The instructor told us that we had to follow his guidelines (at the top of the 1st post). To clean things up and try to look at things from a somewhat different angle I have deleted back down to just printing out the list of elements from the read in file (accounts.txt) and have left the area to create the search open other than the method head he wants us to use. I emailed him and his only response was sending me an example search so I will include that code as well to show what style he is wanting us to use. As I said, I had most of the code before I posted on here and am now stuck on the search part.

My cleaned up code (working if take out the last method header)

Java Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)

package assignment8;
 
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
 
public class Assignment8{
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
{
	ArrayList<String> accountList = new ArrayList<String>();
 
	Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
 
	System.out.print("Enter the filename: ");
	String filename = keyboard.nextLine();
 
	File file = new File(filename);
	Scanner inputFile = new Scanner(file);
 
	while (inputFile.hasNext())
	{
		String account = inputFile.nextLine();
		accountList.add(account);
	}
 
	inputFile.close();
 
	for (int index = 0; index < accountList.size(); index++)
	{
		System.out.println("Index: " + index + " Account: " +
							accountList.get(index));
	}
 
	**/ take out this and the program reads out the files and only leaves the searching for specific file part to do./*
public static boolean isValid(ArrayList AccountList, String target)
	{
 
	}
}
}
 

package assignment8; import java.util.Scanner; import java.io.*; import java.util.ArrayList; public class Assignment8{ public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { ArrayList<String> accountList = new ArrayList<String>(); Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in); System.out.print("Enter the filename: "); String filename = keyboard.nextLine(); File file = new File(filename); Scanner inputFile = new Scanner(file); while (inputFile.hasNext()) { String account = inputFile.nextLine(); accountList.add(account); } inputFile.close(); for (int index = 0; index < accountList.size(); index++) { System.out.println("Index: " + index + " Account: " + accountList.get(index)); } **/ take out this and the program reads out the files and only leaves the searching for specific file part to do./* public static boolean isValid(ArrayList AccountList, String target) { } } }

The example he sent me :

Java Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)

/**
   This program sequentially searches an
   int array for a specified value.
*/
 
public class SearchArray
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int[] tests = { 87, 75, 98, 100, 82 };
      int results;
 
      // Search the array for the value 100.
      results = sequentialSearch(tests, 100);
 
      // Determine whether 100 was found and
      // display an appropriate message.
      if (results == -1)
      {
         System.out.println("You did not " +
                    "earn 100 on any test.");
      }
      else
      {
         System.out.println("You earned 100 " +
                    "on test " + (results + 1));
      }
   }
 
   /**
      The sequentialSearch method searches an array for
      a value.
      @param array The array to search.
      @param value The value to search for.
      @return The subscript of the value if found in the
              array, otherwise -1.
   */
 
   public static int sequentialSearch(int[] array,
                                      int value)
   {
      int index;        // Loop control variable
      int element;      // Element the value is found at
      boolean found;    // Flag indicating search results
 
      // Element 0 is the starting point of the search.
      index = 0;
 
      // Store the default values element and found.
      element = -1;
      found = false;
 
      // Search the array.
      while (!found && index < array.length)
      {
         if (array[index] == value)
         {
            found = true;
            element = index;
         }
         index++;
      }
 
      return element;
   }
}

/** This program sequentially searches an int array for a specified value. */ public class SearchArray { public static void main(String[] args) { int[] tests = { 87, 75, 98, 100, 82 }; int results; // Search the array for the value 100. results = sequentialSearch(tests, 100); // Determine whether 100 was found and // display an appropriate message. if (results == -1) { System.out.println("You did not " + "earn 100 on any test."); } else { System.out.println("You earned 100 " + "on test " + (results + 1)); } } /** The sequentialSearch method searches an array for a value. @param array The array to search. @param value The value to search for. @return The subscript of the value if found in the array, otherwise -1. */ public static int sequentialSearch(int[] array, int value) { int index; // Loop control variable int element; // Element the value is found at boolean found; // Flag indicating search results // Element 0 is the starting point of the search. index = 0; // Store the default values element and found. element = -1; found = false; // Search the array. while (!found && index < array.length) { if (array[index] == value) { found = true; element = index; } index++; } return element; } }

I have canceled my plans for Halloween X( just to give myself more time to work on this since its due noon Tue CDT.

Thanks for the assistance and I hope I can figure this out.