Re: How to call a class from another class
Pseudo Silk Kimono wrote:
I should apologize in advance as I am not sure how to configure Eclipse
to prevent the word wrapping you see here.
package howardFineAndHoward;
public class Client {
[...]
private int clientNumber;
Two things:
1. Try to avoid using tabs in Usenet posts.
2. UIDs are best declared final.
> [...]
private int primaryAttorneyIDNumber;
Why are storing the UID as opposed to the actual object? Assuming that
the related Attorney is in creation, there is no penalty in storing a
reference to that object as opposed to a UID referencing that. That
said, there are cases where storing UIDs is beneficial (where the space
and creation cost of the object is very high compared to the likelihood
of its being used), but for simple cases, using the actual objects
themselves is a far better idea.
I recommend you do not use the changes I detail below, but instead
change the private reference to the Attorney object itself. I include my
changes only for reference on how to deal with UIDs.
private float balanceOwing;
Money should not be stored using a float or double; a BigDecimal or
Integer (number of cents) should be used. Also, "-ing"s tend to indicate
(in my mind at least) a boolean variable or bit flag representing a
state; "balanceOwed" is a better name for the variable.
[...]
public void displayAttorney(Attorney [] attorneyList)
Rewritten method:
public void displayAttorney() {
Attorney a = Attorney.getAttorney(primaryAttorneyIDNumber);
System.out.println("Primary Attorney "+a.getFirstName()+" "+
a.getLastName());
}
public class Attorney {
[...]
add:
private Map<Attorney> attorneys = new HashMap<Attorney>();
public Attorney(int idNumber, String lastName, String firstName,
float annualSalary) {
// Initialize variables
attorneys.put(idNumber,this);
}
public static Attorney getAttorney(int id) {
return attorneys.get(id);
}
[...]
}
>
> [...]
>
Obviously the Annual Salary could be displayed in a better format and I
know that it's possible by using formatted output, but I have never used
it before so I will attempt this on my next iteration. What I would
really like to be able to do is have the Attorney List available without
having to pass it in. This would save time, considering there could be
hundreds of lawayers in a large firm.
Look for the printf function of the PrintStream class for formatting.
--
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not
tried it. -- Donald E. Knuth