Cannot resolve symbol switch( faces[i] ){

Question

ok, back to "how do i"
... can u take a peek at this & tell me what i've done wrong? Please?
i have an array that holds the card count,
faces[2][][][][3][][][][][] <<<< has 2 aces & 3 5's
and i am trying to acces this array in method EVALUATE
method EVALUATE is called from Class Ex3_10c
and evaluate is an inner class??
problem:
C:\J\jhtp\exerc\chptr10\Ex10_3c.java:100: cannot resolve symbol
symbol : variable faces
location: class Ex10_3c
     switch(faces){
^
C:\J\jhtp\exerc\chptr10\Ex10_3c.java:103: cannot resolve symbol
symbol : variable faces
location: class Ex10_3c
displayHand1.append( "\n" + "Case 1: " + faces[i] );
public class Ex10_3c extends JFrame {
   private Card deck[];
   private Card hand[];
   private int currentCard;
   private JButton dealButton, shuffleButton;
   //private JTextField displayHand1;
   private JTextArea displayHand1;
   private JLabel status;
   public Ex10_3c()
      super( "Card Dealing Program" );
        final int faces[] = new int[13];
        int suits[] = new int[4];
      deck = new Card[ 52 ];
      currentCard = -1;
      hand = new Card[5];
      for ( int i = 0; i < deck.length; i++ )
         deck[ i ] = new Card( i%13,i/13 );
         //deck[i] = new Card(face[i%13],suits[i/13]<<<<WRONG understand what your passing
      Container c = getContentPane();
      c.setLayout( new FlowLayout() );
          displayHand1 = new JTextArea( 9,15);
      dealButton = new JButton( "Deal Hand1" );
      dealButton.addActionListener(
         new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent e )
          displayHand1.setText("");
          int cntr = 0;
          while ( cntr<5 ){
                   Card dealt = dealCard();
                      if ( dealt != null ) {
                      hand[cntr] = dealt;
                       displayHand1.append( "\n" + dealt.toString() );
                         status.setText( "Card #: " + currentCard );
                            if (cntr==5){evaluate();}
               cntr++;
                     else {
                     displayHand1.setText(
                             "NO MORE CARDS TO DEAL" );
                            status.setText(
                               "Shuffle cards to continue" );
                            cntr = 6;
                 }//endo of while
        }//end of actionPerformed
     }//endof actionListener
      c.add( dealButton );
      shuffleButton = new JButton( "Shuffle cards" );
      shuffleButton.addActionListener(
         new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent e )
               displayHand1.setText( "SHUFFLING ..." );
               shuffle();
               displayHand1.setText( "DECK IS SHUFFLED" );
      c.add( shuffleButton );
      displayHand1 = new JTextArea( 9,15 );
      displayHand1.setEditable( false );
      c.add( displayHand1 );
      status = new JLabel();
      c.add( status );
      setSize( 300, 300 );  // set the window size
      show();               // show the window
   public String evaluate(){
          //go thru array & determine if its holding counts > 2, if so then good value
          //you have an array of 13,holding cnt within array for each face-card in hand
          //you have an array of 4,holding cnt within array for each suit-card in hand
          //does hand[] contain 2 of the same numbers
          for (int i=0; i<13; i++){
               switch(faces){
                    case 0:
                         displayHand1.append( "\n" + "Case 1: " + faces[i] );
                    case 1:
                         displayHand1.append( "\n" + "Case 2: " + faces[i] );
                    case 2:
                         displayHand1.append( "\n" + "Case 3: " + faces[i] );
                    case 3:
                         displayHand1.append( "\n" + "Case 4: " + faces[i] );
                    default:
                         displayHand1.append( "\n" + "Case default: ");
               }//end of switch
          }//end of for
     }//end of evaluate
public void shuffle()
currentCard = -1;
for ( int i = 0; i < deck.length; i++ ) {
int j = ( int ) ( Math.random() * 52 );
Card temp = deck[ i ]; // swap
deck[ i ] = deck[ j ]; // the
deck[ j ] = temp; // cards
dealButton.setEnabled( true );
public Card dealCard()
if ( ++currentCard < deck.length )
return deck[ currentCard ];
else {
dealButton.setEnabled( false );
return null;
public static void main( String args[] )
Ex10_3c app = new Ex10_3c();
app.addWindowListener(
new WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing( WindowEvent e )
System.exit( 0 );
class Card {
private int face;
private int suit;
public Card( int f, int s )
face = f;
suit = s;
public int getFace(){
          return face;
     public int getSuit(){
          return suit;
public String toString() { return face + " of " + suit; }

Answer 1

Hey,
faces is not in scope in the evaluate function, because it is declared in the constructor, but used in another method. A variable is valid until the next (matching) }.
Declaring faces outside of the function will do the trick.
Kind regards,
Levi