Develop Reference

Most efficient way of comparing long arrays of strings

I'm using the speech recognizer to get a voice input from the user, it returns an array of 5 strings which I pass to this method
public int analyzeTag(ArrayList<String> voiceResults,Editor editor, Context context){
for (String match : voiceResults) {
Log.d(TAG, match);
if (match.equalsIgnoreCase(context.getResources().getString(R.string.first_tag))){
editor.append(context.getResources().getString(R.string.first_tag));
return 1;
}
else if (match.equalsIgnoreCase(context.getResources().getString(R.string.second_tag))){
editor.append(context.getResources().getString(R.string.second_tag));
return 1;
}
//etc....(huge list of tags)
//Some tags might also have acceptable variations, example:
else if (match.equalsIgnoreCase("img") || match.equalsIgnoreCase("image")
{
editor.append("img"); //the string to append is always taken from the first variation
}
}
return 0;
}
This method compares the results with a list of tags, the tag list will be pretty big with hundreds of tags so I would like to find the most efficient way to do this operation.
I need help with:
1.Is my way of comparing results the most efficient? Is there a better way? (from the user experience perspective, I don't want users waiting a long time to get a result).
The voice input will be a big part of my app so this method will be called quite often
2.I have a long list of tags, obviously the if(), elseIf() route is gonna be quite repetitive, is there a way to iterate this? Considering the fact that some tags might have variations (even more than 1)and that the variation 1 ("img") will be the same for everyone, but other variations will be locale/language sensitive example: "image" for english users "immagini" for italian users etc.
Text appended to the editor will be always taken from the first variation

How about puting tags in a StringArray and then iterate though the array ?
String[] tags = context.getResources().getStringArray(R.array.tags);
for (String match : voiceResults) {
for (int index = 0; index < tags.length; index++ ) {
if (match.equalsIgnoreCase(tags[index]) {
editor.append(tags[index]);
}
}
}
Here's the doc on StringArray

Separating the words after the last integer in a large String

I've seen many people do similar to this in order to get the last word of a String:
String test = "This is a sentence";
String lastWord = test.substring(test.lastIndexOf(" ")+1);
I would like to do similar but get the last few words after the last int, it can't be hard coded as the number could be anything and the amount of words after the last int could also be unlimited. I'm wondering whether there is a simple way to do this as I want to avoid using Patterns and Matchers again due to using them earlier on in this method to receive a similar effect.
Thanks in advance.

I would like to get the last few words after the last int.... as the number could be anything and the amount of words after the last int could also be unlimited.
Here's a possible suggestion. Using Array#split
String str = "This is 1 and 2 and 3 some more words .... foo bar baz";
String[] parts = str.split("\\d+(?!.*\\d)\\s+");
And now parts[1] holds all words after the last number in the string.
some more words .... foo bar baz

What about this one:
String test = "a string with a large number 1312398741 and some words";
String[] parts = test.split();
for (int i = 1; i < parts.length; i++)
{
try
{
Integer.parseInt(parts[i])
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// this part is not a number, so lets go on...
continue;
}
// when parsing succeeds, the number was reached and continue has
// not been called. Everything behind 'i' is what you are looking for
// DO YOUR STUFF with parts[i+1] to parts[parts.length] here
}

How can I pull individual characters from a string and convert them to numbers?

What I'm trying to do is find a way I can take the word "camel" for example from a EditText field and make for instance c=2 a=1 m=4 e=5 l=3. Is there anyway I can pull the individual characters from a string and convert them to numbers?
I've tried using "split" to separate each character into an array but I can't figure out how to convert the letters into numbers
so I can do something like:
a=1
b=2
c=3
int temp = (int)(array[1]+array[2]+array[3]+etc...)
using the example of "camel" would equal 15
This is what I have so far:
String name = inputarea.getText().toString();
String[] array = name.split("");
for(int i =0; i < array.length ; i++)
The biggest problem I keep having is if I try to pull from the 7th position in the array and nothing is there. (camel only has 5 characters) then I get a nice big error.
Thank you for any help that can be provided.
Edit: I figured it out after a few hours of playing with it here is my working code:
String firstname = inputarea.getText().toString();
char[] array = firstname.toCharArray();
final char[] array2 = new char[15];
System.arraycopy(array, 0, array2, 0, array.length);
if (array2[0] == 'A' ) {
array2[0] = '1';
}

suggestion:
first, need define all letter, from a-z (A-Z), the ASCII code 'a' to 'z' is 97 to 122, if you want support the upper letter, you need add A-Z.
then, get the letter in the string, u can use this:
for(int i=0;i<string.length();i++){
int number = string.charAt(i);
}
when you get the number size, you can reduce to the base number('a' is 97), you will get the individual number

Does String.charAt() works for you?
As for converting to number, if the numbers are consecutive you can define a fixed string with all the characters you want to map and use String.indexOf(). If not, you can have a parallel array with ints or use a Map.

