How can I use a string as a month name parameter

Question

I have an excel file with dates in this format 31/08/13. What I need to do is to calculate a monthly interest based on the dates. The problem is that I need to know the number of days of the month.

Here is how I'm getting the month name inside of a loop:

getMonth = new DateFormatSymbols().getMonths()[currentMonth-1]; //february

where getMonth is a string and currentMonth is the month number.

Now I'm trying to get the number of days with:

Calendar mycal = new GregorianCalendar(1999, Calendar.FEBRUARY, 1);
int daysInMonth = mycal.getActualMaximum(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH); // 28

My problem is that I can not(and its logic) replace FEBRUARY with the getMonth string, which is containing the month's name.

I know there is a much easier way to achieve it, but I'm really not able to spot it.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 18 '13 at 11:14

4

The type of Calendar.FEBRUARY and other constants in Calendar class is int. You should change getMonth to an int, to make the constructor compile. Or, directly use currentMonth - 1 in the constructor parameter, and by pass the creation of getMonth variable.

P.S: getMonth is really not a good name for a variable denoting a month. It's not a getter is it?

answered Oct 18 '13 at 11:14

Rohit Jain

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how can I cast the string `february` to int? – Slim Oct 18 '13 at 11:16
@Slim Don't create `getMonth` at all. Just use `currentMonth - 1`. – Rohit Jain Oct 18 '13 at 11:18
I can't replace `FEBRUARY` with any integer. It says: `Calendar cannot be resolved to a variable` – Slim Oct 18 '13 at 11:26
@Slim You have to replace `Calendar.FEBRUARY` with `currentMonth - 1`, in the constructor. – Rohit Jain Oct 18 '13 at 11:27
Got it! HUGE thanks for the help! I knew that I'm missing something small! Thanks again! – Slim Oct 18 '13 at 11:29

How can I use a string as a month name parameter

1 Answers1