CODEWITHSUNDEEP
java
tekman22
tekman22

Reputation: 233

Java - convert any unit to any unit

I am trying to make a method that will convert any unit to any larger unit. I need to, I'm guessing provide parameters for each input, so I'm guessing it needs to ask the user parameters for..startingNum, conversionFactor, outPutNum, but I'm unsure where to begin. I already made one with inches:

    public Convertor()
{
    inches=0;
    feet=0;
    yards=0;
    leftoverInches=0;
}

/**
 * Mutator method to convert inches to feet
 */
public void convertValuesInchtoFeet(int anyInches)
{
    inches=anyInches;
    feet=anyInches/12;
    leftoverInches= anyInches%12;
    System.out.println(inches+" inches = " +feet+" feet.");
    System.out.println("There are " +leftoverInches +"  leftover inches");

}

Please help! Thanks.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 6527

Answers (4)

henryhollow
henryhollow

Reputation: 11

Consider to use UCUM (Unified Code for Units of Measure). This can help to develop a converter in Java. What UCUM is, is explained by UCUM itself with:

The Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) is a code system intended to include all units of measures being contemporarily used in international science, engineering, and business.

I have used UCUM for my project: calculate.plus

Upvotes: 1

lukastymo
lukastymo

Reputation: 26809

Create enum:

enum Unit {
    INCHES, FEETS, YARDS
}

And your amount class:

class Amount {
    private Unit unit;
    private double amount;
    //getters and setters
}

And main parts: factorsMap which has two parameters (source unit, destination unit) connected with some value:

sourceUnit * value = destinationUnit,

then convert method looks like this:

public void convert(Amount source, Amount destination) {
    double factor = factorsMap.get(source.getUnit(), destination.getUnit());
    destination.setAmount(source.getAmount() * factor);
}

Upvotes: 1

Hari Menon
Hari Menon

Reputation: 35405

Use Enums to store the various unit names. e.g,

public Enum Unit {
    MM, CM, INCH, FEET;
}

Follow the Planets example in the above page. You can create a property called number of millimeters for each unit (assuming millimeters is your smallest unit) and a function getNumberOfMillimeters() to return it. So, CM.getNumberOfMillimeters() would return 10 and so on for each unit. Then, you can create a generic function like this: 

public double convert(Unit unit1, Unit unit2, double input) {
      return input*(unit2.getNumberOfMillimeters()/unit1.getNumberOfMillimeters());
}

I hope it helps. Comment if you find any difficulty in following it.

Upvotes: 2

MarcB
MarcB

Reputation: 559

Any unit to any unit is a bit vague, but generally you need to provide: a) input number b) input unit c) output unit

Assuming you want to make a function that does general conversion between feet, inches and yards.

I'd take a look at the TimeUnit API and see if you get any ideas on a different way of doing it. Its made using enumerations with methods in them, but I don't know how familiar you are with Enums.

Oh yeah, TimeUnit is used like this: TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(1); // Returns 1000

Upvotes: 3

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