Using multiple variable names in a for statement?

Question

I have searched, and I just can't seem to find how to do something, I do not have the code atm, but easy enough to explain...
I have a GUI that has 3 rows of 3 fields...
emp1Name, emp1Phone, emp1Fax
emp2Name, emp2Phone, emp2Fax
emp3Name, emp3Phone, emp3Fax
I also have a tabbed file that has the input for each of these fields, it looks something like...
Mike 602-111-1111 602-111-1112
Dave 602-222-2222 602-222-2223
Bethany 602-333-3333 602-333-3334
Here is my method...
    private void getFile() {
        myFile = new File("C:/javainput.txt");
        msgField.setText("Welcome!");
        try {
            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(myFile));
            String s;
            while ((s=br.readLine())!=null){
                String f[] = s.split("\t");
                emp1Name.setText(f[0]);
                emp1Phone.setText(f[1]);
                emp1Fax.setText(f[2]);
            br.close();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            msgField.setText("INPUT FILE NOT FOUND!");
    }My question is, how do I cycle through emp1, emp2 and emp3 in a for statement. I tried empName, but that obviously isn't correct.
Help, or point me to where I can read on this?
Thank you!
Edited by: 805764 on Oct 27, 2010 12:10 PM

Answer 1

Do one thing at a time. First, define your Employee class. Compile it, debug it. Test it. Make sure that you can create Employees, set their names, phone numbers, etc., and get them back.
Once that works, familiarize yourself with arrays, if necessary, completely separately from your Employee class.
Once you're comfortable with arrays and with defining a new class (i.e., Employee), write a tiny test program that just, say, creates an array of a certain size and populates it with Employees, and then iterates over it printing out each Employee's information to the console.
Once that works, set it aside. Now work on a GUI. Start by just displaying one or two hardcoded names and phone numbers. Once that works, add a bit more to it--say by getting that hardcoded information from inside Employee objects.
And so on.
Right now you're biting off too much at once. Keep working on one very small new step at a time, only move on to the next step once the previous one is solid, and do the steps independently of each other first, and then combine their respective results. It may sound like a lot of work, but I promise you, in the end, it's faster, easier, and far less frustrating to do it this way.
At any given step, if you get stuck, post a question here, providing an [url http://sscce.org]SSCCE that shows what you're trying to do, and clearly explain exactly what problems you're having.