Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Java Java Objects Delivering the MVP Applying a Discount Code

angel juarez
angel juarez
15,886 Points

I'm having problems with the normalizeDiscountCode, I don't know how to make it so it accepts $ and letters.

I believe that was able to make the method to check for letters but I don't know how to make the exception for the $. Any help will be appreciated.

Order.java
public class Order {
  private String itemName;
  private int priceInCents;
  private String discountCode;

  public Order(String itemName, int priceInCents) {
    this.itemName = itemName;
    this.priceInCents = priceInCents;
  }

  public String getItemName() {
    return itemName;
  }

  public int getPriceInCents() {
    return priceInCents;
  }

  public String getDiscountCode() {
    return discountCode;
  }

  private String normalizeDiscountCode(String discountCode){
    for(char letter : discountCode.toCharArray()){
      if(! Character.isLetter(letter)){
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid discount code");
      }
    }
    discountCode = discountCode.toUpperCase();
    return discountCode;
  }

  public void applyDiscountCode(String discountCode) {
    this.discountCode = normalizeDiscountCode(discountCode);
  }
}
Example.java
public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // This is here just for example use cases.

    Order order = new Order(
            "Yoda PEZ Dispenser",
            600);

    // These are valid.  They are letters and the $ character only
    order.applyDiscountCode("abc");
    order.getDiscountCode(); // ABC

    order.applyDiscountCode("$ale");
    order.getDiscountCode(); // $ALE


    try {
      // This will throw an exception because it contains numbers
      order.applyDiscountCode("ABC123");
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException iae) {
      System.out.println(iae.getMessage());  // Prints "Invalid discount code"
    }
    try {
      // This will throw as well, because it contains a symbol.
      order.applyDiscountCode("w@w");
    }catch (IllegalArgumentException iae) {
      System.out.println(iae.getMessage());  // Prints "Invalid discount code"
    }

  }
}

1 Answer

andren
andren
28,558 Points

The answer is simpler than you probably think it will be. Your solution is almost complete, you just need to add a single extra condition to your existing if statement. You are currently checking if the character is not a letter, if you also check that it is not equal to $ using the AND (&&) operator like this:

!Character.isLetter(letter) && letter != '$'

Then your if statement will work as intended, it will only run (and therefore throw the exception) if the character is not a letter and it is not the $ symbol. If the character is a letter, or is the $ symbol then it will not run.