Static method and variables doubts

Question

i have a doubt
i have the following method
private static void checkActionType(String action) {
if (action.startsWith(" a")) {
++totalAddedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith(" c")) {
++totalChangedFolders;
} else if (action.startsWith(" p")) {
++totalPersonalizedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith(" r")) {
++totalRemovedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith(" v")) {
++totalViewedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith(" u")) {
++totalUpdateActions;
to use it, i need to declare my int variables static, because im calling this method from another static method that is called by main method.
but this can cause me problems ?
if i have two instances of this class running, my statics int will show the right value?
there is a better approach?

Answer 1

Here is my class, i want some advices to know if i am doing right, because everything is a little new for me.
My class, read a log file and based upon a regular expression, it can retrieve a general statistic or a personal statistic.
package br.com.organox.aggregator;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Vector;
import org.apache.oro.text.regex.*;
public class LogFileReader {
private static Pattern regexpPattern;
private static PatternMatcher patternMatcher;
private static PatternCompiler patternCompiler;
private static PatternMatcherInput patternInput;
private static MatchResult matchResult;
private static final String patternString = "^[^\']+User\\s+\'([^\']+)\'[^\']+session\\s+\'([^\']+)\'\\s+(\\S+)";
// Integers used to store number of user, sessions and specific actions
private static int totalUsers;
private static int totalSessions;
private static int totalAddedActions;
private static int totalChangedFolders;
private static int totalPersonalizedActions;
private static int totalRemovedActions;
private static int totalUpdateActions;
private static int totalViewedActions;
public static void main(String[] args) {
if (args.length == 0) {
System.out.println("No file name was specified");
printClassUsage();
} else if (args.length == 1) {
printGeneralData(args[0]);
} else if (args.length == 2) {
System.out.println("You must set file name, data value and data type in order to " +
"this class run properly");
printClassUsage();
} else {
printSelectedData(args[0],args[1],args[2]);
public static void printGeneralData(String fileName) {
String data = "";
//Users and the Session Vector are used to avoid count repeated values.
Vector usersVector = new Vector();
Vector sessionVector = new Vector();
patternCompiler = new Perl5Compiler();
patternMatcher = new Perl5Matcher();
try {
regexpPattern = patternCompiler.compile(patternString);
} catch (MalformedPatternException mpe) {
System.out.println("Error Compiling Pattern");
System.out.println(mpe.getMessage());
try {
FileReader fileRead = new FileReader(fileName);
BufferedReader buffRead = new BufferedReader(fileRead);
while ((data = buffRead.readLine())!= null) {
patternInput = new PatternMatcherInput(data);
while(patternMatcher.contains(patternInput,regexpPattern)) {
matchResult = patternMatcher.getMatch();
// Avoid to insert repeated data in user and session Vectors
if (usersVector.lastIndexOf(matchResult.group(1)) == -1) {
usersVector.add(matchResult.group(1));
if (sessionVector.lastIndexOf(matchResult.group(2)) == -1) {
sessionVector.add(matchResult.group(2));
increaseActionType(matchResult.group(3));
for (int i=0;i<usersVector.size();i++) {
totalUsers++;
for (int i=0;i<sessionVector.size();i++) {
totalSessions++;
fileRead.close();
buffRead.close();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
System.out.println("An I/O error occurred while getting log file data");
ioe.printStackTrace();
System.out.println("Users logged : " + totalUsers);
System.out.println("Sessions opened : " + totalSessions);
System.out.println("Added contents : " + totalAddedActions);
System.out.println("Changed folders : " + totalChangedFolders);
System.out.println("Personalized contents : " + totalPersonalizedActions);
System.out.println("Removed contents : " + totalRemovedActions);
System.out.println("Viewed Contents : " + totalViewedActions);
System.out.println("Updated contents : " + totalUpdateActions);
public static void printSelectedData(String fileName,String value,String valueType) {
String data = "";
String user = "";
//Flag used to print the right result on screen
String printFlag = "";
Vector sessionVector = new Vector();
Vector userVector = new Vector();
