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alphabetizing parameters

Stang02GT's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,152
#1: Aug 14 '07
Hello,

I've been placed on a web analytics project to try and get so me Java experience/web development. I have very little Java knowledge, and hoping that you guys can help me out a little.

I have been asked to come up with a Java method that takes a URL string and alphabetizes the parameters. This is what i was given to start...

Expand|Select|Wrap|Line Numbers
  1. int questionPos = inUrl.indexOf("?");
  2.              if (questionPos >= 0) {
  3.               StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(inUrl.substring(0, questionPos + 1));
  4.  
  5.               StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(inUrl.substring(questionPos + 1), "&", true);
  6.  
  7.             while (tokenizer.hasMoreTokens()) {
  8.                String key = tokenizer.nextToken();
  9.         }
  10.  
  11.      }

I have no idea what this does or even where to start. Any help/guidance would be great!

JosAH's Avatar
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 10,611
#2: Aug 14 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stang02GT

Hello,

I've been placed on a web analytics project to try and get so me Java experience/web development. I have very little Java knowledge, and hoping that you guys can help me out a little.

I have been asked to come up with a Java method that takes a URL string and alphabetizes the parameters. This is what i was given to start...

Expand|Select|Wrap|Line Numbers
  1. int questionPos = inUrl.indexOf("?");
  2.              if (questionPos >= 0) {
  3.               StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(inUrl.substring(0, questionPos + 1));
  4.  
  5.               StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(inUrl.substring(questionPos + 1), "&", true);
  6.  
  7.             while (tokenizer.hasMoreTokens()) {
  8.                String key = tokenizer.nextToken();
  9.         }
  10.  
  11.      }

I have no idea what this does or even where to start. Any help/guidance would be great!

That code snippet tries to manipulate a URL: blablah?foo&bar&baz.
It stores the blahblah? part in a StringBuffer and scans for the substrings that
don't consist an ampersand '&'; in the example those are foo, bar and baz.

I'd use the String.split() method if I were you,

kind regards,

Jos
Stang02GT's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,152
#3: Aug 14 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Alright thank you. Do you know of any examples i could look at of a the string method being used?
JosAH's Avatar
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#4: Aug 14 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stang02GT

Alright thank you. Do you know of any examples i could look at of a the string method being used?

You should read the API documentation for all those classes. Navigate to the
Articles>Java section. There's an index article that contains links to those API
documentation files. Download and bookmark them; if you're seriously into Java
programming you'll need that documentation a lot.

kind regards,

Jos
Stang02GT's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,152
#5: Aug 14 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Alright thank you very much.


I also consulted someone where i work and they suggested looking in to an ArrayList or a TreeSet.


What do you think about those? Or should is the String.split still the best way ?
JosAH's Avatar
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 10,611
#6: Aug 14 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stang02GT

Alright thank you very much.


I also consulted someone where i work and they suggested looking in to an ArrayList or a TreeSet.


What do you think about those? Or should is the String.split still the best way ?

Your co-workers were talking about the sorting process itself: SortedSets and
ArrayLists (that can easily be sorted too) are nice solutions to that little sub-problem
but first you have to get those substrings out of that URL and the split method is
just fine for that purpose.

kind regards,

Jos
Stang02GT's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,152
#7: Aug 14 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Alright sounds good. Thanks again!
Stang02GT's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,152
#8: Aug 15 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Once i have the link broken up into strings, what do you suggest is the best sorting method to complete my task of alphabetizing them?

I have gotten a better understanding of what that code snippet does that i posted earlier( thanks to your help Jos ) and now i need to develope a way of sorting them which i have come to realize ( after i removed my head from my bottom end ) that my co-workers suggested that I look into using and ArrayList or TreeSet to accomplish the sort.

Which of these do you think would work best? Or is there something else i should look into using?
JosAH's Avatar
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 10,611
#9: Aug 15 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stang02GT

Once i have the link broken up into strings, what do you suggest is the best sorting method to complete my task of alphabetizing them?

It depends a bit where you put those String parts. Have a look at the Arrays.sort()
and the Collections.sort() methods; both use the same sorting method so
there's no need to worry about that.

kind regards,

Jos
Stang02GT's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,152
#10: Aug 16 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

If I use .......


Expand|Select|Wrap|Line Numbers
  1. Collections.sort(list, string.CASE_INSENSITIVE_ORDER);
do you think this will work?
JosAH's Avatar
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 10,611
#11: Aug 16 '07

re: alphabetizing parameters

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stang02GT

If I use .......


Expand|Select|Wrap|Line Numbers
  1. Collections.sort(list, string.CASE_INSENSITIVE_ORDER);
do you think this will work?

Did you give it a try? I'd say yes that works if you capitalize the leading 's' in 'String'.

kind regards,

Jos
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