Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Java Java Objects Delivering the MVP Applying a Discount Code

Todd Anderson
Todd Anderson
4,260 Points

How do you convert a string to check that it consists only of letters?

In the video his methods are already using char parameters, in this example we are asked to validate a string to make sure it consists of only letters. I have tried several options and all result in incomparable types.

Order.java
public class Order {
  private String itemName;
  private int priceInCents;
  private String discountCode;

  public Order(String itemName, int priceInCents) {
    this.itemName = itemName;
    this.priceInCents = priceInCents;
  }
  private String normalizeDiscountCode(String discountCode){

    if (! discountCode.isLetter() || discountCode != "$"){
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid discount code");}
    return discountCode.toUpperCase();}

  public String getItemName() {
    return itemName;
  }

  public int getPriceInCents() {
    return priceInCents;
  }

  public String getDiscountCode() {
    return discountCode;
  }

  public void applyDiscountCode(String discountCode) {
    this.discountCode = normalizeDiscountCode(discountCode);
  }
}
Example.java
public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // This is here just for example use cases.

    Order order = new Order(
            "Yoda PEZ Dispenser",
            600);

    // These are valid.  They are letters and the $ character only
    order.applyDiscountCode("abc");
    order.getDiscountCode(); // ABC

    order.applyDiscountCode("$ale");
    order.getDiscountCode(); // $ALE


    try {
      // This will throw an exception because it contains numbers
      order.applyDiscountCode("ABC123");
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException iae) {
      System.out.println(iae.getMessage());  // Prints "Invalid discount code"
    }
    try {
      // This will throw as well, because it contains a symbol.
      order.applyDiscountCode("w@w");
    }catch (IllegalArgumentException iae) {
      System.out.println(iae.getMessage());  // Prints "Invalid discount code"
    }

  }
}

1 Answer

You need to check each letter in the string to see if it's correct or not. Just loop through each character and check it. One way to do it:

private String normalizeDiscountCode(String discountCode){
    for (int i = 0; i < discountCode.length(); i++) {
        char c = discountCode.charAt(i);
        if (!Character.isLetter(c) && c != '$') {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid discount code");   
        } 
    }
    return discountCode.toUpperCase();
 }