import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class PasswordGenerator
{

public static void main(String[] args)

{
// Create Scanner object
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);

// create variables
int userChoice;
int randomHex; //holds array

// Tell user what the program will do
System.out.println("This program will randomly generate a password for you");

//ask user how many characters they want (minimum 6, maximum 16)
System.out.println("please enter how many characters do you want in your password (minimum 6, maximum 16)? ");
userChoice = input.nextInt();

//create arrays holding hex chars and secure chars
char[] arrayHex = { 'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u',
'v','w','x','y','z','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P',
'Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9'
,'=','+','-','$','#','@','*','/','^','~' };
//start loop
if(userChoice == 6)
{
//generate random number
randomHex = (int)(Math.random() * arrayHex.length);
System.out.print("your" + randomHex);
//stub
}//end for if
}
//end main
}
//end class

what kind of a loop are you using for "//start loop" ?

import java.util.Scanner;

/**
* Program Name:D_A_PasswordGenerator.java
* Purpose: generate random password using A-Z and 1-9
* Coder:Denis Aleta
* Date:Nov 23, 2011
*/
import java.util.Scanner;
public class D_A_PasswordGenerator
{

public static void main(String[] args)

{
// Create Scanner object
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);

// create variables
int userChoice;
int randomHex; //holds array

// Tell user what the program will do
System.out.println("This program will randomly generate a password for you");

//ask user how many characters they want (minimum 6, maximum 16)
System.out.println("please enter how many characters do you want in your password (minimum 6, maximum 16)? ");
userChoice = input.nextInt();

//create arrays holding hex chars and secure chars
char[] arrayHex = { 'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u',
'v','w','x','y','z','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P',
'Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9'
,'=','+','-','$','#','@','*','/','^','~' };
//start loop
if(userChoice == 12)
{
//generate random number
randomHex = (int)(Math.random() * arrayHex.length);
System.out.println("your randomly generated password is " + randomHex);
//stub


}//finish this next day

}
//end main
}
//end class

now im not getting random letters and numbers, just numbers :S its blowing my mind,

But... you explicitly cast the choice into a number...

//generate random number
randomHex = (int)(Math.random() * arrayHex.length);
System.out.println("your randomly generated password is " + randomHex);

emphasis mine

why do you even have arrayHex ?

I suspect that you might be making some assumptions that do not hold. What happens in

code:

randomHex = (int)(Math.random() * arrayHex.length);

lets pretend that arrayHex holds 16 elements, and that Math.random() picks a random value of 0.42. Then the code evaluates to

code:

randomHex = (int)(0.42 * 16); randomHex = (int)(6.72); randomHex = 6;

Is this what you were expecting?

right, but a style of code like

code:

if ( length == 6 ) {    randomLetter();    randomLetter();    randomLetter();    randomLetter();    randomLetter();    randomLetter(); } else ...

seems like a pretty bad idea. For one, you'd just have to type out a lot of the same thing, and it would be too easy to make a mistake somewhere.

It would be best to learn some kind of a looping mechanism, so that you can get that randomLetter once, and repeat that as many times as you want.

import java.util.Scanner;


//create arrays holding hex chars and secure chars
char[] arrayHex = { 'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u',
'v','w','x','y','z','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P',
'Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9'
,'=','+','-','$','#','@','*','/','^','~' };
//start loop
for(int i = 6; i < 16; i++)
{
System.out.println("Your password is for" + i + is" + arrayHex[i]);
}

}
//end main
}
//end class

You are moving in the right direction

A for-loop and using indexes of an array are exactly the parts that you need.

That loop goes up to 16 only because that's what you wrote that example as. It's just as valid to use variables

code:

for(int i = 0; i < someVariable; i++) { ...

//start loop
for(int i= 0; i<array.length; i++)
{

if (i == 6)
{
System.out.println("Your 6 digit randomly generated password is " + arrayHex );//generate for 6 digits,
}

what? Your code seems to have regressed to something that doesn't make sense to me.

try to reason about what your code does. In terms of for-loops, walk through each step that it takes. What is the value of i? What happens during this step? etc.

Are those steps consistent with what you would do, if you had to come up with some random characters on paper?

//ask user how many characters they want (minimum 6, maximum 16)
System.out.println("please enter how many characters do you want in your password (minimum 6, maximum 16)? ");
userChoice = input.nextInt();

//create arrays holding hex chars and secure chars
char[] arrayHex = { 'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u',
'v','w','x','y','z','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P',
'Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9'
,'=','+','-','$','#','@','*','/','^','~' };
//start loop
for(int i= 0; i<userChoice; i++)
{

if (i == 6)
{
System.out.println("Your" + " digit randomly generated password is " + arrayHex );//
}

so i the userChoice is 6, how many characters does your code print out right now, when you run it?

for(int i= 0; i<arrayHex.length; i++)
{

if (i == 6)
{
System.out.println("Your 6 digit randomly generated password is " + arrayHex );
}


}

so the next step is to figure out why that is so.

