Question

I am about to explode. I have been looking for two hours for a way to fix this problem. I have a switch statement in the setTimer method. When i debug the program, the timerType value changes while the method is in action, but as soon as it exits, timerType reverts back to null. This makes my case statement kind of useless as I need it to change for the next time I call the method. I would love your helping hand as I am sure it is something simple as usual 🙁 . I tried changing it to an int to see if it was something to do with the String type or whatever. Im a bit of a noob. Please stop me from floundering any longer (at least on this particular problem 🙂 )

public string timerType;



if (checkRoundChanged()) {
     SoundPlayer.Play();
     setTimer(timerType);
}

and the method

protected void setTimer(String timerType){
        switch (timerType) {
            case "ready":
                secLeft = readySec;
                minLeft = readyMin;
                timerType = "round";
                break;
            case "round":
                secLeft = roundSec;
                minLeft = roundMin;
                timerType = "rest";
                break;
            case "rest":
                secLeft = restSec;
                minLeft = restMin;
                timerType = "round";
                break;
            case "relax":
                secLeft = relaxSec;
                minLeft = relaxMin;
                timerType = "done";
                break;
            default:
                timerType = "ready";
                break;
        }

    }

Thankyou!

Answer 1

Strings are passed by value, not by reference. You can either return the new value:

protected string setTimer(String timerType){
    switch (timerType) {
        case "ready":
            secLeft = readySec;
            minLeft = readyMin;
            timerType = "round";
            break;
        case "round":
            secLeft = roundSec;
            minLeft = roundMin;
            timerType = "rest";
            break;
        case "rest":
            secLeft = restSec;
            minLeft = restMin;
            timerType = "round";
            break;
        case "relax":
            secLeft = relaxSec;
            minLeft = relaxMin;
            timerType = "done";
            break;
        default:
            timerType = "ready";
            break;
    }

    return timerType;
}

....

timerType =  setTimer(timerType);

Or pass by reference:

protected void setTimer(ref String timerType) {
   ...
   timerType = newValue;
   ...
}

setTimer(ref timerType);

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