Wizard1988

You can write a method which shows the options and receives the input. Have all your if statements for the options and then just an else for anything else. Next you can just return a boolean. If everything went ok then return true and if they type in somethign else return false.

tumbleTetris

yeah, thanks...

I was thinking of using arrays instead, because how I'm doing it currently means it will take a very long time.

I have to ask if its oging to be afternoon or evening, which breaks it into two groups, then I have to ask which seat they want, from a choice of 3, then finally I have to ask if they wan't concession tickets.

If I do it with arrays, I think I can forgo all the if's and elses, and in the end process it all in one go...

though I don't know how I can control the input if I use arrays, for instance if the options are 1, 2 or x, I don't know how I can tell the user of the error and give them a second chance of doing it...

If I'm headed down the wrong path with arrays, please tell me...

lectricpharaoh

You use data validation. When you get the data from the user, you are expecting it to match certain criteria. Check that it matches, and if it does not, you query the user again.

You can use repeated conditional statements to test for validity, or (in certain cases, such as yours) build up a list of valid inputs (in an array, for example), and then iterate through the list, checking each time.
Sure you can. Probably the easiest way is to set a 'validity' flag when you test the input. For example, say you have a switch() block, or series of if() statements. Set the flag to false before you get the input. Then you test it in each case or if() statement, and if it is valid, you set the flag to true. However, only set it to false at the beginning of the testing process (otherwise, it might be set to true when you test for valid input A, and then to false when it's not valid input B, resulting in your program rejecting perfectly valid input). You then use this flag as the test condition in a loop:

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