Figuring out both would give you more understanding of what you've done; though one at a time.

that explanation is really difficult to follow. Put it into code, and see what it does.

import java.text.DecimalFormat;

for(int i= 0; i<arrayHex.length; i++)
{
if (i==6)
{
DecimalFormat formatter = new DecimalFormat("#00000");
System.out.println("Your randomly generated password is " + arrayHex );//
break;
}

sometimes it's not a bad idea to just throw everything away, and start a new blank project. Don't think of it as admitting defeat -- you've learned some things, at the very minimum you've grinded out more experience in the process. Starting fresh with that new level of knowledge if often beneficial.

Another good idea would be to start with some basic case, and you can build up from there. E.g. if you can make a random password of length 1, then you can do that same process 6 times to get a random password of length 6 (and in general case, N times to get any length you want).

we try to encourage that here. It's much more beneficial in the long run.

- Get some rest (6 hours is a long time).
- Explain this problem to someone (anyone! http://compsci.ca/blog/rubber-ducks-help-best-with-computer-science/ )
- come back to give this another shot.

char[] arrayHex = { 'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u',
'v','w','x','y','z','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P',
'Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9'
,'=','+','-','$','#','@','*','/','^','~' };

import java.util.Random;

for(int i= 0; i<arrayHex.length; i++)
{
arrayHex[i] = (char) (Math.random() *69 + 1);
System.out.println("the password generated is " + arrayHex);
break;
}

why dont you just put your array in char form array of 1 .. 255, so it includes every single possible character.

because some of the characters (including those between 0 to 69 (why did you pick this range?)) are non-printable control characters.

Also, what's the point of having a loop, if it always breaks out and never does a second iteration?

//start loop

char [] passwordArray = new char[userChoice];

for(char i = 0; i < passwordArray.length; i++)
{
passwordArray[i] = (char)(Math.random() * 122 + 33);

System.out.print("your password is " + passwordArray[i]);

}//end for loop

why each character is on a separate line, any suggestions?

This is looking much better, you're almost there ImDennis!

Well, how many times does "your password is " appears in the output?

char [] passwordArray = new char[userChoice];

for(char i = 0; i < passwordArray.length; i++)
{
passwordArray[i] = (char)(Math.random() * 122 + 33);

}//end for loop

System.out.print("your password is " + passwordArray[i] );

Right, what is the value of i when you exit the loop?

Besides, what does passwordArray[i] (for any value of i) mean? Is that your entire password?

that's right. Now, after you generate all of the characters, you'd have to figure out how to print it all.

//start loop

char [] passwordArray = new char[userChoice];

for(char i = 0; i < passwordArray.length; i++)
{
passwordArray[i] = (char)(Math.random() * 122 + 33);

System.out.print("your password is " + passwordArray[i] );

}//end for loop

I said that you should print after the loop is over and you have the entire password generated.

public void println(char[] x)

/**
* Program Name:D_A_PasswordGenerator.java
* Purpose: generate random secure password to be used!
* Coder:Denis Aleta
* Date:Nov 23, 2011
*/

import java.util.Scanner;

public class D_A_PasswordGenerator
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// Create Scanner object
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
// Tell user what the program will do
System.out.println("This program will randomly generate a password for you");
// create variables
int userChoice = 0;
//ask user how many characters they want (minimum 6, maximum 16)
System.out.print("\nplease enter how many characters do you want in your password (minimum 6, maximum 16)? ");
userChoice = input.nextInt();
//make sure that user input is valid
if (userChoice < 6 || userChoice > 16)
{
System.out.println("not a valid input");
return;
}
//loop
char [] passwordArray = new char[userChoice];
for(char i = 0; i < passwordArray.length; i++)
{
passwordArray[i] = (char)(Math.random() * 122 + 33);
}//end for loop
//new loop to generate random password
String randomPassword = ""; //used to hold the random password
for(int i = 0; i != userChoice; ++i)
{
randomPassword = randomPassword + passwordArray [i]; //connect password array with random password
}
int iterations = (int)(Math.random()*25 + 1); //randomly generate a number to trick the user to thinking the program works
//print out results
System.out.println("\nyour password is: " + randomPassword);
System.out.println("it took a total of " + iterations +" iterations"+ " to get your new password, which is " + randomPassword);
}
//end main
}
//end class

//randomly generate a number to trick the user to thinking the program works

lol, what?