For example I have this code:
public class A
{
private void my_method(){
//do something
}
}
So how can I call that method for code below to use it?
I saw in one example it was done like this:
public class A
{
public A {
my_method();
}
//some other code
private void my_method(){
//do something
}
}
But trying this gives me this error:
"Syntax error on token "public", class expected after this token"
And of course using advise in error, gives this error:
"The nested type A cannot hide an enclosing type"
So it seems that code I saw is bad or somehow I'm doing something wrong. Anyone could explain how to do it properly in Java?
Your constructor is wrong (you forgot the brackets).
It has to be
public A() {
}
constructor is missing (). use
public A()
{
}
You are getting this error because you have not wrote the constructor correctly.
It should be:
public A() {
my_method();
}
Just to expand on Jeroen's answer as it seems you are quite new to Java:
Your private method can be called from inside another method in your class. E.g.
public class A
{
public void anotherMethod() {
my_method();
}
private void my_method(){
//do something
}
}
The code you provided was called within the constructor of the class. This is a special method which is called when an object of type A is constructed e.g. new A();. You can tell it's a constructor because it has no return type specified:
public A() {
}
rather than a normal method:
public void a() {
}
Something to note there is that in Java it is convention (but not strictly required) to name normal methods with a lowercase first letter and classes/objects/constructors with an upper case first letter.
So your mistake was that in your constructor you had not put () after the method name (A in this case).
Related
I'm new to Java and is trying to learn the concept of inner class. I saw the code below from Java tutorial Oracle. My question is, for
String name = "world";
#Override
public void greet() {
greetSomeone("world");
}
Can greetSomeone("world") be replaced by greetSomeone(name). The reason why I'm asking this question is because I have noticed if greetSomeone("world") is indeed replaced by greetSomeone(name), inside the public void greetSomeone() method, the passed "name" argument will be set to itself. I was just wondering if there are side effect to code like this?
public class HelloWorldAnonymousClasses {
interface HelloWorld {
public void greet();
public void greetSomeone(String someone);
}
public void sayHello() {
class EnglishGreeting implements HelloWorld {
String name = "world";
#Override
public void greet() {
greetSomeone("world");
}
#Override
public void greetSomeone(String someone) {
name = someone;
System.out.println("hello " + name);
}
}
HelloWorld eg1 = new EnglishGreeting();
eg1.greet();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
HelloWorldAnonymousClasses myApp = new HelloWorldAnonymousClasses();
myApp.sayHello();
}
}
First of all why is that #Override annotation there?
You will use Override when you want to change the behaviour of the parent's methods. Your parent's methods have no behaviour as it is an interface. As a further note I guess that it will teach you that the signature of an overriden method must always match the one from the parent.
Secondly the design is kind of dodgy. It can be simplified.
Thirdly yes you can refer to the String object name as it is defined in that class and you can access the object's primitive just by calling 'name'. Why will you not get the reference printed when System.out? Because the String object handles that for you ensuring the toString will show you the primitive. When you do System.out.print(myObject); The console will show you the Object default or the overriden toString method.
So if you create an object and you do System.out.print(myObject) you will see the reference. If you override toString returning "test" you will see test.
Technically, name can be passed and name = name; is valid Java.
However, this is a horrible design and was probably used for demonstrative purposes only. Don't do this.
I'm trying to write an expression or series of statements of Java source code that when written inside a static method evaluates to null, but if the method is non-static evaluates to this.
My initial idea was to 'overload' on static vs non-static, as below:
public class test {
public void method1() {
System.out.println(getThisOrNull());
}
public static void method2() {
System.out.println(getThisOrNull());
}
private static Object getThisOrNull() {
return null;
}
private Object getThisOrNull() {
return this;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
test t = new test();
System.out.println(t);
t.method1();
t.method2();
}
}
Unfortunately this isn't actually legal Java, you can't 'overload' like that and it just gives a compiler error:
test.java:14: error: method getThisOrNull() is already defined in class test
private Object getThisOrNull() {
^
1 error
Clearly in an ideal world I wouldn't write it like that to begin with, but the problem is this code will be generated automatically by a tool that is not really semantically or syntactically enough to distinguish between the static vs non-static case.
