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Getting Variables From Java constructor

I'm new to Java programming, sorry if this is a dumb question.
I find it hard to word this question properly, but I have an assignment to create a aircraft class that can make aircraft land, takeoff etc. And need to test it using Testclass. When the new object are entered it automatically assigns a unique ID to the aircraft in the constructor.
I can do this using a instance method fine as it has a return value which is returned to to Testclass. The question wants me to do this in the constructor itself, however, the constructor never returns anything. So the variable never gets sent to the Testclass. I clearly am not understanding OOP properly. Even when I try to just use a getter method to get the ID created in the constructor it gives me the initialized variable before the the constructor has worked on this. This is the code I have so far and its completely wrong I know but if someone could point me in the right direction or tell me how to word this question better it would be a massive help.
// I need to enter 3 aircraft into the system in the testclass
public class Aircraft {
private int aircraftID;
private static int lastID;
private String airportcode;
private int ID = 100;
private int count;
public Aircraft(int a, int b, int c){
// Constructor
// Assign ID
this.ID = a;
lastID = ID;
ID++;
this.ID =b;
lastID = ID;
ID++;
}
}

OK, you want to create an Aircraft that has an automatically-assigned unique identifier, and can take off and land. That implies you need a field for tracking the identifier, a field for tracking whether it's in the air (or not), and methods for the take off and land operations. You also need a static field for generating the unique identifiers. (Note that this implementation isn't thread safe.)
private class Aircraft {
private static int staticId = 0;
private int uniqueId = 0;
private boolean onGround = true; // Aircraft start on the ground in this implementation
public Aircraft(){
this.uniqueId = staticId; // putting this line first makes uniqueId zero-indexed in effect
staticId++;
}
public void land(){
onGround = true;
}
public void takeoff(){
onGround = false;
}
public boolean isFlying(){
return !onGround; // If it's not on the ground, it's flying
}
public int getUniqueId(){
return uniqueId;
}
}
Unit tests checks all of the methods and expected functionality of the class in question:
import org.junit.Test;
import static org.junit.Assert.*;
import Aircraft;
class Testclass {
private final Aircraft aircraft = new Aircraft();
#Test
public void hasId(){
aircraft.getUniqueId() >= 0;
}
#Test
public void canLand(){
assertTrue(aircraft.land());
}
#Test
public void canTakeOff(){
assertTrue(aircraft.takeOff());
}
#Test
public void checkFlightOperationsAreTrackedCorrectly(){
aircraft.land();
assertFalse(aircraft.isFlying());
aircraft.takeOff();
assertTrue(aircraft.isFlying());
}
}

As pointed out a constructor does not return anything (the simplified version is that with new it returns an object instance). I am kinda guessing at what you are trying to acomplish, but I'll have a go anyways. It seems to me that you are trying to cram the construction of 3 objects into one constructor - which is why your constructor has 3 parameters. Also you are playing havoc with the IDs.
I have removed all the variables that I didnt quite understand, leaving only ID that increments with each instantiated Aircraft. The #Override is mainly just for show.
public class Aircraft {
private int aircraftID;
private static int lastID = 0;
#Override
public String toString(){
return "Aircraft_" + this.aircraftID;
}
public Aircraft() {
lastID++;
this.aircraftID = lastID;
}
}
I took the liberty and wrote the TestClass just to see if we have the same thing in mind. Again the printAircraft() method is for show.
public class TestClass {
private List<Aircraft> aircrafts;
public TestClass(){
aircrafts = new ArrayList<>();
}
public void addAircraft(Aircraft a){
aircrafts.add(a);
}
public void printAircraft(){
Iterator<Aircraft> it = aircrafts.iterator();
while(it.hasNext()){
System.out.println(it.next().toString());
}
}
}
and to test it, we create and instance of TestClass add 3 Aircraft instances and print out the contents
public static void main(String[] args) {
TestClass tc = new TestClass();
tc.addAircraft(new Aircraft());
tc.addAircraft(new Aircraft());
tc.addAircraft(new Aircraft());
tc.printAircraft();
}
This would be the case if you are to write the TestClass. If that is given, it would help to know what it looks like - maybe that would help us understand better.

