Understanding class definitions - Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ - page 36

2.9 Printing from methods

Code 2.7 shows the most complex method of the class: printTicket . To help your understand-
ing of the following discussion, make sure that you have called this method on a ticket machine.
You should have seen something like the following printed in the BlueJ terminal window:

##################
# The BlueJ Line
# Ticket
# 500 cents.
##################

This is the longest method we have seen so far, so we shall break it down into more manageable
pieces:

■ The header indicates that the method has a void return type and that it takes no parameters.

■ The body comprises eight statements plus associated comments.
■ The first six statements are responsible for printing what you see in the BlueJ terminal win-
dow: five lines of text and a sixth, blank line.
■ The seventh statement adds the balance inserted by the customer (through previous calls to
insertMoney ) to the running total of all money collected so far by the machine.

■ The eighth statement resets the balance to zero with a basic assignment statement, ready for
the next customer.

Code 2.7
The printTicket
method

/**
* Print a ticket and reduce the
* current balance to zero.
*/
public void printTicket()
{
// Simulate the printing of a ticket.
System.out.println( "##################" );
System.out.println( "# The BlueJ Line" );
System.out.println( "# Ticket" );
System.out.println( "# " + price + " cents." );
System.out.println( "##################" );
System.out.println();

// Update the total collected with the balance.
total = total + balance;
// Clear the balance.
balance = 0;

}