title: Getting and Setting data from a text file using java
body: <p>I have a text file with 4 different options "start time", "end time", "ID" and "value" each separated by a tab. i need to get each bit of information and set it equal to parameters in the constructor of my class. Iv done basic set and get methods before but never using data from a text file. Heres what iv got so far.</p>
  
  <pre><code>import java.util.Date;
  import java.io.BufferedReader;
  import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
  import java.io.FileReader;
  import java.io.IOException;
  
  public class Sensor {
  //need all info for sensors such as sensor ID, Ontime, Offtime, Label
      //needs to store all sensor data in memory
      //try using jfreechart again instead of manually drawing
  
      private Date startTime1;
      private Date endTime1;
      private String sensorID1;
      private int sensorState1;
      String fileName = "C:/kasterenDataset/kasterenSenseData.txt";
  
      public Sensor(Date startTime, Date endTime, String sensorID, int sensorState){
          startTime = startTime1;
          endTime = endTime1;
          sensorID = sensorID1;
          sensorState = sensorState1;
  
  
      }
  
      public void setStartTime(){
           String line = null;
  
              try {
                  // FileReader reads text files in the default encoding.
                  FileReader fileReader =  new FileReader(fileName);
  
                  // Always wrap FileReader in BufferedReader.
                  BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(fileReader);
  
                  //start reading from the 24th line on the text file
                  int lineNumber = 0;
                  while((line=bufferedReader.readLine())!=null){
                      lineNumber++;
                      if (lineNumber &gt;= 24) {
                              String values[] = line.split("\\t", -1);
  
                      }
  
                  }
                  bufferedReader.close();         
              }
              catch(FileNotFoundException ex) {
                  System.out.println(
                      "Unable to open file '" + 
                      fileName + "'");                
              }
  
              catch(IOException ex1) {
                  System.out.println(
                      "Error reading file '" 
                      + fileName + "'");                  
              }       
              }
      public void getStartTime(){
  
      }
  
      public void getEndTime(){
  
  
      }
  
      public void getSensorID(){
  
      }
  
      public void getSensorState(){
  
      }
  
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is some of the data from the text file</p>
  
  <pre><code>25-Feb-2008 23:22:31    25-Feb-2008 23:24:35    5   1
  25-Feb-2008 23:28:31    25-Feb-2008 23:28:32    6   1
  25-Feb-2008 23:28:36    25-Feb-2008 23:29:12    6   1
  25-Feb-2008 23:30:12    25-Feb-2008 23:30:52    5   1
  25-Feb-2008 23:31:53    25-Feb-2008 23:32:30    24  1
  25-Feb-2008 23:32:33    25-Feb-2008 23:32:34    24  1
  26-Feb-2008 00:38:49    26-Feb-2008 00:38:50    24  1
  26-Feb-2008 00:38:52    26-Feb-2008 00:38:59    5   1
  26-Feb-2008 00:38:53    26-Feb-2008 00:39:41    24  1
  26-Feb-2008 00:39:00    26-Feb-2008 00:39:01    5   1
  26-Feb-2008 00:39:03    26-Feb-2008 00:39:04    5   1
  26-Feb-2008 00:39:09    26-Feb-2008 00:39:10    5   1
  27-Feb-2008 23:23:57    27-Feb-2008 23:24:09    8   1
  27-Feb-2008 23:26:19    27-Feb-2008 23:37:08    6   1
  27-Feb-2008 23:37:01    27-Feb-2008 23:37:02    14  1
  27-Feb-2008 23:37:05    27-Feb-2008 23:37:06    14  1
  27-Feb-2008 23:37:09    28-Feb-2008 00:10:39    5   1
  27-Feb-2008 23:42:20    27-Feb-2008 23:42:21    18  1
  28-Feb-2008 00:10:42    28-Feb-2008 00:10:43    5   1
  28-Feb-2008 00:11:10    28-Feb-2008 00:13:42    6   1
  28-Feb-2008 00:13:38    28-Feb-2008 00:13:39    14  1
  28-Feb-2008 00:13:42    28-Feb-2008 00:13:43    6   1
  </code></pre>