Hashtable proiblem.Please Help

Question

Folks.
I am using a Hashtable with the flwg values:
public class TestHashTable {
public static void main(String[] args){
Hashtable balance = new Hashtable();
Enumeration names;
String str;
balance.put("Entertainment","Video");
balance.put("Settings","Setup");
balance.put("Entertainment","Audio");
balance.put("Entertainment","MidpMan");
balance.put("Pim","Setup");
/* Show the Hashtable contents */
names = balance.keys();
while(names.hasMoreElements()){
str = (String)names.nextElement();
System.out.println(str + ":" + balance.get(str));     
       What I am being displayed is:
Pim:Setup
Entertainment:MidpMan
Settings:Setup
Can a hashtable store duplicate keys? Also what can I do to view all the above elements?
An urgent response is appreciated?

Answer 1

In a Hashtable (and any java.util.Map) a single key object maps to a single value object. So if you add multiple values to the same key (as you did) the earlier values get overwritten.
If you want multiple values per key, then make the key map to a java.util.List, and add to that list. Something like:
import java.util.*;
private void helperMethodAddToList(Map m, String key, String value) {
    List vals = m.get(key);
    if (vals == null) {
        vals = new LinkedList();
        m.put(key, vals);
    vals.add(value);
}That's just a suggestion.