Removing newline from string

Here's my issue:
I have a database and it is full of episodes of a tv show. One column denotes the episode number. I want to display the episodes in a list like this:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
etc.
I'm using my own adapter class that extends SimpleCursorAdapter to do this...
Since I had formatting errors I am using Android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1 and Android.R.id.text1
Basically the only reason I have a custom adapter is so I can do something like this:
textView.setText("Episode " + cursor.getString("column_for_episode_number");
The problem is, I get a list that looks like this:
Episode
1
Episode
2
Episode
3
When I try something like this(which worked in a different portion of my code):
String text = "Episode " + cursor.getString("blah");
text = text.replaceAll("\\n","");
I get the exact same list output :(
Why don't I use create a custom view with two textboxes next to each other? It is hard for me to get that to look pretty :/

text.replaceAll(System.getProperty("line.separator"), "");

There is a mistake in your code. Use "\n" instead of "\\n"
String myString = "a string\n with new line"
myString = myString.replaceAll("\n","");
Log.d("myString",myString);

Check if there is new line at the beginning before you replace and do the same test again:
for(int i=0; cursor.getString("blah").length()-1; i++)
{
if(cursor.getString("blah").charAt(i)=='\\n') <-- use the constant for the line separator
{
Log.i("NEW LINE?", "YES, WE HAVE");
}
}
Or use the .contains("\n"); method:
Check the xml for the width of the textview as well.
Why are you using getString() when you are fetching an integer? Use getInt() and then use Integer.toString(theint) when you are setting the values in a textview.

This could help you:
response = response.replaceAll("\\s+","");

It sounds like you are hitting wrapping issues rather than newline issues. Change this:
String text = "Episode " + cursor.getString("blah");
To this:
String text = "Episode" + cursor.getString("blah");
And see if that changes the output. Post your layout xml please?

this worked for my (on android 4.4):
(where body is a string with a newline entered from an EditText view on handset)
for (int i=0; i<body.length(); i++) {
if (body.charAt(i) == '\n' || body.charAt(i) == '\t') {
body = body.substring(0, i) + " " + body.substring(i+1, body.length());
}
}

have you tried
cursor.getString("blah").trim()

Android String Not Equal

I am brand new to Java and Android so I am sure this will be an easy question/answer. I know that to find out if a string is equal to another string you use the equal function. In my situation, I am scanning a QR Code where the result of the scan is Similar to "EMPLOYEE~~John Smith~~DIVISION~~Maintenance". I need to know how to do the following:
String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT");
// I know that "contents" contains the string " EMPLOYEE~~John Smith~~DIVISION~~Maintenance"
String[] myJunk = contents.split("~~");
// This should split everything up into an array named myJunk (right)?
String val1 = myJunk[0];
// Now val1 Should be equal to "EMPLOYEE"
if (myJunk[0].equals(val1)){
// Do Something
}
In the example Java Code, myJunk[0] never equals val1. What am I doing wrong?

i've tried this and it works , so try to display the contents variable , probably the problem is in the extras , try to display it in logCat :
String contents = "EMPLOYEE~~John Smith~~DIVISION~~Maintenance";
String[] myJunk = contents.split("~~");
// This should split everything up into an array named myJunk (right)?
String val1 = myJunk[0];
Toast.makeText(this, "val1 = "+val1, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
Toast.makeText(this, "val2 = "+myJunk[1], Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
// Now val1 Should be equal to "EMPLOYEE"
if (myJunk[0].equals(val1)){
Toast.makeText(this, "equals", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

Your string is:
EMPLOYEE~~John Smith~~DIVISION~~Maintenance
So after spliting, myJunk[0] will contain EMPLOYEE (notice the space in front of the word EMPLOYEE).
So before comparing , you will need to trim your value

The method i usually use, is to print out my variables when in doubt. So if you are unsure of where the problem is, you could try something like this.
(It requires you to be able to see the output, in logcat for example)
String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT");
// I know that "contents" contains the string " EMPLOYEE~~John Smith~~DIVISION~~Maintenance"
System.out.println("contents is "+contents );
String[] myJunk = contents.split("~~");
// This should split everything up into an array named myJunk (right)?
System.out.println("Array size is "+myJunk.length);
String val1 = myJunk[0];
// Now val1 Should be equal to "EMPLOYEE"
for(int i=0; i < myJunk.length; i++) {
System.out.println("String "+i+ "in array is: "+myJunk[i]);
}
//Here i run through the array and print every element.
if (myJunk[0].equals(val1)){
// Do Something
}
It is a bit overkill, but this is mostly to show one way of getting all the information you need to find the problem :)