will go on each line. I worry how my head functions sometimes...

**tamtimtom** · February 5th, 2014, 12:23 PM

UPDATE:

I REALLY need help with this, I have been tearing my hair out for days now.

So far, I have managed to get the top 4 lines working perfectly, but I cannot get the last line to work due to an outOfBounds on the array. While I understand why this is happening, I cannot think of a solution to remedy it. Any help is MUCH appreciated, I really am at a loss for what to do.

 
 
public class Main
{
 
    public static int lineLengthIncrease (int lineLength, int newWord, int width)
    {
        if ( lineLength == 0) // Adding the new word, but no space added as the first word does not come after a space
        {
            return (lineLength + newWord);
        }
 
        if (lineLength > width) // To subtract the last word added that caused the line length to exceed 20.
 
        {
 
            return (lineLength - newWord) - 1;
        }
 
 
        else // The +1 is to account for the added space before
        {
            return (lineLength + newWord) + 1;
        }
 
    }
 
    public static int gapCount (int count)
    {
        return (count - 2);
    }
 
    public static int leftoverSpace (int line, int width, int gaps)
    {
        return width - (line - gaps);
    }
 
    public static void main ( String args[])
    {
        System.out.println("Please input the desired length for the text");
        int width = BIO.getInt();
 
        System.out.println("Please input the text you wish to edit");
        String textInput = BIO.getLine();
        String arrayInput [] = textInput.split(" ");
 
        int wordUsed = 0;
        int currentWord = 0;
        int lastline = 0;
 
        // A gap must be made here, as wordNumber does not reset, but count does!!!
        while (currentWord < arrayInput.length){
            int lineLength;
            int wordNumber = 0;
            for ( lineLength = 0; lineLength < width; ){ // The length cannot go over the width.
 
                lineLength = lineLengthIncrease(lineLength, arrayInput[currentWord].length(), width);
                if (lineLength < width){
                    wordNumber++;
                    currentWord++;
                }
 
                if (currentWord == arrayInput.length){
                    currentWord = (currentWord - wordNumber);
 
                    System.out.println(currentWord);
                    System.out.println(lineLength);
 
 
                }
 
 
            }
 
 
            lineLength = lineLengthIncrease(lineLength, arrayInput[currentWord].length(), width);
 
            int gapCount = wordNumber - 1;
 
            int leftoverSpace = leftoverSpace (lineLength, width, gapCount);
 
            int adjustedGapCount = gapCount;
            // The number of spaces for the line -- This resets for each line
            int dotUsedCounter = 0;
            currentWord = currentWord - wordNumber;
            for (int currentLineLength = 0; currentLineLength < width;){
 
                currentLineLength = currentLineLength +(printLine(arrayInput, currentWord));
                currentLineLength = currentLineLength + (printDot(wordNumber, leftoverSpace, adjustedGapCount, gapCount, dotUsedCounter));
 
                adjustedGapCount--;
                currentWord++;
                dotUsedCounter++;
            }
 
        }
    }
 
    public static int printLine (String arrayInput[], int currentWord)
    {
        System.out.print(arrayInput[currentWord]);
        return arrayInput[currentWord].length();
    }
 
    public static int printDot (int wordNumber, int leftoverSpace, int adjustedGapCount, int gapCount, int extraDotsUsed)
    {
        int dotsPerGap = leftoverSpace / gapCount;
        int extraDots = (leftoverSpace % gapCount);
 
        if (extraDots != 0)
        {
            extraDots = extraDots - extraDotsUsed;
        }
 
        if (adjustedGapCount == 0)
        {
            System.out.println();
            return 0;
        }
 
        if (extraDots == 0){
 
            for (int x = 0; x < dotsPerGap; x++)
            {
                System.out.print(".");
 
            }
            return dotsPerGap;
        }
 
        if (extraDots != 0){
            for (int x = 0; x < dotsPerGap; x++)
            {
                System.out.print(".");
            }
 
            System.out.print(".");
 
            return dotsPerGap + 1;
        }
 
 
        return 0;
    }
 
}

**tamtimtom** · February 6th, 2014, 09:11 PM

Bump, please can anybody help?

