Accessor and Mutator Methods

Question

I'm currently learning how to use different types of methods within my program.
One of the things that I'm getting stuck on is how to get user input and then feed that into a new instance of the class that I made.
Here is my cat class
public class Cat
     private String name;
     private int age;
     private double weight;
     private String breed;
     private boolean declawed;
     private double percentGrowthRate;
     public void setName(String name)
          this.name = name;
     public void setAge(int age)
          this.age = age;
     public void setWeight(double weight)
          this.weight = weight;
     public void setBreed(String breed)
          this.breed = breed;
     public void setDeclawed(boolean declawed)
          this.declawed = declawed;
     public void setDeclawed() // This will get overloaded later
     public void Display()
          System.out.printf("Name: %s\n Age: %d\n Weight: %f\n Breed: %s\n Declawed: %b\n", this.name, this.age,
               this.weight, this.breed, this.declawed);
}And here is my Driver program
import java.util.Scanner;
public class CatDriver
     public static void main(String[] args)
          String catName = "";
          int catAge = 0;
          double catWeight = 0.0;
          String catBreed = "";
          boolean catDeclawed = false;
          Cat cat1, cat2, cat3;
          Scanner stdIn = new Scanner(System.in);
          System.out.print("Enter the name of your cat: ");
          catName = stdIn.nextLine();
          cat1 = new Cat(); // this is the part I'm having trouble with
          System.out.printf("How old is %s: ", catName);
          catAge = stdIn.nextInt();
          cat1.setAge(catAge);
          System.out.printf("How much does %s weigh: ", catName);
          catWeight = stdIn.nextDouble();
          cat1.setWeight(catWeight);
          System.out.printf("What breed of cat is %s: ", catName);
          catBreed = stdIn.nextLine();
          cat1.setBreed(catBreed);
          System.out.printf("Has %s been declawed: ", catName);
          catDeclawed = stdIn.nextBoolean();
          cat1.setDeclawed(catDeclawed);
          cat1.Display();
     } // end main
} // end classWhat I tried doing first was saying
Cat catName = new Cat();But that gave me an error and wouldn't work. So my first question is how do you get input from the user and then name an instance of a class after that input (I don't even know if I'm saying that right but hopefully someone understands ><). I want the user to enter the name Gus and then have it create a new instance of the Cat class called Gus.
My second question is, when the code is compiled and run as is, I have some sort of format error when it gets time to ask me the cat's breed. I get asked for the breed AND the declawed on the same line and never have a chance to put in the breed. I can't see any reason why it would do this so anyone who could clear that up also would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Alright. I think I see what you mean.
System.out.print("Enter the name of your cat: ");
          catName = stdIn.nextLine();
          cat1.setName(catName);I added the last line there and now my output returns the name of the cat instead of null. Let me refine my question a little now.
The program works perfectly if I only have 1 cat but let's say I want to enter 3 cats, or even have a loop that will let me enter as many cats as I want. Am I going to have to keep changing my cat variables
Cat cat1, cat2, cat3;To include the number of cats that I expect to run through? I could do it that way and then just reproduce all the above code changing cat1 to cat2, cat3, etc. but it seems like there has to be a better way to do it.