Instantiate array of objects with a variable

I wrote some classes in Java but when I run the program I receive the error "ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException", the incriminate class is this:
public class Bank {
private String name;
private int maxbankaccount;
private int activebankaccount;
private String radice = "IT8634";
private Conto[] bankaccount = new Conto[maxbankaccount];
public void addconto(String cf) {
bankaccount[activebankaccount] = new Conto(radice + activebankaccount , cf);
activebankaccount++;
}
public Bank(String name, int maxbankaccount) {
this.name = name;
this.maxbankaccount = maxbankaccount;
}
}
I wrote a tester class to test :
public class TestBank {
public static void main (String[] args) {
Bank b1 = new Bank("Fidelity", 10);
b1.addconto("PROVA");
}
}
Since I didn't seem to have made logical errors using the array I debugged, I realized that in the creation of the array of objects the maxbankaccount variable isn't 10 (value passed in Test) but as default value (0),then I tried passing 10 directly and it works good. Why is not the value 10 of maxbankaccount passed but 0?

private Conto[] bankaccount = new Conto[maxbankaccount];
This initialization takes place before the rest of the constructor runs.
Move it into the constructor:
public Bank(String name, int maxbankaccount) {
this.name = name;
this.maxbankaccount = maxbankaccount;
this.bankaccount = new Conto[maxbankaccount];
}

You have indeed made a logical error. The array bankaccount is getting initialized when the class is instantiated and is always 0.
Move it into the constructor and initialize it.
public Bank(String name, int maxbankaccount) {
/* ... */
this.bankaccount = new Conto[maxbankaccount];
}

Further more than the issues that are in the other answers, this
private int activebankaccount;
does not initialize the variable activebankaccount
So in:
public void addconto(String cf) {
bankaccount[activebankaccount] = new Conto(radice + activebankaccount , cf);
activebankaccount++;
}
you are using an uninitialized vale as index of the array bankaccount

Syntax error, telling me it wants ; and several other things

Just trying to run through some code for an assignment I'm doing. It is probably simple but for the life of me I can't figure out why I get the above error at the first line
(public WaterLog.......).
Later I want to pass it this line:
[ log = new WaterLog(8, damCapacity); ]
Any help would be appreciated, I am new to this sorry.
public class WaterLog(Integer windowSize, Integer maxEntry) {
private Integer size = windowSize;
private Integer max = maxEntry;
private ArrayList theLog(int windowSize);
private int counter = 0;
public void addEntry(Integer newEntry) throws SimulationException {
theLog.add(0, newEntry);
counter++;
}
public Integer getEntry(Integer index) throws SimulationException {
If (thelog.isEmpty() || thelog.size() < index) {
return null;
}
return thelog.get(index);
}
public Integer variation() throws SimulationException {
int old, recent = 0;
recent = thelog.get(0);
old = thelog.get(thelog.size-1);
return recent-old;
}
public Integer numEntries() {
return counter;
}
}

Assuming SimulationException is defined correctly:
class WaterLog{
private Integer size;
private Integer max ;
private ArrayList<Integer> theLog; //parameterize your lists
private int counter = 0;
public WaterLog(Integer windowSize, Integer maxEntry) //this is the behavior you were looking for
{
this.size = windowSize;
this.max = maxEntry;
theLog = new ArrayList<Integer>(windowSize);
}
public void addEntry(Integer newEntry) throws SimulationException {
theLog.add(0, newEntry);
counter++;
}
public Integer getEntry(Integer index) throws SimulationException {
if (theLog.isEmpty() || theLog.size() < index) { //Java is case sensitive
return null;
}
return theLog.get(index);
}
public Integer variation() throws SimulationException {
int old, recent = 0;
recent = theLog.get(0);
old = theLog.get(theLog.size()-1); //again, watch case, also size is a method
return recent-old;
}
public Integer numEntries() {
return counter;
}
}
See the comments I added.
EDIT: To explain a bit further what was going on, let's take a look at what you were doing.
public class WaterLog(Integer windowSize, Integer maxEntry) {
private Integer size = windowSize;
private Integer max = maxEntry;
private ArrayList theLog(int windowSize);
private int counter = 0;
You seem to have confused a class with a constructor. The variables you defined were attributes, which was correct. You needed to use the syntax I showed in my answer to create a constructor. For that same reason, you don't have access to variables like windowSize. To remedy this, we allow them to still be defined outside the constructor, but assigned values inside it, where we have access to windowSize and maxEntry.

