And what is wrong with this?

int i = Integer.parseInt(str);

EDIT :

If you really need to do the conversion by hand, try this:

public static int myStringToInteger(String str) {
    int answer = 0, factor = 1;
    for (int i = str.length()-1; i >= 0; i--) {
        answer += (str.charAt(i) - '0') * factor;
        factor *= 10;
    }
    return answer;
}

The above will work fine for positive integers - assuming that the string only contains numbers, otherwise the result is undefined. If the number is negative you'll have to do a little checking first, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

To improve your intToString() method you should consider using a StringBuilder, and specifically the method StringBuilder.append(int).

Iterate digits in your int, and for each digit you can append(eachDigit) to the StringBuilder element. This will also reduce the complexity of intToString() to \ since you do not need to create a new String instance each iteration. To get a String object from the StringBuilder, use StringBuilder.toString(). Or, if you are not allowed, you can use StringBuilder.subString(0).

You should also use a StringBuilder.append() (using the same idea) to reverse the resulting string (your second loop in your code).

Since it is not homework (as per comments), I have no problems providing a code snap. It should look something like this:

public static String intToString(int n) { 
    if (n == 0) return "0";
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    while (n > 0) { 
        int curr = n % 10;
        n = n/10;
        sb.append(curr);
    }
    String s = sb.substring(0);
    sb = new StringBuilder();
    for (int i = s.length() -1; i >= 0; i--) { 
        sb.append(s.charAt(i));
    }
    return sb.substring(0);
}

Notes:

• You can also use StringBuilder.reverse() instead of the second loop.
• In here, \ means linear in the the number of digits in the input number (n is the number of digits in the input number - not the number itself!) If you are looking for the complexity in terms of the initial number (it is \) since you divide your element by 10 each iterations, you have a total of \ iterations for each loop, which results in \.

String myString = "1234";
int foo = Integer.parseInt(myString);

If you look at the Java documentation you'll notice the "catch" is that this function can throw a NumberFormatException, which you can handle:

int foo;
try {
   foo = Integer.parseInt(myString);
}
catch (NumberFormatException e) {
   foo = 0;
}

(This treatment defaults a malformed number to 0, but you can do something else if you like.)

Alternatively, you can use an Ints method from the Guava library, which in combination with Java 8's Optional, makes for a powerful and concise way to convert a string into an int:

import com.google.common.primitives.Ints;

int foo = Optional.ofNullable(myString)
 .map(Ints::tryParse)
 .orElse(0)

Converting String to int without any library function

public static int stringToInt(String number) {
    int res = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < number.length(); i++) {
        res = res * 10 + number.charAt(i) - '0';
    }
    return res;
}

Perform whatever calculation you want to perform and then use the following method to convert the int back to String without any library function

Converting int to String without any library function

   public static String parseInt(int integer)
{
    boolean ifNegative = integer<0;
    boolean ifMin = integer == Integer.MIN_VALUE;
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();        
    integer = ifNegative?(ifMin?Integer.MAX_VALUE:-integer):integer;    
    List<Integer> list = new LinkedList<Integer>(); 
    int remaining = integer;
    int currentDigit = 0 ;

    while(true)
    {
        currentDigit = remaining%10;
        list.add(currentDigit);
        remaining /= 10;
        if(remaining==0) break;
    }

    currentDigit = list.remove(0);
    builder.append(ifMin?currentDigit+1:currentDigit);
    for(int c : list)
        builder.append(c);
    builder.reverse().insert(0, ifNegative?'-':'+');
    return builder.toString();
}

here is a solution :

int tryParseInt(String value) { 
 try {  
     return Integer.parseInt(value);  
  } catch(NumberFormatException nfe) {  
      // Log exception.
      return 0;
  }  
}

you should catch NumberFormatException instead of exception.

You could use a Scanner and call useDelimiter(String) to set your separator(s). Something like,

String str = "0000:0010:1111:3000\n" + "0003:0010:1113:3000\n"
        + "0004:0010:1188:3009";
Scanner sc = new Scanner(str);
sc.useDelimiter("[:|\\s]+"); // <-- one or more colon or whitespace
while (sc.hasNextInt()) {
    System.out.printf("%04d%n", sc.nextInt()); // <-- format to 4 digits with
                                               //     leading zeros.
}