Member Operator Syntax?

[John Rine]

I am having a heck of a timer understanding certain syntax in Java (and Visual basic for applications) that uses the member access or "dot" operator.
Would some please explain to me exactly what the following statements mean:

whateverVar = myObject.someMethod().someOthermethod(); (Seen in Java)

or

SomethingOrOther.someMethod().someField.SomeotherField (seen in Visual Bsic for applications)

I know this is a Java forum and I do not intend to offend anyone, however, to some degree the use of the member access operator or "dot" operator may be the same in both languages. I am trying to understand what exactly these statements mean.
I tried to write a java application to test the syntax by creating a test class with multiple methods but couldn't get it to work. The only thing I can think of is that the multiple dot operator mean to access a derived class method and then a base class method.
HELP???

[Piyush Joshi]

Hi,
In java (I don't know about visual basic) Objects as well as methods can be members of a class. To access a member of class we can use dot operator on a object of that class.
The dot operator has associativity from left to right. so if a method returns some object then we can use dot operator on method call to access members of returned object.
For example suppose we have 3 classes:

class A{
public B objB;  //Object as a member
}

class B{
public C getC(){ //method as a member
return new C();
}
}

class C{
public void printHi(){//method as a member
System.out.println("Hi");
}
}

using dot operator we can write:

A objA = new A();
objA.objB.getC().printHi();

We can rewrite the above line as:

((objA.objB).getC()).printHi();
this will give: (objB.getC()).printHi();
this will give: (an object of C).printHi();
this will call printHi(); defined in class C

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

John Rine wrote:
whateverVar = myObject.someMethod().someOthermethod(); (Seen in Java)

we can split this statement for your clarity,

MyObject myObject = new MyObject();
//this myObject(or  super class of myObject) should contain method  called someMethod()
 //which  returns some  object type
//now  access the someMethod()
SomeType someType = myObject.someMethod();//this someType has  method  called someOthermethod [returns someother type]
//now access the someOthermethod which is  in someType and  return the Type  to whateverVar 
OtherType whateverVar  = someType.someOthermethod();

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

And welcome to JavaRanch John

[Unnar Björnsson]

Would some please explain to me exactly what the following statements mean

It means: someMethod is called on myObject which returns someObject, then someOtherMethod() is called on someObject the result is assigned to whateverVar

Or: first do myObject.someMethod() then do someOtherMethod() on the result of previous call and assign it to whateverVar

[Nico Van Brandt]

The 'technique' is called Method chaining

[John Rine]

Piyush Joshi,
Thanks very much, I really appreciate your reply. It is very informative and organized very well. When domeone can explain something the way that you did, it shows that they understand the concept fully.
I asked this question of my C++ and Java instructors but they couldn't explain the concept in terms one could understand-at least me.

thanks again,

John Rine

[John Rine]

Seetharaman Venkatasamy, Unnar Björnsson, and Nico Van Belle
Thank you also! I really appreciate your replies!
I am very glad I joined.

John Rine