Coverting from a string to an integer

Question

Hi:
Is it possible to covert a string to an integer?
For example I want to convert the following string values to integers so that I can develop a method to use java.util.Date to test for overlapping appointments.
Ex:
markCalendar.addApp(new Appointment("June 1","3pm","4pm", "dentist"));
I want to convert the startTime and the endTime to integers. And compare the startTime and endTime to a vector of appointments.
Should this approch work?
Thanks.
Describes a calendar for a set of appointments.
@version 1.0
import java.util.Vector;
public class CalendarTest
{  public static void main(String[] args)
      Calendar markCalendar = new Calendar("Mark");
      markCalendar.addApp(new Appointment("June 1","3pm","4pm", "dentist"));
       markCalendar.addApp(new Appointment("June 2","3pm","4pm", "doctor"));
       markCalendar.print();
      Appointment toFind = new Appointment("June 2","3pm","4pm", "doctor");
      markCalendar.removeApp(toFind);   
      markCalendar.addApp(new Appointment("June 2","3pm","4pm", "dentist"));
      markCalendar.print();
      Appointment dups = (new Appointment("June 2","3pm","4pm", "dentist"));
      markCalendar.dupsTest(dups);
Describes a calendar for a set of appointments.
class Calendar
   Constructs a calendar for the person named.
   public Calendar(String aName)
   {  name = aName;
      appointments = new Vector();
   Adds an appointment to this Calendar.
   @param anApp The appointment to add.
   public void addApp(Appointment anApp)
      appointments.add(anApp);
   Removes an appointment from this Calendar.
   @param anApp The appointment to be removed.
   public void removeApp(Appointment toFind)
      for ( int i = 0; i < appointments.size(); i++)
         if (((Appointment)appointments.get(i)).equals(toFind))
             appointments.remove(i);
   Tests for duplicate appointment dates.
   public void dupsTest(Appointment app)
      for (int x = 0; x < appointments.size(); x++)
         //Appointment cmp = (Appointment)appointments.elementAt(x);
         //System.out.println("cmp  " + cmp);
         for (int y = appointments.size()-1; y > x; y --)
            Appointment nextApp =(Appointment) appointments.get(y);
            //if (app.equals((Appointment)appointments.elementAt(y)))
            if (app.equals (nextApp))
            {  System.out.println("duplicates  ");
               nextApp.print();
   Prints the Calendar.
   public void print()
   {  System.out.println(name + "               C A L E N D A R");
      System.out.println();
       System.out.println("Date   Starttime    EndTime   Appointment");
      for (int i = 0; i < appointments.size(); i++)
      {  Appointment nextApp =(Appointment) appointments.get(i);
         nextApp.print();
      //appointments.dupsTest(Appointments anApp);
   private Vector appointments;
   private String name;
   private Appointment theAppointment;
Describes an appointment.
class Appointment
   public Appointment(String aDate,String aStarttime,String aEndtime, String aApp)
   {  date = aDate;
      starttime = aStarttime;
       endtime = aEndtime;  
      app = aApp;
Method to test whether on object equals another.
@param otherObject  The other object.
@return true if equal, false if not
public boolean equals(Object otherObject)
      if (otherObject instanceof Appointment)
      {  Appointment other = (Appointment)otherObject;
         return (date.equals(other.date) && starttime.equals(other.starttime)
                 && endtime.equals(other.endtime) && app.equals(other.app));
       else return false;
   Prints the Date, Starttime, Endtime and a description of the
   appointment.
   public void print()  
   {  System.out.println();
      System.out.println(date + "   " + starttime + "          " + endtime
          + "       " + app );
      System.out.println();
   private String date;
   private String starttime;
   private String endtime;
   private String app;

Answer 1

Hello,
First I would like to suggest, DONT use the class names that have already being defined in JAVA, Here you have used, CALENDAR class, this approach should be avoided, If this class is in the same project where you also want to use the JAVA CALENDAR class, then you mite not be able to do so.
As for the conversion, A simple way is that:
You already know that the time cannot go more than 2 digits (Specifically not more than 24 hours in case of hours and 60 in case of minutes) and the (am) (pm) takes 2 more places, so what you can do is validate if the string size is 4 or 3, if 4 then take the first 2 substrings i.e. somestring.substring(0,2) and then use the Ineteger.parseInt(some string) method.
similarly if the String size is 3 then take the first substring
e.g. somestring.substring(0,1)
This is how you can convert the string to the Integer and compare it, You can store it as an Integer Object and store it in the Vector If you want to.
Hope this helps
Regards
Rohan