If you want to pass some parameters to this class you need a constructor. By default Each and EVERY class comes with a default constructor - which is there, you just don't see it ( but can declare it). What you can then do is make an overloaded construcotr ( which takes some arguments ) and this is what you want so..
if you have a class
class WaterLog {
// no constructor
}
the above is really a
class WaterLog {
public WaterLog() {
// this is the constructor - if you do not declare it its still here, you just dont see it. Ofcourse you have option to declare it.
}
}
The overloaded constructor is something like this
class WaterLog {
public WaterLog() {
//default constructor
}
public WaterLog(Integer int, String string, etc...) {
//overloaded constructor
}
}
and the above is what you need in order to pass arguments to this class constructor. I am not briliant at explaining things but if you need more clarification just let me know :)

What happens when a call made to an constructor (clear concept in this context)?

I think that java will not initialize the a with four values. But I'm wrong, can you please explain me how it does this? I mean what it does when a constructor called because I'm not initialize a in constructor.
class A {
int[] a = {1,2,3,4};
A() {
a[0] = 3;
}
}
class ClassTest1 {
public static void main(String args[]) {
A b = new A();
System.out.println("hey " + b.a[0] );
System.out.println("hey " + b.a[1] );
}
}
If you explain in detail and with some external resource to understand internals, it could be better for a newbie(me).

When you have int[] a = {1,2,3,4} it compiles that line into the top of your constructor. So your constructor really looks like this:
a = {1,2,3,4};
a[0] = 3;
Now, that's a very simplistic definition of what happens. If you had multiple constructors, you could view it as putting it in all of them, but you could also view it as putting it in only one of them (the one you actually called...).
Consider this:
class Counter {
static int nextId = 0;
static int nextId() { return nextId++; }
final int id = nextId();
final String name;
public Counter() {
this("Unnamed counter");
}
public Counter(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
So you have the option to create a counter without a name, and you get just a default name. Now from the example above, you could extrapolate that your constructors magically turn into the following:
public Counter() {
this.id = nextId();
this("Unnamed counter");
}
public Counter(String name) {
this.id = nextId();
this.name = name;
}
But we know this isn't okay - it attempts to set id in the generic constructor, but then goes into the named constructor and tries to set it again. You can't set a final variable once it's been set!
So instead, we can think of it like this: whatever constructor we actually called gets the extra initialization lines, but the ones that might get chained don't get the extra lines.

java - an enum question

I have encountered a weird problem in my app (java).
I have an enum. Something like that
public enum myEnum implement myIntrface{
valueA(1),valueb(2),valuec(3),valued(4)
private int i;
// and then - a constructor
public MyEnum(int number){
i = number;
}
private MyObj obj = new MyObj;
// getter and setter for obj
}
and in another class I have this
MyEnum.valueA.setObj(new Obj(...))
in briefe - I have an enum with a private instance member that has a set and a get.
So far so good -
The only thing that amazes me is that later on I look at the value of the MyEnum.valueA().obj is null.
there is nothing that updates the value to null, I have even gave it a default value in the constructor and I still see it null later.
any suggestions?

Enums should be un-modifiable classes so you shouldn't really be doing this. If your looking to modify the state of a type based object like an enum you should use an final class approach with embedded constants. Below is an example of a class based approach with a modifiable name an a un-modifiable name...
public final class Connection {
public static final Connection EMAIL = new Connection("email");
public static final Connection PHONE = new Connection("phone");
public static final Connection FAX = new Connection("fax");
/**/
private final String unmodifiableName; //<-- it's final
private String modifiableName;
/*
* The constructor is private so no new connections can be created outside.
*/
private Connection(String name) {
this.unmodifiableName = name;
}
public String getUnmodifiableName() {
return unmodifiableName;
}
public String getModifiableName() {
return modifiableName;
}
public void setModifiableName(String modifiableName) {
this.modifiableName = modifiableName;
}
}

The purpose of enums is to represent constant values. It does not make any sense to set the fields of a constant value.
You should declare your fields as final, and use the constructor to initialize all of them.

For reference, the following code works as expected:
public class Test {
public static enum MyEnum {
valueA(1),valueb(2),valuec(3),valued(4);
private int i;
private Object o;
private MyEnum(int number) {
i = number;
}
public void set(Object o) {
this.o = o;
}
public Object get() {
return o;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(MyEnum.valueA.get()); // prints "null"
MyEnum.valueA.set(new Integer(42));
System.out.println(MyEnum.valueA.get()); // prints "42"
}
}

the cause of this problem is the db40 framework . It loads an enum from the db using reflection. This is well documented .
http://developer.db4o.com/Forums/tabid/98/aft/5439/Default.aspx