how do I return/pass variables from methods?

[sleepingInsomniac]

I am running Mac OSX 10.4.7

I am building a program that tracks the Total Sales for employees

Here is my code, it compiles fine but how do I take a variable from a method and pass it to another method?

public class main_Menu
{
   public static void main (String[] args)
   {
        main_menu();
   }
 
   public static void main_menu ()
   {
     System.out.println (" ");
     System.out.println ("Please Choose One of the Following (chose a #)");
 
        System.out.println ("1. Enter Data for employee");
        System.out.println ("2. Show total sales");
        System.out.println ("3. Show average sale");
        System.out.println ("4. Show max and min sale");
        System.out.println ("5. Check for sales larger then");
 
        int user_Choice = 0; 
 
        try
        {
 
            BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader(System.in));
            user_Choice =  Integer.parseInt( in.readLine() );            
        }
 
        catch ( Exception e )
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
 
        if (user_Choice == 1){
        enter_Data();
        }
 
        else if (user_Choice == 2){
        total_Sales();
        }
 
        else if (user_Choice == 3){
        average_Sales();
        }
 
        else if (user_Choice == 4){
        max_min_sale ();
        }
 
        else if (user_Choice == 5){
        check_sales_largerthan ();  
        }
   }
 
   public static void enter_Data ()
   {
     int sale [] = {0,0,0,0,0};
     String name [] = {" ", " ", " ", " ", " "};
 
     System.out.println ("Enter Employee Name, than sale");
 
     try
        {
            BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader(System.in));
            name[0] = in.readLine();
            sale [0] = Integer.parseInt( in.readLine() );
 
            name[1] = in.readLine();
            sale [1] = Integer.parseInt( in.readLine() );
 
            name[2] = in.readLine();
            sale [2] = Integer.parseInt( in.readLine() );
 
            name[3] = in.readLine();
            sale [3] = Integer.parseInt( in.readLine() );
 
            name[4] = in.readLine();
            sale [4] = Integer.parseInt( in.readLine() );
     }
 
     catch ( Exception e )
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
 
     System.out.println (name[0] + ": " + sale [0]);
     System.out.println (name[1] + ": " + sale [1]);
     System.out.println (name[2] + ": " + sale [2]);
     System.out.println (name[3] + ": " + sale [3]);
     System.out.println (name[4] + ": " + sale [4]);
     main_menu();
   }
 
 
   public static void total_Sales ()
   {
     System.out.println (sale [0] + sale [1] + sale [2] + sale [3] + sale [4]);
   }
 
   public static void average_Sales()
   {
     int average = (sale [0] + sale[1] + sale[2] + sale[3] + sale[4])/5;
     System.out.println (average);
   }
 
}
 

For example I want to print the total sales, but the variables needed for that are in a different method. How do I take those variables and pass them into "total_Sales"?

any help would be appreciated.

[sicarie]

You have everything declared as void. Declare the method to be of the type you want to return. Then return an object of that type inside. This does mean that where you call it from, you will need to have an object of that type to take the value.

(And you could always declare the variables outside of main - that would give their scope to the entire program, and they could be called from other methods without being passed.)