**GregBrannon** · February 7th, 2014, 02:28 AM

Make it easier for us to help you. In this case, post EXACT error messages and sample runs that show the problem. For example, this is what I got when I ran your program:

Please input the desired length for the text
20
Please input the text you wish to edit
This..is..an.example
of..text..that..will
have..straight..left
and...right..margins
14
16
right.....margins
after.....15
10
afterException in thread "main" java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero
	at TestClass.printDot(TestClass.java:109)
	at TestClass.main(TestClass.java:91)

That's not what you're asking for help with, so I can't help with your error until I see it and understand what caused it.

**tamtimtom** · February 7th, 2014, 07:43 AM

 
public class Main
{
 
    public static int lineLengthIncrease (int lineLength, int newWord, int width)
    {
        if ( lineLength == 0) // Adding the new word, but no space added as the first word does not come after a space
        {
            return (lineLength + newWord);
        }
 
        if (lineLength > width) // To subtract the last word added that caused the line length to exceed 20.
 
        {
 
            return (lineLength - newWord) - 1;
        }
 
 
        else // The +1 is to account for the added space before
        {
            return (lineLength + newWord) + 1;
        }
 
    }
 
    public static int gapCount (int count)
    {
        return (count - 2);
    }
 
    public static int leftoverSpace (int line, int width, int gaps)
    {
        return width - (line - gaps);
    }
 
    public static void main ( String args[])
    {
        System.out.println("Please input the desired length for the text");
        int width = BIO.getInt();
 
        System.out.println("Please input the text you wish to edit");
        String textInput = BIO.getLine();
        String arrayInput [] = textInput.split(" ");
 
        int wordUsed = 0;
        int currentWord = 0;
        int lastline = 0;
 
        // A gap must be made here, as wordNumber does not reset, but count does!!!
        while (currentWord < arrayInput.length){
            int lineLength;
            int wordNumber = 0;
            for ( lineLength = 0; lineLength < width; ){ // The length cannot go over the width.
 
                lineLength = lineLengthIncrease(lineLength, arrayInput[currentWord].length(), width);
                if (lineLength < width){
                    wordNumber++;
                    currentWord++;
                }
 
 
 
            }
 
 
            lineLength = lineLengthIncrease(lineLength, arrayInput[currentWord].length(), width);
 
            int gapCount = wordNumber - 1;
 
            int leftoverSpace = leftoverSpace (lineLength, width, gapCount);
 
            int adjustedGapCount = gapCount;
            // The number of spaces for the line -- This resets for each line
            int dotUsedCounter = 0;
            currentWord = currentWord - wordNumber;
            for (int currentLineLength = 0; currentLineLength < width;){
 
                currentLineLength = currentLineLength +(printLine(arrayInput, currentWord));
                currentLineLength = currentLineLength + (printDot(wordNumber, leftoverSpace, adjustedGapCount, gapCount, dotUsedCounter));
 
                adjustedGapCount--;
                currentWord++;
                dotUsedCounter++;
            }
 
        }
    }
 
    public static int printLine (String arrayInput[], int currentWord)
    {
        System.out.print(arrayInput[currentWord]);
        return arrayInput[currentWord].length();
    }
 
    public static int printDot (int wordNumber, int leftoverSpace, int adjustedGapCount, int gapCount, int extraDotsUsed)
    {
        int dotsPerGap = leftoverSpace / gapCount;
        int extraDots = (leftoverSpace % gapCount);
 
        if (extraDots != 0)
        {
            extraDots = extraDots - extraDotsUsed;
        }
 
        if (adjustedGapCount == 0)
        {
            System.out.println();
            return 0;
        }
 
        if (extraDots == 0){
 
            for (int x = 0; x < dotsPerGap; x++)
            {
                System.out.print(".");
 
            }
            return dotsPerGap;
        }
 
        if (extraDots != 0){
            for (int x = 0; x < dotsPerGap; x++)
            {
                System.out.print(".");
            }
 
            System.out.print(".");
 
            return dotsPerGap + 1;
        }
 
 
        return 0;
    }
 
}

java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 16
at Main.main(Main.java:56)

The line in question being:

lineLength = lineLengthIncrease(lineLength, arrayInput[currentWord].length(), width);

This is the error I am getting. The code I posted earlier was the wrong one, that was my bad! I know I am getting the error due to the value of currentWord going over the limit of the array. I do not however know what the best way to remedy this is.

**GregBrannon** · February 7th, 2014, 08:55 AM

The array index, currentWord, is being incremented beyond the end of the arrayInput[]. Find out why and fix it. Put a boundary condition on the increment, if necessary.

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