So, how can I write some source code that, although byte for byte identical compiles and behaves differently in depending on the presence of the static modifier for the method?
This can be achieved with a trick and a bit of help from Java's reflection facilities. It's ugly, but it works:
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
public class test {
public void method1() {
System.out.println(getThisOrNull(new Object(){}));
}
public static void method2() {
System.out.println(getThisOrNull(new Object(){}));
}
private static Object getThisOrNull(final Object o) {
for (Field f: o.getClass().getDeclaredFields()) {
if (f.getType().equals(test.class)) {
try {
return f.get(o);
}
catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
// Omm nom nom...
}
}
}
return null;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
test t = new test();
System.out.println(t);
t.method1();
t.method2();
}
}
This compiles and runs as hoped for:
test#183f74d
test#183f74d
null
The trick that makes this possible is the use of new Object(){}, which creates a new, anonymous class within the existing method that we're trying to figure out if it's static or not. The behaviour of this is subtly different between the two cases.
If the goal were just to figure out if the method is static or not we could write:
java.lang.reflect.Modifiers.isStatic(new Object(){}.getClass().getEnclosingMethod().getModifiers())
Since we want to get this (when available) we need to do something slightly different. Fortunately for us classes defined within the context of an instance of an object in Java get an implicit reference to the class that contains them. (Normally you'd access it with test.this syntax). We needed a way to access test.this if it existed, except we can't actually write test.this anywhere because it too would be syntactically invalid in the static case. It does however exist within the object, as a private member variable. This means that we can find it with reflection, which is what the getThisOrNull static method does with the local anonymous type.
The downside is that we create an anonymous class in every method we use this trick and it probably adds overheads, but if you're backed into a corner and looking for a way of doing this it does at least work.
I have a method that I've created that I would like to be able to use anywhere, but I don't know what the best practice is for giving access to that method throughout the project. Do I just create a .java file with a public method and that will give access throughout? Will I need to declare it anywhere (somewhere in the manifest?)?
I'm sure this has been asked, but I am not returning anything useful on my google searches. I am not good enough at googling for Android, yet! Sorry for adding to the duplicates, if I am.
You have a few options. The simplest is a public static method.
public class MyClass {
public static MyReturnType myMethod(MyArgumentType input) {
// my code here
}
}
You will now be able to call this like:
MyClass.myMethod(arg);
Use static methods. As for me, if I want to store just methods in the same place I create a new class and all of the methods are static. For example.
public static int parseInt(String str)
{
try
{
return Integer.parseInt(str);
}
catch (NumberFormatException e)
{
return -1;
}
}
If it's just do anything and doesn't require to save state in the class, this is the best solution.
Here's a sample of a static method.
public class Messages {
public static String mySpecialFinalMessage(){
return "Hello Stackoverflow";
}
}
You no longer need to create an Instance of Messages to call mySpecialFinalMessage() because it is a static. The best practice to call a static method is in this format CLASSNAME.STATICMETHODNAME();
So in our example,
Messages.mySpecialFinalMessage()
Please Note that you calling static methods inside non-static method is legal however, calling non-static methods inside static methods will give you a compile time error.
this is legal
public class MyMessage {
public String getMessage(){
return Messages.mySpecialFinalMessage();
}
}
Take note taht Messages.mySpecialFinalMessage() is that static method. Also, Notice that we did not create an instance of Messages to call mySpecialFinalMessage(), rather we've just called it directly by CLASSNAME.STATICMETHODNAME
I have the following code class Agent.java :
public class Agent {
Helper helper ;
private class SpecificBehaviour extends Behaviour{
private Apple a;
public SpecificBehaviour(Apple a){
setApple(a);
}
public void setApple(Apple a){
this.a=a;
}
public Apple getApple(){
return a;
}
}
public void someMethod(){
helper = new Helper(this);
}
}
In the Helper.java ( another class within the same package) I would like to access the getApple() method. did some search and found this link
I am wondering if there is a better/ easier way of doing this ?
