Get correct answer but fails test.

Question

Hi team,

This test asks me to throw an exception if string contains non letters. I have completed this task, the preview shows the correct message but i still "fail" the test. Any ideas why?

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;
  }

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

  private String normalizeDiscountCode (String discountCode)
  {
    char[] dicountCodeArray = discountCode.toCharArray();
    for (char item : dicountCodeArray)
    {
      if (!Character.isLetter(item) || item != '$')
          {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Invalid discount code");
          }
    }
    return discountCode.toUpperCase();
  }
}

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"
    }

  }
}

Answer 1 · 2019-09-03T15:21:23Z

September 3, 2019 3:21pm

Hello Cordell Hayes .

I like how you approached this challenge, the code was spot on! just a minor adjustment.

Instead of using the pipe operator || you should use the ampersand operator && .

This is because for the exception to be thrown it has to meet both conditions i.e. is not a letter AND is not equal to $ . When you use OR operator, it creates a loophole e.g. if the code is $AbCD ; the loop will first encounter the dollar symbol and will automatically trigger the exception throwing. The loop won't even bother checking the second condition after OR since the first condition has tested true; it just moves on. But when you use the AND operator you force the looping code to check whether the second condition is also met before executing the rest of the code.

See my adjusted code below, hope it will help:

private String normalizeDiscountCode (String discountCode)
  {
    char[] dicountCodeArray = discountCode.toCharArray();
    for (char item : dicountCodeArray)
    {
      if (!Character.isLetter(item) && item != '$')
          {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Invalid discount code");
          }
    }
    return discountCode.toUpperCase();
  }

Cheers man...

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Cordell Hayes

Cordell Hayes

Get correct answer but fails test.

1 Answer

Tonnie Fanadez

Tonnie Fanadez