javaascii-artmessageformat

Create an ASCII thermometer using MessageFormat


I am using Java's MessageFormat class to create a string that takes several condition statements as parameters using the format method. With it I have created a thermometer using ASCII characters which takes in a random number as celsius and depending on that number, inserts asterisk characters into the string at specific locations depending on a condition, e.g. ((celsius >= 25) ? "*" : " "). In other words, the asterisks represent the temperature level in a thermometer depending on the temperature value.

ASCII thermometer

At the moment I am using similar if statements in each of the 14 parameters which then determines if it should add an asterisk in said location temp >= location or an empty space temp <= location. I'm sure there is a much more efficient and cleaner way in doing this using another method, e.g. embedded for loop, regex, function, built-in method, etc.

Here's an example of the code (beware escape characters):

// random value between -35 and 40
double celsius = Math.round(Math.random() * (40 - 35) - 35);

// ASCII Thermometer
String meter = MessageFormat.format(
                "     ______________________"
                + "\r\n     |   ^F     _    ^C   |"
                + "\r\n     |  100  - |{0}| -  40  |"
                + "\r\n     |   90  - |{1}| -  30  |"
                + "\r\n     |   80  - |{2}| -  25  |"
                + "\r\n     |   70  - |{3}| -  20  |"
                + "\r\n     |   60  - |{4}| -  15  |"
                + "\r\n     |   50  - |{5}| -  10  |"
                + "\r\n     |   40  - |{6}| -   5  |"
                + "\r\n     |   30  - |{7}| -   0  |"
                + "\r\n     |   20  - |{8}| -  -5  |"
                + "\r\n     |   10  - |{9}| - -10  |"
                + "\r\n     |    0  - |{10}| - -20  |"
                + "\r\n     |  -10  - |{11}| - -25  |"
                + "\r\n     |  -20  - |{12}| - -30  |"
                + "\r\n     |  -30  - |{13}| - -35  |"
                + "\r\n     |         '***`       |"
                + "\r\n     |       (*****)      |"
                + "\r\n     |        `---'        |"
                + "\r\n     |____________________|"
                + "\r\n\r\n",
        ((celsius >= 35) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= 30) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= 25) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= 20) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= 15) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= 10) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= 5) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= 0) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= -5) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= -10) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= -15) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= -20) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= -25) ? "*" : " "),
        ((celsius >= -30) ? "*" : " "));

Solution

  • Do you want this?

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // random value between -35 and 40
        double celsius = Math.round(Math.random() * (40 - 35) - 35);
    
        final String s = "     ______________________"
                + "\r\n     |   ^F     _    ^C   |"
                + "\r\n     |  100  - |{0}| -  40  |"
                + "\r\n     |   90  - |{1}| -  30  |"
                + "\r\n     |   80  - |{2}| -  25  |"
                + "\r\n     |   70  - |{3}| -  20  |"
                + "\r\n     |   60  - |{4}| -  15  |"
                + "\r\n     |   50  - |{5}| -  10  |"
                + "\r\n     |   40  - |{6}| -   5  |"
                + "\r\n     |   30  - |{7}| -   0  |"
                + "\r\n     |   20  - |{8}| -  -5  |"
                + "\r\n     |   10  - |{9}| - -10  |"
                + "\r\n     |    0  - |{10}| - -20  |"
                + "\r\n     |  -10  - |{11}| - -25  |"
                + "\r\n     |  -20  - |{12}| - -30  |"
                + "\r\n     |  -30  - |{13}| - -35  |"
                + "\r\n     |         '***`       |"
                + "\r\n     |       (*****)      |"
                + "\r\n     |        `---'        |"
                + "\r\n     |____________________|";
    
        final int[] celsiusDegreeCompare = new int[]{
                35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 0, -5, -10, -20, -25, -30, -35
        };
    
        final String[] parameters = new String[14];
    
        IntStream.range(0, parameters.length).forEach(i -> {
            parameters[i] = (celsius >= celsiusDegreeCompare[i]) ? "*" : " ";
        });
    
        // ASCII Thermometer
        String meter = MessageFormat.format(s, parameters);
    
        System.out.println("celsius: " + celsius);
        System.out.println(meter);
    }
    

    Result:

    celsius: -31.0
         ______________________
         |   ^F     _    ^C   |
         |  100  - | | -  40  |
         |   90  - | | -  30  |
         |   80  - | | -  25  |
         |   70  - | | -  20  |
         |   60  - | | -  15  |
         |   50  - | | -  10  |
         |   40  - | | -   5  |
         |   30  - | | -   0  |
         |   20  - | | -  -5  |
         |   10  - | | - -10  |
         |    0  - | | - -20  |
         |  -10  - | | - -25  |
         |  -20  - | | - -30  |
         |  -30  - |*| - -35  |
         |         ***`       |
         |       (*****)      |
         |        `---        |
         |____________________|