Vector actionVector = new Vector();
patternCompiler = new Perl5Compiler();
patternMatcher = new Perl5Matcher();
try {
regexpPattern = patternCompiler.compile(patternString);
} catch (MalformedPatternException mpe) {
System.out.println("Error Compiling Pattern");
System.out.println(mpe.getMessage());
try {
FileReader fileRead = new FileReader(fileName);
BufferedReader buffRead = new BufferedReader(fileRead);
while ((data = buffRead.readLine())!= null) {
patternInput = new PatternMatcherInput(data);
while(patternMatcher.contains(patternInput,regexpPattern)) {
matchResult = patternMatcher.getMatch();
if (valueType.equalsIgnoreCase("-user")) {
printFlag = "userPrint";
if ((matchResult.group(1).equalsIgnoreCase(value))) {
userVector.add(matchResult.group(1));
// avoid insert a repeated value inside session vector.
if (sessionVector.lastIndexOf(matchResult.group(2)) == -1) {
sessionVector.add(matchResult.group(2));
increaseActionType(matchResult.group(3));
if (userVector.size() == 0) {
printFlag = "userPrintError";
} else if (valueType.equalsIgnoreCase("-session")) {
printFlag = "sessionPrint";
if ((matchResult.group(2).equalsIgnoreCase(value))) {
user = matchResult.group(1);
sessionVector.add(matchResult.group(2));
increaseActionType(matchResult.group(3));
if (sessionVector.size() == 0) {
printFlag = "sessionPrintError";
} else if (valueType.equalsIgnoreCase("-action")) {
printFlag = "actionPrint";
if ((matchResult.group(3).equalsIgnoreCase(value))) {
if (userVector.lastIndexOf(matchResult.group(1)) == -1) {
userVector.add(matchResult.group(1));
actionVector.add(matchResult.group(3));
if (actionVector.size() == 0) {
printFlag = "actionPrintError";
fileRead.close();
buffRead.close();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
System.out.println("An I/O error occurred while getting log file data");
ioe.printStackTrace();
if (printFlag.equals("userPrint")) {
for (int i=0;i<sessionVector.size();i++) {
totalSessions++;
System.out.println("Sessions opened by user " + value + " : " + totalSessions);
System.out.println("Added contents by user " + value + " : " + totalAddedActions);
System.out.println("Changed folders by user " + value + " : " + totalChangedFolders);
System.out.println("Personalized contents by user " + value + " : " + totalPersonalizedActions);
System.out.println("Removed contents by user " + value + " : " + totalRemovedActions);
System.out.println("Viewed contents by user " + value + " : " + totalViewedActions);
System.out.println("Updated contents by user " + value + " : " + totalUpdateActions);
} else if (printFlag.equals("userPrintError")) {
System.out.println("This user " + value + " was not found on log file");
} else if (printFlag.equals("sessionPrint")){
System.out.println("Session " + value + " was opened by user " + user);
System.out.println("Added contents by session " + value + " : " + totalAddedActions);
System.out.println("Changed folders by session " + value + " : " + totalChangedFolders);
System.out.println("Personalized contents by session " + value + " : " + totalPersonalizedActions);
System.out.println("Removed contents by session " + value + " : " + totalRemovedActions);
System.out.println("Viewed Contents by session " + value + " : " + totalViewedActions);
System.out.println("Updated contents by session " + value + " : " + totalUpdateActions);
} else if (printFlag.equals("sessionPrintError")){
System.out.println("This session " + value + " was not found on log file");
} else if (printFlag.equals("actionPrint")){
System.out.println("Action " + value + " was performed " + actionVector.size() +
" times for " + userVector.size() + " different user(s)");
} else if (printFlag.equals("actionPrintError")){
System.out.println("This action " + value + " was not found on log file");
} else {
System.out.println("Wrong search type!");
System.out.println("Accepted types are: ");
System.out.println("-user -> Search for a specified user");
System.out.println("-session -> Search for a specified session");
System.out.println("-action -> Search for a specified action");
private static void increaseActionType(String action) {
if (action.startsWith("a")) {
++totalAddedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith("c")) {
++totalChangedFolders;
} else if (action.startsWith("p")) {
++totalPersonalizedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith("r")) {
++totalRemovedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith("v")) {
++totalViewedActions;
} else if (action.startsWith("u")) {
++totalUpdateActions;
}