Writing a static method in Java to return a string using loops

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The full assignment is:

Write two public classes (named exactly), TextBox and TextBoxTester. TextBox contains the following overloaded static methods called textBoxString. This method returns a String value.

public static String textBoxString (int side)

The returned String value, when printed, displays as the outline of a square of side characters. The character you use is up to you. Don't forget that '\n' will force a newline character into the returned String. For example, let's assume I want to use * as the character for my box:

     String s =  textBoxString(3); 

     System.out.println(s);

will print

xxx  
x x  
xxx  

public static String textBoxString(int side, char bChar)

The returned String value, when printed, displays the outline of a square of side characters using bChar as the box character. For example, 

     String s = textBoxString(4, '+'); 

     System.out.println(s);

will print

++++   
+  +  
+  +  
++++

So far, this is what I have:

public class TextBox {

    public static String textBoxString(int side) {
        int n = side;
        String string = "";
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            if (i == 0 || i == n - 1) {
                string = "***";
            }
            else {
                string = "*    *";
            }
        }
        return string;

    }

    public static String textBoxString(int side, char bChar) {
        int n = side;
        char c = bChar;
        String string = "";
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            if (i == 0 || i == n -1) {
                string = c + " " + c + " " + c + " " + c;
            }
            else {
                string = c + "      " + c;
            }
        }
        return string;
    }
}

My issue is returning the result. I don't know how to return the result that I need, that I would get from running this in a main method (for the first method):

int n = 3;
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    if (i == 0 || i == n - 1) {
        System.out.println("***");
    }
    else {
        System.out.println("*  *");
    }
}
methods loops java
4 Answers

You can use nested loops to achieve this.

public static String textBoxString(int n, char c) {
 String output = "";
 for(int i = 0; i < n; i++) { // constructing all rows
  output += c;
  for(int j = 1; j < n-1; j++) { // constructing a single row
     if(i == 0 || i == n - 1)
       output += " " + c; // use character to fill up each element in the row
     else
       output += " "; // use space to fill up
  }
  output += " " + c +"\n";
 }
return output;
}

Run and print

x x x x x
x       x
x       x
x       x
x x x x x
user_33898280

Welcome to StackOverflow!

To make textBoxString work for varying values for side, you cannot use the hardcoded string "***" because that will only work when side equals 3.

You'll need to use nested loops to accomplish this.

I'm not gonna write the complete code for you, but I'm gonna give you a hint.

if (i == 0 || i == n - 1) {
    // Use a for loop here to construct the top and bottom rows
}
else {
    string = "*    *";
}
user_4502160

You could add "\n" to your string, it will start a new line.

for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (i == 0 || i == n -1) {
            string += c + " " + c + " " + c + " " + c + "\n";
        }
        else {
            string += c + "      " + c + "\n";
        }
    }
}

After adding that in, return string

user_136681600 
public static String textBoxString(int side) {
        int n = side;
        String string = "";
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            if (i == 0 || i == n - 1) {

                for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
                    string += "*";
                }
                string += "\n";
            } else {
                string += "*";
                for (int j = 1; j < n - 1; j++) {

                    string += " ";
                }

                string += "*\n";
            }
        }
        return string;

    }
user_144050660
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