Thread: Determine if user input is an integer or String

Hello Everyone,
You will probably find this question stupid, but as a newbie to java, my head is about to explode.
I am working on my final assignment for my Java Introduction course and am stuck with this one thing. I need the user to either enter a number between 1 and ?? or 'Q' to quit.
This is what I have tried,

        //starts the coordinate questions and answers
        System.out.println("Please pick a spot.");
        Scanner xLocate = new Scanner(System.in);
        Scanner yLocate = new Scanner(System.in);
 
 
    do {
        System.out.print("Column Location, Please choose a number between 1 and " + (gridSizeMax - 1) + ", or Q to quit. >> ");
        input = xLocate.nextInt();
 
        if (input % 1 != 0){
            String newInput = Integer.toString(input);
            System.exit(-1);
        }
 
        xLocation = input;
 
    } while (xLocation >= gridSizeMax || xLocation < GRID_SIZE_MIN);

I have also tried a Try/Catch and was unsuccessful there as well. I probable used it wrong anyways as we have not got to that in my course yet.

Looking for suggestions, if possible, not looking for the code, I will not learn anything if the code is given to me , just someone to point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Here is the code I used for the try/catch statement

        //starts the coordinate questions and answers
        System.out.println("Please pick a spot.");
        Scanner xLocate = new Scanner(System.in);
        Scanner yLocate = new Scanner(System.in);
 
try {
    do {
        System.out.print("Column Location, Please choose a number between 1 and " + (gridSizeMax - 1) + ", or Q to quit. >> ");
        input = xLocate.nextInt();
 
        xLocation = input;
 
    } while (xLocation >= gridSizeMax || xLocation < GRID_SIZE_MIN);
}
catch (Exception e)
        {
            String newInput = Integer.toString(input);
            newInput.toUpperCase();
            if (newInput == "Q")
                System.exit(-1);
            else
                startSelections(); // restarts this method
        }

I did not remove the extra Scanner(System.in) because I wanted you to see exactly how it was.

No errors actually occur, the program just skips of the If statement in the catch area and goes directly to the else statement.

Hello Norm,
I had trouble trying to do it in the format that you showed, just could not figure it out, but I did finally figure out a way to get it to work. Not sure if it is the smart way or not, so if you could let me know if you were grading this, how would you rate it.

    do {
        System.out.print("Column Location, Please choose a number between 1 and " + (gridSizeMax - 1) + ", or Q to quit. >> ");
        String input = locate.nextLine();
        input = input.toUpperCase();
 
        if(input.equals("Q"))
        {
            System.exit(-1);
        } // end of if statement
        else {
            if (input != "Q") {
                try {
                    if (Integer.parseInt(input) > 0) {
                        xLocation = Integer.parseInt(input);
                    } // end of inner if statement
                } // end of try statement
                catch (Exception e) {
 
                } // end of catch statement
            } // end of the outer if statement
        } // end of else statement
 
    }while (xLocation >= gridSizeMax || xLocation < GRID_SIZE_MIN);

Thanks Norm, again you were a big help. Much appreciated.