Date accessor method error

[Josiah smith]

I am having problems with the accessor method at for the generateRandomDate. The method should return a date in MM/DD/YEAR.
//return new Date(month, day, year); But instead I get a long date? This is causing problems using a dateComparator to sort the queue. Can someone identify what I am missing???

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

public class QueueOfDates {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String input, userCommand;
        Date headOfQueue;
        char op;
        int userAnswer;
        int queueMaxSize = -1;  //fakeout compiler
        boolean isQueueBounded;
        LinkedList myQueue = new LinkedList();  //***create empty queue
        userAnswer = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null,
                "Do you want a bounded size queue?",
                "",
                JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
        if (userAnswer == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION) {
            input = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter (maximum) size of queue");
            queueMaxSize = Integer.parseInt(input);
            isQueueBounded = true;
        } else {
            isQueueBounded = false;
        }
        
        do {
            userCommand = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enqueue or Dequeue or Reorder or Quit");
            op = userCommand.toUpperCase().charAt(0);
            if (op == 'E') {
                if (isQueueBounded && myQueue.size() == queueMaxSize) //***
                {
                    System.out.println("  Queue is full!  Can not enqueue.");
                } else {
                    myQueue.addLast(generateRandomDate());   //***** enqueue
                }
            } else if (op == 'D') {
                if (!myQueue.isEmpty()) {   //***** check queue (LinkedList) is not empty
                    //***** dequeue Obect cast to needed type:
                    headOfQueue = (Date) myQueue.removeFirst();
                    System.out.println("Dequeued: " + headOfQueue);
                } else {
                    System.out.println("  Queue is empty!  Nothing to dequeue.");
                }
            }
        	if (op == 'R') {
        		Collections.sort(myQueue, new DateComparator());
        		System.out.println("Sorted! ");
        	}
        	printQueue(myQueue);  //show queue at every operation
        } while (op != 'Q');
        System.exit(0);
    }


    static void printQueue(LinkedList q) {
        System.out.print("Queue is: \n");			//don't normally iterate over a queue.  here for illustration purposes.
        Iterator items = q.iterator();
        while (items.hasNext()) {
            System.out.print("\t" + items.next() + "  \n");
        }
        System.out.println();
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
    public static Date generateRandomDate() {
        int year, month, day = 0;
        year = (int) (Math.random() * 20 + 1995);  // +/- 10 years from 2005
        month = (int) (Math.random() * 12 + 1);
        switch (month) {
            case 1:
            case 3:
            case 5:
            case 7:
            case 8:
            case 10:
            case 12:
                day = (int) (Math.random() * 31 + 1);
                break;
            case 4:
            case 6:
            case 9:
            case 11:
                day = (int) (Math.random() * 30 + 1);
                break;
            case 2:
                if (year % 4 == 0 && year % 100 != 0 || year % 400 == 0) //leap year test
                {
                    day = (int) (Math.random() * 29 + 1);
                } else {
                    day = (int) (Math.random() * 28 + 1);
                }
                break;
        }
        //instantiate a Date object using the 3-arg constructor,
        //then return the object to caller.
        return new Date(month, day, year);
    }
}

The date comprator that I am using is:

import java.util.*;

//**comparator for specifying how to compare Dates.
//***your class implementing Comparator interface which requires the compare method
@SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
public class DateComparator implements Comparator {

    //***must be this signature. Note the two parameters are Objects.
    //***must return 0 if equal, positive if a>b, negative if a<b
    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
	public int compare(Object a, Object B) {
	//***must cast the Object parameters to Dates:
	Date d1 = (Date) a;
	Date d2 = (Date) b;

	if (d1.getYear() > d2.getYear())
	    return 1;
	else if (d1.getYear() < d2.getYear())
	    return -1;
	else if (d1.getMonth() > d2.getMonth())
	    return 1;
	else if (d1.getMonth() < d2.getMonth())
	    return -1;
	else if (d1.getDay() > d2.getDay())
	    return 1;
	else if (d1.getDay() < d2.getDay())
	    return -1;
	else
	    return 0;    //same dates
    }
}

[Paul Clapham]

Here's your code:

return new Date(month, day, year);

Here's the signature of the constructor you chose, directly from the API documentation:

Date(int year, int month, int date)  

Do you see your problem?

And by the way your DateComparator has far too much code in it. Date already implements Comparable<Date> so all you need is to use that, along with a bit of generics to get rid of the casts:

public class DateComparator implements Comparator<Date> {
  public int compare(Date a, Date b) { 
    return a.compareTo(b);
  }  
}  

[Josiah smith]

I am at work and don't have jdk ability right now, but if i used

return new Date(int month, int day, int year);

Will that solve my problem?

[Jeff Verdegan]

Josiah smith wrote:I am at work and don't have jdk ability right now, but if i used

return new Date(int month, int day, int year);

Will that solve my problem?

No.

Look more closely at Paul's post. In particular, look closely at the differences he's pointing out between what the Date constructor expects and what you're passing.

Look very closely. Piece by piece. It's blatantly obvious, if you pay attention.

[Josiah smith]

Ahh. I think I found it. Should be

return new Date(month, date, year);

???

[Winston Gutkowski]

Josiah smith wrote:Ahh. I think I found it. Should be

return new Date(month, date, year);

???

Look again. Hint: The United States is, as far as I know, the only country on the planet to use that insane form of date.

Winston

[Jeff Verdegan]

Josiah smith wrote:Ahh. I think I found it. Should be

return new Date(month, date, year);

???

Isn't that what you already have?

Look again.

return new Date(month, day, year);  
vs.
           Date(int year, int month, int date)