There are at least two issues here:
Helper doesn't know of the existence of SpecificBehaviour, because it's a private class. It could potentially know about the Behaviour class, which you haven't given any details of. If getApple() is declared in Behaviour, and if Behaviour is visible to Helper, then the visibility part needn't be a problem.
Helper will need a reference to an instance of SpecificBehaviour, which means you'll need to instantiate SpecificBehaviour. For that, you'll also need an instance of Agent, because SpecificBehaviour is an inner class. It's not clear whether you have such an instance.
Basically I think the presence of a private inner class is adding confusion here. If you're reasonably new to Java, I'd strongly recommend sticking to top-level classes for the moment. They have a few subtleties around them, and it's best to try to learn one thing at a time.
If this doesn't help, please give more context - your question is quite vague at the moment. Where do you want to use getApple within Helper? Should part of the state of Helper be a reference to an instance of SpecificBehaviour, or should it be a method parameter? Have you created an instance of Agent? What does Behaviour look like? You may find that in the course of answering these questions one at a time, you're better able to figure out the problem for yourself.
- Use Composition principle to get the access to the getApple() method.
Eg:
public class Agent {
Apple a = new Apple(); // Agent class has a reference of type Apple.
.....
.....
}
- Second way would be to make the getApple() method static in Apple class, and then access it from Agent class using the Class name with . (dot) operator.
Eg:
public class Agent {
public void go(){
Apple.getApple();
}
.....
.....
}
You need to ask the Agent object you are passing to the Helper for the instance of the private class SpecificBehaviour. This is the way it works. Encapsulation remember.
Jon Skeet stated that and I completely agree on it:
Helper will need a reference to an instance of SpecificBehaviour,
which means you'll need to instantiate SpecificBehaviour. For that,
you'll also need an instance of Agent, because SpecificBehaviour is an
inner class. It's not clear whether you have such an instance.
Actually, you can understand how weird your try is by testing the sample code below:
Agent.java
public class Agent
{
private class SpecificBehaviour
{
public String toString()
{
return "specific behaviour";
}
}
public Class getInner()
{
return SpecificBehaviour.class;
}
}
Helper.java
public class Helper
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
try
{
Agent agent = new Agent();
System.out.println(agent.getInner().newInstance().toString());
}
catch (InstantiationException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
catch (IllegalAccessException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
}
}
The code above just compiles fine. And let's see what the output is:
java.lang.InstantiationException: Agent$SpecificBehaviour
at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Class.java:340)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:308)
at Helper.main(Helper.java:5)
I don't know how to do this (yes sorry, should be a must to know maybe).
It would be easy to explain with an example :
public class PageMenuLogin extends Container {
public PageMenuLogin() {
final ITextField login_user = this.createTextField();
login_user.setName("");
final ITextField login_pass = this.createTextField();
login_pass.setName("");
final IButton button = this.createButton();
button.setLabel("Login");
button.setActionHandler(new IActionHandler() {
public ClientActions onAction() throws Exception {
// I NEED TO UPDATE THE CONTAINER ITSELF HERE.
// HOW CAN I CALL "this"?
return null;
}
});
}
}
As you can see in the example, i need to call the "this" when i'm into that method.
I think everybody in java but markzzz know how to do this :)
PageMenuLogin.this?
when you create a object like this
button.setActionHandler(new IActionHandler() {
public ClientActions onAction() throws Exception {
// I NEED TO UPDATE THE CONTAINER ITSELF HERE.
// HOW CAN I CALL "this"?
return null;
}
});
You created a anonymous class(a class without name), take a look in binary class file dir, you'll see some class has name like PageMenuLogin$1.class, PageMenuLogin$2.class ... they are binary code of anonymous class. A anonymous class, Inner class can access its parent(top level) class object using syntax just as Tom's answer.
PageMenuLogin.this