At end of tether! Reading in variables from a text file

Question

Hi all
My stress factor has gone through the roof because I am trying to read in from a text file (you may have seen some earlir questions about ArrayLists) it's just not working!
The code is below. The result is that it's reading in all of the car data, none of the motorbike and only the first line for the services. It's odd and it's driving me insane!
Here's an example of the data it's reading. There are about 7-10 sets of data per type
<car><reg>AB04CDE</reg><make>Ford</make><model>Fiesta</model><colour>blue</colour><passenger_no>4</passenger_no></car>
<service><service_no>13570</service_no><reg>J605PLE</reg><date>15:07:2006</date><miles>20000</miles><part_replaced>brake_pads</part_replaced><part_replaced>front_tyres</part_replaced></service>
<motorbike><reg>TT05EKJ</reg><make>Triumph</make><model>Speedmaster</model><colour>black</colour><load>20.50</load></motorbike>
Here's the code
while (moreToRead) {
        String line;
        try {
          line = fileReader.getNextStructure();
// collect the data from the file
          if (line.indexOf("<car>")> -1){
            // Select/Extract the registration element
            int nStart = line.indexOf("<reg>");
            int nEnd = line.indexOf("</reg>");
            String reg = line.substring(nStart+5,nEnd);
            // Select/Extract the make element
            nStart = line.indexOf("<make>");
            nEnd = line.indexOf("</make>");
            String make = line.substring(nStart+6,nEnd);
            // Select/Extract the model element
            nStart = line.indexOf("<model>");
            nEnd = line.indexOf("</model>");
            String model = line.substring(nStart+7,nEnd);
            // Select/Extract the colour element
            nStart = line.indexOf("<colour>");
            nEnd = line.indexOf("</colour>");
            String colour = line.substring(nStart+8,nEnd);
            // Select/Extract the passenger_no element
            nStart = line.indexOf("<passenger_no>");
            nEnd = line.indexOf("</passenger_no>");
            String passenger_no = line.substring(nStart+14,nEnd);
            //convert string to int
            int passengerInt = Integer.parseInt(passenger_no);
            // declare new object car and assign the variables then add it to the array.
            Car c = new Car (reg, make, model, colour, passengerInt);
            carList.add(c);
  } else if (line.indexOf("<bike>")> -1) {
         // Select/Extract the registration element
         int nStart = line.indexOf("<reg>");
         int nEnd = line.indexOf("</reg>");
         String reg = line.substring(nStart+5,nEnd);
         // Select/Extract the make element
         nStart = line.indexOf("<make>");
         nEnd = line.indexOf("</make>");
         String make = line.substring(nStart+6,nEnd);
         // Select/Extract the model element
         nStart = line.indexOf("<model>");
         nEnd = line.indexOf("</model>");
         String model = line.substring(nStart+7,nEnd);
         // Select/Extract the colour element
         nStart = line.indexOf("<colour>");
         nEnd = line.indexOf("</colour>");
         String colour = line.substring(nStart+8,nEnd);
         // Select/Extract the load element
         nStart = line.indexOf("<load>");
         nEnd = line.indexOf("</load>");
         String load = line.substring(nStart+6,nEnd);
         //convert load string to double
         double bikeLoad = Double.parseDouble(load);
         // declare new object motorbike and assign the variables then add it to the array.
         Motorbike m = new Motorbike (reg, make, model, colour, bikeLoad);
         bikeList.add(m);
  } else  {
    // Select/Extract the service_number element
    int nStart = line.indexOf("<service_no>");
    int nEnd = line.indexOf("</service_no>");
    String service_no = line.substring(nStart+12,nEnd);
    console.println("service = " + service_no);
    nStart = line.indexOf("<reg>");
    nEnd = line.indexOf("</reg>");
    String reg = line.substring(nStart+5,nEnd);
    console.println("service = " + reg);
    nStart = line.indexOf("<date>");
    nEnd = line.indexOf("</date>");
    String date = line.substring(nStart+6,nEnd);
    console.println("service = " + date);
    nStart = line.indexOf("<miles>");
    nEnd = line.indexOf("</miles>");
    String miles = line.substring(nStart+7,nEnd);
    console.println("service = " + miles);
    nStart = line.indexOf("<part_replaced>");
    nEnd = line.indexOf("</part_replaced>");
    String part_replaced = line.substring(nStart+15,nEnd);
    console.println("service = " + part_replaced);
    //convert string to int
    int dateOfService = Integer.parseInt(date);
    //convert string to double
    double milesAtService = Double.parseDouble(miles);
    //convert service no to unique int
    int serviceNo = Integer.parseInt(service_no);
    // declare new object service and assign the variables then add it to the array.
    Service s = new Service (reg, part_replaced, serviceNo, dateOfService, milesAtService);
      serviceList.add(s);
      catch (Exception e) {
        // Run out of data
        moreToRead = false;
} If anyone can spy anything that could be causing this I love your advice. I simply can't see it.
Jo

Answer 1

hi jos,
we have been asked not to use a parser for this assignment. evil
tutor i think! lolYour example seems to imply that all the <tag> ... </tag> pairs have
to occur on a single line; if that is so, you can do some cheap
programming like this:String getText(String line, String tag) {
   int start= line.indexOf("<"+tag+">");
   int end= line.indexOf("</"+tag+">", start);
   if (start < 0 || end < 0) return null; // no <tag> ... </tag> pair found
   // return the text in between the <tag> ... </tag> tags
   return line.substring(start+tag.length()+2, end);
}kind regards,
Jos