How can I store the given responses(that were given as TextView) and use them again in giving response

Question

(I am a beginner) I am making a decision maker app that gives responses randomly using a switch and changes the text of a TextView as output. What I want to do:

For example, if user asks "Should I post a question on stackoverflow?

taps OK

the app displays an answer randomly(say, Yes! you should do it.).

And next time when the user asks the same question I want the same response (First time response should be random next time it should be same as given before).I am using EditText for input.

I tried doing this with arrays but it does not work. If it is to be done by arrays please explain or give any other method for doing this...Thanks

Answer 1

If I was you I'd use a HashMap.

HashMap<String, String> mymap = new HashMap<String , String>();

Then you can save the question and answer like:

String question = "Should I post a question on stackoverflow?"
String answer = "Yes! you should do it"

mymap.put(question, answer);

And then when you want to retrieve the answer for this question you do it like:

mymap.get(question);

Edit:

The question in your HashMap is a key

To retrieve your answer you have to find it by the key(which is your question ).So instead of saying:

mymap.get(answer); you say mymap.get(question);

If you want to retrieve your question you probably have to write a method like:

public String getQuestion(String userQuetsion){

     if(mymap.keySet().contains(userQuestion))

          return userQuestion;

}