Using a class within a Vector

Question

ok,
I writing a bank program where a user types in a string which is then broken into tokens. The tokens are separated using .nextToken( ) and the first token is used to determine what command the user wants to perform.
My problem is that I am trying to place a class that Ive created within the vector and I cant seem to be able to get the tokens into the right place or retrieve them when they are needed.
Here is what I have so far, ps I am very new to java.
Project3Functions func = new Project3Functions();
Vector vect = new Vector();
do
String firstLine = func.getLineInput();
StringTokenizer tok = new StringTokenizer(firstLine," ");
String hold = tok.nextToken();
if(hold.equals("newAccount"))
int index = Integer.parseInt(tok.nextToken());
vect.setSize(index);
vect.add(index, new Account());
vect.add(index, Account.firstname = tok.nextToken());
vect.add(index, Account.lastname = tok.nextToken());
System.out.println("a new account was created");
public class Account
static String firstname = "";
static String lastname = "";
I am trying to create a new Account in the position <index> within the vector but I dont think Im referencing firstname and lastname correctly. Also how would I get firstname and lastname out of the vertoc to print them on the screen?
Please someone help me.

Answer 1

Your first problem is that you are defining firstname and lastname as static in your Account class. This means that no matter how many new accounts you create, there will only be one firstname and lastname, which are shared between them. their value will be whatever you set them to most recently.
I think I know why you think you did that, however, and that leads to your second problem. You got complaints from the compiler because you tried to use Account.firstname to set firstname, etc. This only works for static variables. With your code, you are adding three new items to your vector for each new account you create, and you are adding them all to the same index. The last one wins! The other two die.
Make your Account variables non-static and change the adding code:vect.add(index, newAcct = new Account());
newAcct.firstname = tok.nextToken();
newAcct.lastname = tok.nextToken();You should also take care that you only vect.setSize(index); when vect.size() < index; otherwise, if you have items up to 10, and then add an item at 6, items 7 through 10 will be irretrievably lost.
Doug