Accessing methods in an anonymous inner class

[O. Ziggy]

In the following example

OuterClass oci2 = new OuterClass(){
			public void printFromOuter(){
				System.out.println("PrintFromOuter Has Been Overridden to not call the inner class");
			}
			public void printFromOuter2(){
				System.out.println("Only accessible by a reference to the anonymous child object");
			}
		};

oci2.printFromOuter();

The code compiles fine but i dont understand how you can invoke printFromOuter2() if the reference type is Outerclass. How can i invoke printFromOuter2() in the above example? I dont know what to cast it to - to get to printFromOuter2()

Thanks.

[Henry Wong]

O. Ziggy wrote:
The code compiles fine but i dont understand how you can invoke printFromOuter2() if the reference type is Outerclass. How can i invoke printFromOuter2() in the above example? I dont know what to cast it to - to get to printFromOuter2()

If the outer class (or any interface supported by the anonymous inner class) doesn't have the method, then you can't cast it to anything that can access the method. This is because the anonymous inner class definition is no longer in scope. Your only option in your example is to use reflection.

Henry

[Ryan Beckett]

deleted

[Ogeh Ikem]

O. Ziggy wrote:How can i invoke printFromOuter2() in the above example?

A similar question was asked here

[O. Ziggy]

Hi Henry,

Yes the OuterClass class doesnt have the method. Here is an example of how i created the class which compiles fine.

class OuterClass{
	
 	public void printFromOuter(){  
                System.out.println("In OuterClass");  
 	} 

	public static void main(String args[]){
    	
		OuterClass oci2 = new OuterClass(){  
        
			public void printFromOuter(){  
           		System.out.println("In anonymous Subclass method 1");  
        	}  
        
			public void printFromOuter2(){  
           	 System.out.println("In anonymous Subclass method 2");  
        	}  
    	};  
      
    	oci2.printFromOuter(); 
	}
}

What did you mean by this "This is because the anonymous inner class definition is no longer in scope."? Do you mean because the anonymous child class will only be alive for as long as there is a reference for it?

Thanks

[O. Ziggy]

Ogeh Ikem wrote:

O. Ziggy wrote:How can i invoke printFromOuter2() in the above example?

A similar question was asked here

Thanks - The question i am still not sure of is why it is compilable if you cant access it. Henry suggests "Reflection" but i am not sure even with Reflection how you will access it if you dont know the name of the class.

[Ogeh Ikem]

O. Ziggy wrote:The question i am still not sure of is why it is compilable if you cant access it.

The code does not compile except you define a class called OuterClass which contains a method called printFromOuter()

Like Henry Wong said, your only option for accessing printFromOuter2() is the magic of reflection.

[Ram Narayan.M]

Can be invoked this way

OuterClass oci2 = new OuterClass(){
			public void printFromOuter(){
				System.out.println("PrintFromOuter Has Been Overridden to not call the inner class");
                                printFromOuter2();  
			}
			public void printFromOuter2(){
				System.out.println("Only accessible by a reference to the anonymous child object");
			}
		};

oci2.printFromOuter();

Seconding Henry's comment "anonymous inner class definition is no longer in scope"... Since Anonymous Inner Class does not have name and trying out call like "oci2.printFromOuter2()" leads to compilation error indicating this method is not in "OuterClass"..

[O. Ziggy]

Ok thanks all.