Passing an array of objects to a method.

Question

Hi I'm building a program to act as a CD Collection Database. An array of objects represents the entries: Artist, Album and NUmber of Tracks. What I want to do is in the Menu, user to choose wether he or she wants to Add new CD to collection, print or quit, if he/she does then I call a method addNewEntry, to which i pass the array of objects called array, and I want the user to enter the entries each in turn, after that i want the program to return to the method Menu and ask if he or she wants to quit, print or add new cd. The idea is that the details entered already would be contained in the array of objects [0], so the next set of details go to [1] and then to [2] and so on. I have build up the code at this stage but i get an error while copmiling and im totally stuck. Im a beginner in Java.
Here is the code:
//by Andrei Souchinski
//Mini Project: CD Collection Database
//Designed for a grade F
//Defining new class of objects to represent CD database entries.
//A database entry consists of the artist name, the album name and number of tracks.
//A single entry can be entered by the user typing the details in and the entry can be printed out.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;
public class MiniProject
     public static void main (String[] args)     
          System.out.println("\tCD Collection Database\n");
          System.out.println("1. Add new Compact Disk to the Database");
          System.out.println("2. Print out current database entries");
          System.out.println("3. Quit\n");          
          theMenu();
     public static void theMenu()
          CompactDisk [] array = new CompactDisk[20];
          String menu;
          menu = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("What would you like to do?");
          if (menu.equals ("3"))
               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Thank You For Using our Service! \nGoodbye!");
               System.exit(0);     
          if (menu.equals ("2"))
          if (menu.equals ("1"))
          addNewEntry(array);
          else
               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Please select your choice form the menu");
               theMenu();
     public int addNewEntry(int newcd[])
               int i;          
               newcd[i] = (JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter the name of the Artist"));
               newcd[i] = (JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter the name of the Album"));
               newcd[i] = (Integer.parseInt (JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter the number of tracks on this album")));
//A Compact Disk entry consists of three attributes: artist name, album and number of tracks
class CompactDisk
     public String artistname; //Instance variables for artistname, albumname and numberoftracks.
     public String albumname;
     public int numberoftracks;
     public CompactDisk(String n, String a, int t)
     artistname = n; //Stores the 1st argument passed after "new Dates" into day
     albumname = a; //Stores the 2nd argument passed after "new Dates" into month
     numberoftracks = t; //Stores the 3rd argument passed after "new Dates" into year
     //When called from the main method, prints the contents of
     //artistname, albumname and numberoftracks on to the screen.
     public void printCompactDisk ()
               String output = "\n " + artistname + "\n " + albumname + "\n " + numberoftracks;
               System.out.println(output);
}

Answer 1

//by Andrei Souchinski
//Mini Project: CD Collection Database
//Designed for a grade F
//Defining new class of objects to represent CD database entries.
//A database entry consists of the artist name, the album name and number of tracks.
//A single entry can be entered by the user typing the details in and the entry can be printed out.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;
public class MiniProject
     public static void main (String[] args)     
          System.out.println("\tCD Collection Database\n");
          System.out.println("1. Add new Compact Disk to the Database");
          System.out.println("2. Print out current database entries");
          System.out.println("3. Quit\n");          
            theMenu();
     public static void theMenu()
          String menu;
          menu = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("What would you like to do?");
          if (menu.equals ("3"))
               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Thank You For Using our Service! \nGoodbye!");
               System.exit(0);     
          if (menu.equals ("2"))
          if (menu.equals ("1"))
          addNewEntry();
          else
               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Please select your choice form the menu");
               theMenu();
     public static void addNewEntry()
               CompactDisk [] array = new CompactDisk[20];
               int i = 0;
               array.artistname = (JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter the name of the Artist"));
               array[i].albumname = (JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter the name of the Album"));
               array[i].numberoftracks = (Integer.parseInt (JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter the number of tracks on this album")));
//A Compact Disk entry consists of three attributes: artist name, album and number of tracks
class CompactDisk
     public String artistname; //Instance variables for artistname, albumname and numberoftracks.
     public String albumname;
     public int numberoftracks;
     public CompactDisk(String n, String a, int t)
     artistname = n; //Stores the 1st argument passed after "new Dates" into day
     albumname = a; //Stores the 2nd argument passed after "new Dates" into month
     numberoftracks = t; //Stores the 3rd argument passed after "new Dates" into year
     //When called from the main method, prints the contents of
     //artistname, albumname and numberoftracks on to the screen.
     public void printCompactDisk ()
               String output = "\n " + artistname + "\n " + albumname + "\n " + numberoftracks;
               System.out.println(output);
I've edited the code, itcompiles, but gives an error when i ran it..:(