Storing object into an array - Java

Question

I am relatively new to Java and I have taken some light courses on it. I am trying to emulate an exercise that I had a while back and I am having some trouble.

I have two classes. One is taking in data and the other is storing it.

public class Car{

public Car(String name, String color)
{
     this.name = name,
     this.color = color
}

How can I store this into the array (not an array list) that I created in this class:

public class CarDatabase {

Car[] carList = new Car[100];

public CarDatabase()
{
    // System.out.println("test");
}

public void createAccount(String name, String color)
{        
// this is where I am having trouble


    for (int i = 0; i < carList.length; i++)
    {

    System.out.println("Successfully created: " + name + 
            "." + "Color of car: " + color);
    break;


    }
}

I don't have a main method yet but I will need one later on to for example, PRINT out this array and that is what I can't wrap my head around - how do I store DATA/OBJECTS into the "CarDatabase" array so I can call methods with it later (instead of just being able to print it)?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I don't quite understand your question...Are you having trouble with setting the size of the array? Like `Car carList[] = new Car[???];` — CosmicGiant, Nov 02 '15 at 19:57
i have googled a bit and ya, most people have told me to do what @sam mentioned - carList[i] = new Car("lambo","RED"); but the thing is: what if i don't want to instantiate the array manually and it needs to be input from the other class? i can't do something like carList[i] = new Car(); because there is a constructor on the previous method. — Justin C, Nov 02 '15 at 20:04

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 02 '15 at 20:01

Not really sure what you are trying to achieve but I'll give it a go.

You could modify your CarDatabase class like so -

public class CarDatabase {

  Car[] carList = new Car[100];
  int carsStored;

  // No need for a constructor since we don't need any initialization.
  // The default constructor will do it's job.

  public void createAccount(String name, String color) {
    carList[carsStored++] = new Car(name, color);
  }
}

And your main method could look like -

public static void main(String[] args) {
  CarDatabase database = new CarDatabase();
  database.createAccount("Lambo", "Red");
  database.createAccount("Punto", "White");

  // To loop through your database, you can then do
  for(int i = 0; i < database.carList.length; i++) {
    Car car = database.carList[i];
    // Now you can call methods on car object.
  }
}

Hope that helps.

Storing object into an array - Java

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