Reading through a text file and then sorting

Question

I'm having a lot of problems with this.
I have to read through a text file and I have to split the string up so that it is seperated into individual tokens. A line from the text file looks like this. addEvent(new Bell(tm + 9000)). I have to grab the addEvent, new, Bell, tm and 9000 and store it in a linkedlist. After reading through the whole text file I have to sort the the linked list based on the number. ie: 9000. Is there any way to do this? I currently break up the text file using a StringTokenizer object but then i am uncertain on how to add it to a linked list and then sort each line based on the number. Any help would be appreciated.
Joe

Answer 1

Sorry to bother you Ben but I just can't get my head wrapped around this. Here is exactly what I have to do:
After reading, Events must be stored in the EventSet according to the time they are to occur. Assume that no time number is more than 8 digits long. Restart() must be able to deal appropriately with any order of the Events. To accomplish this have Restart() save the relevant Event information in an LinkedList of strings and sort the Events by time before adding each event to EventSet. Use the <list>.add() to set up your linked list. This is shown in c09:List1.java and Collections.sort(<list>) shown in c09:ListSortSearch. Modify the Bell() to output a single "Bing!". When you read in a Bell event generate the appropriate number of Bell events as indicated by rings. These must be set to the correct times. This is an alternative to generating the new Bell events within Bell(). It will allow them be sorted into their correct time sequence. At this point the output of the program should be identical the original program.
After the intitial start, when restarting Restart() must provide to the user the option to recreate the EventSet from the linked list or read in a new file (supplied by the user). This must be achieved by prompting the user at the console. Please also allow the user the option to quit the program at this stage.
Main Program Code:
public class GreenhouseControls extends Controller
private boolean light = false;
private boolean water = false;
private String thermostat = "Day";
private boolean fans = false;
     private class FansOn extends Event
          public FansOn(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
          // Put hardware control code here to
          // physically turn on the Fans.
          fans = true;
          public String description()
               return "Fan is On";
     private class FansOff extends Event
          public FansOff(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
          // Put hardware control code here to
          // physically turn off the Fans.
          fans = false;
          public String description()
               return "Fans are Off";
     private class LightOn extends Event
          public LightOn(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
               // Put hardware control code here to
               // physically turn on the light.
               light = true;
          public String description()
               return "Light is on";
     private class LightOff extends Event
          public LightOff(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
               // Put hardware control code here to
               // physically turn off the light.
               light = false;
          public String description()
               return "Light is off";
     private class WaterOn extends Event
          public WaterOn(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
               // Put hardware control code here
               water = true;
          public String description()
               return "Greenhouse water is on";
     private class WaterOff extends Event
          public WaterOff(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
               // Put hardware control code here
               water = false;
          public String description()
               return "Greenhouse water is off";
     private class ThermostatNight extends Event
          public ThermostatNight(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
               // Put hardware control code here
               thermostat = "Night";
          public String description()
               return "Thermostat on night setting";
     private class ThermostatDay extends Event
          public ThermostatDay(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
               // Put hardware control code here
               thermostat = "Day";
          public String description()
               return "Thermostat on day setting";
     // An example of an action() that inserts a
     // new one of itself into the event list:
     private int rings;
     private class Bell extends Event
          public Bell(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()
               // Ring every 2 seconds, 'rings' times:
               System.out.println("Bing!");
               if(--rings > 0)
          addEvent(new Bell(System.currentTimeMillis() + 2000));
          public String description()
               return "Ring bell";
     private class Restart extends Event
          public Restart(long eventTime)
               super(eventTime);
          public void action()      
               long tm = System.currentTimeMillis();
               // Instead of hard-wiring, you could parse
               // configuration information from a text
               // file here:
          try
          BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("Event Config.txt"));
          String str;
               String[] l1 = new String[5];
               LinkedList l2 = new LinkedList();
          while((str = in.readLine()) != null )
                    StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(str, "(+); ");
                    int nIndex = 0;
                    while (st.hasMoreTokens())
                         l1[nIndex] = st.nextToken();
                    //System.out.println(st.nextToken());
                         nIndex++;
                    l2.add(l1);
               String[] s1 = (String[])l2.get(1);
               for(int i = 0; i < s1.length; i++)
                    System.out.println(s1);
               Comparator comp = s1[4];
               Collections.sort(l2, comp);
          in.close();
          catch (IOException e)
rings = 5;
addEvent(new ThermostatNight(tm));
addEvent(new LightOn(tm + 1000));
addEvent(new LightOff(tm + 2000));
addEvent(new WaterOn(tm + 3000));
addEvent(new WaterOff(tm + 8000));
addEvent(new Bell(tm + 9000));
addEvent(new ThermostatDay(tm + 10000));
// Can even add a Restart object!
addEvent(new Restart(tm + 20000));*/
public String description() {
return "Restarting system";
public static void main(String[] args) {
GreenhouseControls gc =
new GreenhouseControls();
long tm = System.currentTimeMillis();
gc.addEvent(gc.new Restart(tm));
gc.run();
} ///:~
Examples File:
addEvent(new ThermostatNight(tm));
addEvent(new Bell(tm + 9000));
addEvent(new Restart(tm + 20000));
addEvent(new LightOn(tm + 1000));
addEvent(new WaterOn(tm + 3000));
rings = 5;
addEvent(new FansOn(tm + 4000));
addEvent(new LightOff(tm + 2000));
addEvent(new FansOff(tm + 6000));
addEvent(new WaterOff(tm + 8000));
addEvent(new WindowMalfunction(tm + 15000));
addEvent(new ThermostatDay(tm + 10000));
EventSet.java Code:
// This is just a way to hold Event objects.
class EventSet {
private Event[] events = new Event[100];
private int index = 0;
private int next = 0;
public void add(Event e) {
if(index >= events.length)
return; // (In real life, throw exception)
events[index++] = e;
public Event getNext() {
boolean looped = false;
int start = next;
do {
next = (next + 1) % events.length;
// See if it has looped to the beginning:
if(start == next) looped = true;
// If it loops past start, the list
// is empty:
if((next == (start + 1) % events.length)
&& looped)
return null;
} while(events[next] == null);
return events[next];
public void removeCurrent() {
events[next] = null;
public class Controller {
private EventSet es = new EventSet();
public void addEvent(Event c) { es.add(c); }
public void run() {
Event e;
while((e = es.getNext()) != null) {
if(e.ready()) {
e.action();
System.out.println(e.description());
es.removeCurrent();
} ///:~
Event.java Code
abstract public class Event {
private long evtTime;
public Event(long eventTime) {
evtTime = eventTime;
public boolean ready() {
return System.currentTimeMillis() >= evtTime;
abstract public void action();
abstract public String description();
} ///:~
Is this problem easier than I think it is? I just don't know what to add to the linkedList. A LinkedList within a linkedList? I find this problem pretty difficult. Any help is muchly appreciated.
Joe