i am stuck on remaining tries

Hi Hannah,

There seems to be something wrong with the challenge you're on so let's go right back to the beginning and walk through this. Refresh the browser page to restart the challenge. You start with this code:

public class Tweet {
  private String mText;

  public Tweet(String text) {
    mText = text;
  }

  public String getText() {
    return mText;
  }
}

The question is: Please add a new constant to store the maximum number of characters allowed which is 140. Use the proper access level modifiers to make it unchangeable and accessible right off of the class. Follow the proper naming convention.

So, for that you use the ALL_CAPS naming convention and add a line right at the top of the class:

public class Tweet {
  public final static int MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT = 140;
.
.

The rest of the code is the same. Next, the question states: Add a new method that returns the remaining characters available, based on the length of what is currently stored in mText.

That is where you've met with some challenges. We're creating a new method, so that's inside the class' curly braces and outside of any of the other braces in there:

public class Tweet {
  public final static int MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT = 140;
  private String mText;

  public Tweet(String text) {
    mText = text;
  }

  public String getText() {
    return mText;
  }

// let's put it here!

} // <-- must be before this

The method is public it returns an int and takes no parameters, and is called getRemainingCharacters. That looks like:

public int getRemainingCharacters() {       
  // do some stuff in here
}

Inside the method we subtract from the CONSTANT we created first, the length of the mText member variable. We get that by chaining the .length() method to the variable. We want to return the result of that:

public int getRemainingCharacters() {      
  return MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT - mText.length();
}

That goes inside the class where we said above, so your final code looks like:

public class Tweet {
  public final static int MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT = 140;
  private String mText;

  public Tweet(String text) {
    mText = text;
  }

  public String getText() {
    return mText;
  }

  // let's put it here!
  public int getRemainingCharacters() {      
    return MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT - mText.length();
  }
}

That should work for you - I tested it here! Let me know how you get on. And sorry for the long answer - I wanted to make sure you had everything right.

Steve.

The error you mention is caused when the method is put outside the class - I just replicated that here. So, move your method inside the last curly brace of the class and it should work fine - or it'll throw a different error.

Keep me posted.

Steve.

OK - so you've declared the constant called MAX_NUM_CHARS at the top of the class, that's fine. Then, when you've come to use it, you've used the MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT name that I used in my example. You'll need to use an identical name in both places as they are referring to the same thing.

So, either:

public class Tweet {
 private String mText;
  public static final int MAX_NUM_CHARS = 140; // this variable
.
.
.
public int getRemainingCharacters() {      
    return MAX_NUM_CHARS - mText.length(); // used here; same name
  }
}

or this:

public class Tweet {
  public final static int MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT = 140; // same name here
  private String mText;
.
.
.
  // let's put it here!
  public int getRemainingCharacters() {      
    return MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT - mText.length(); // and here
  }
}

So, be consistent and use the same variable name in both places - decide which one you want to use; it doesn't matter - and you're done!

Not really. That code states 2 errors: on the i of the "int" & on the "}". I only know that you need to delete int and these breackets: { }. The only mistake is on the "getRemainingCharacters" Can you find the correct way to fix the mistake?

Steve, this is the code: public getRemainingCharacters() return MAX_CHARACTERS - mText.length();

That didn't help. The codes states 2 syntax errors: on the int and the curly 2nd curly brace. Can you find the correction on the 2 errors for the code.

You did good except for 1 error the code found out on now: MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT. Can you find out the correct way? The code I did looks like this: public int getRemainingCharacters() {
return MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT - mText.length(); } }

You got it. The code I did looks like this:

public class Tweet {
 private String mText;
  public static final int MAX_NUM_CHARS = 140;

  public Tweet(String text) {
    mText = text;
  }

  public String getText() {
    return mText;
  }

public int getRemainingCharacters() {      
    return MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT - mText.length();
  }
}

And one more thing, I will post you the preview to help you see what i mean:

./Tweet.java:14: error: cannot find symbol
    return MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT - mText.length();
           ^ 
  symbol:   variable MAX_CHARACTER_LIMIT
  location: class Tweet
1 error

The ^ is pointing on the M.

That helps. Thank you.