How to write GetItemIndex method

Question

I am creating a ShoppingCart class that represents a shopping cart. I am good with the basics of the class and the getTotalPrice method, but I cannot figure out how to do the getItemIndex problem... "Complete the getItemIndex method as follow: if the itemList has an item with the name passed into the parameter, return the index of that item in the array. Otherwise return -1. "

I know i have to call the Items class, but I do not understand how I can get the name from the item class and return the index.

I have created the Items class and the instance variables and constructor of the ShoppingCart class. I have looked at other shopping Cart methods, but I could not find one that does the getItemIndex

i Tried the code included in the bottom called getItemIndex... I included the getTotalPrice in case it is needed as a reference.

 public class ShoppingCart{


private Items[] itemList;
//TODO: declare the number of distinct items in the cart
    private int numItems = 0;
private static final int INITIAL_CAP = 5; // the initial size of the 
    cart
private static final int GROW_BY=3;


// ---------------------------------------------------------
// Creates an empty shopping cart with a capacity for 5 items.
// ---------------------------------------------------------
public ShoppingCart(){
    itemList = new Items[INITIAL_CAP];
    numItems = 0;
}
public double getTotalPrice(){
    double totalPrice = 0;
    numItems = 0;
    for(int i = 0; i<itemList.length; i++){
        if(itemList[i]!= null){
            totalPrice = totalPrice + (itemList[i].getQuantity()*itemList[i].getPrice());
            numItems++;
        }
    }
    return totalPrice;
}
private int getItemIndex(){
    if(itemList(itemList.getName))
        return Items[itemList.getName];
    else 
        return -1;
} 

}

Here is the items class

     public class Items{
private String name;
private double price;
private int quantity;

public Items (String n, double p, int q){
    name = n;
    price = p;
    quantity = q;
}
public double getPrice(){
    return price;
}
public String getName(){
    return name;
}
public int getQuantity(){
    return quantity;
}
public void addQuantity(int amt){
    int newQuantity = amt + quantity;
    quantity = newQuantity;
}
public String toString(){
    return "item name: " + name + ", item quantity: " + quantity + ", total price: " + (price * quantity);
}

}

I expect a method that is an if statement, but I am not sure how to get the ItemIndex...I am not sure if this requires a for loop either. In another class, I will call this method to use it to simulate a shopping experience.

Answer 1

This should works. You specify nameOfItem you are trying to find. Then iterate through all items in array, if its in array, returns index.

int getItemIndex(String nameOfItem){
   for(int i = 0; i < itemList.length; i++){
      if(itemList[i].getName().equals(nameOfItem){
         return i;
      }
   }
   return -1;
}