I'm confused about this challenge.

Question

Hello,

I'm having trouble with this challenge. I think I'm doing it correctly, I kind of followed the same logic as adding songs to our Karaoke machine and then taking them out of the queue but this doesn't seem to work here. Unless I'm doing something wrong. Any tips?

CallCenter.java

import java.util.ArrayDeque;
import java.util.Queue;

public class CallCenter {
  Queue<CustomerSupportRep> mSupportReps;

  public CallCenter(Queue<CustomerSupportRep> queue) {
    mSupportReps = queue;
  }

  public void acceptCustomer(Customer customer) {
    CustomerSupportRep csr;
    /********************************************
     * TODO (1) 
     * Wait until there is an available rep in the queue.
     * While there is not one available, playHoldMusic
     * HINT: That while assignmentcheck loop syntax we used to 
      *      read files seems pretty similar
     ********************************************
     */
    while ((csr = mSupportReps.poll()) != null) {
      playHoldMusic();
    } csr = mSupportReps.poll();



    /********************************************
     * TODO (2) 
     * After we have assigned the rep, call the 
     * assist method and pass in the customer
     ********************************************
     */csr.assist(customer);

    /********************************************
     * TODO (3) 
     * Since the customer support rep is done with
     * assisting, put them back into the queue.
     ********************************************
     */mSupportReps.add(csr);

  }

  public void playHoldMusic() {
    System.out.println("Smooooooth Operator.....");
  }

}

CustomerSupportRep.java

import java.util.List;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class CustomerSupportRep {
  private String mName;
  private List<Customer> mAssistedCustomers;

  public CustomerSupportRep(String name) {
    mName = name;
    mAssistedCustomers = new ArrayList<Customer>();
  }

  public void assist(Customer customer) {
    System.out.printf("Hello %s, my name is %s, how can I assist you.%n",
                      customer.getName(),
                      mName);
    System.out.println("...");
    System.out.println("Is there anything else I can help you with?");
    mAssistedCustomers.add(customer);
  }

  public List<Customer> getAssistedCustomers() {
    return mAssistedCustomers;
  }

}

Customer.java

public class Customer {
  private String mName;

  public Customer(String name) {
    mName = name;
  }

  public String getName() {
    return mName;
  }

}

Answer 1 · 2015-04-23T18:59:35Z

April 23, 2015 6:59pm

In your while loop you are actually setting the csr variable and pulling it out. Therefore when the while loop ends, you have already set the csr value. You don't need to call it again, that is what is causing your error.

Good job!

Hope that helps!

Answer 2 · 2015-04-23T17:21:41Z

April 23, 2015 5:21pm

Hi All,

Actually I found the answer on the forum. In-case someone else is running into this. I was using .poll() to see if the queue was empty. But that also removes the CSR from the queue. Thus we must use .peek() in the beginning and if it is not null then remove from the queue.

Issue:

while ((csr = mSupportReps.poll()) != null) { playHoldMusic(); } csr = mSupportReps.poll(); csr.assist(customer); mSupportReps.add(csr);

Solution: while(mSupportReps.peek() == null) { playHoldMusic(); } csr = mSupportReps.poll(); csr.assist(customer); mSupportReps.add(csr);

Thanks to Rob Bridges and Christopher Augg at this forum:

https://teamtreehouse.com/forum/why-does-poll-not-work-to-determine-if-the-queue-is-empty-in-the-call-center-challenge

for clarifying this.

Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Looking to learn something new?

Taha Abbasi

Taha Abbasi

I'm confused about this challenge.

2 Answers

Craig Dennis

Craig Dennis

Taha Abbasi

Taha Abbasi

Taha Abbasi

Taha Abbasi