Inputting multiple arguments into a method

Question

Hi,
I have somewhat of a problem. I'm trying to create a method, stringQuery, and I do not know how many arguments the method will take.
Allow me to explain my goal, so you can have some idea of what I'm talking about.
I want to create a method that will basically generate a SQL query (no, this is NOT a JDBC question) from text. This method should be able to take a large number of String arguments, because the user might want to select one thing from the database, or he or she might want to select five things, or he or she might want to select twenty things.
Because of this, there is not a set number of arguments for my stringQuery method.
Furthermore, the method should also be able to take a large number of float arguments, in case the user wants to specify where he or she is selecting data from.
It's just a mess, I'm not sure where to start, and I'm pretty damn sure there must be a better way. I can specify that I want an infinite number of Strings by saying something like this:
public static String stringQuery(String... select)But I cannot do the same for floats, or for another String array. Or can I? If I try to do something like:
public static String stringQuery(String... select, float... foo)I get a syntax error, that says "select must be the last parameter". If I change the order, it will say "foo must be the last parameter", obviously. Therefore, I can't do that.
I realize this is a lot of information. However, if someone could please point me in the right direction here (either how to do what I am trying to do, or a better method for what I am trying to do), I would be very appreciative.
Also, please let me know if this didn't make much sense, and what part of it didn't make sense.
Thanks,
Dan

Answer 1

I'm not too sure what you mean by this. Do you know
of any links or resources that can explain this
further?Search for "Object-Oriented Programming".public class SQLBuilder {
  private // some list of selection criteria
  public SQLBuilder() {
    // initialize the list to empty
  public void addCriterion(String name, String value) {
    // add this criterion to the list
  public void addCriterion(String name, int value) {
    // add this criterion to the list
  // many more overloaded addCriterion methods could go here
  public String toString() {
    // compute the SQL string based on the list
}And to use that:SQLBuilder builder = new SQLBuilder();
builder.addCriterion("name", "Arthur Eddington");
builder.addCriterion("answer", 137);
String query = builder.toString();