Non-static method cannot be referenced from a static context

[T Shaw]

I have three bits of code that are finally beginning to fit together in a pathfinding function I'm working on. Most of the pathfinding method itself hasn't been written yet, but after a day of trying to figure out how array and object syntax work, I'm having one last problem with these three bits:

a class defining each individual tile on the grid I'm trying to find paths over

public class pathfindingtile {
    byte heigth;
    byte type;
    byte [][] path;
    float leftovermove;
    float value;
    
    void setheigth(byte getheigth) {
        heigth = getheigth;
    };
    void settype(byte gettype) {
        type = gettype;
    };
    void createpath(byte i) {
        path = new byte [i][2];
    };
    void setleftovermove(float move) {
        leftovermove = move;
    }
    void setvalue(float getvalue) {
        value = getvalue;
    }
}

a class that creates an array from that class

public class pathfinding {
        pathfindingtile[][] array;
        
        void init (byte getx, byte gety) {
            array = new pathfindingtile [getx][gety];
        }
        pathfinding pathfind(byte getx, byte gety, byte getmove, byte getpathhistory[][], boolean getdeadtiles[][], pathfinding getpathfindingarray) {
            byte x = getx;
            byte y = gety;
            byte move = getmove;
            byte pathhistory[][] = getpathhistory;
            boolean deadtiles[][] = getdeadtiles;
            pathfinding pathfindingarray = getpathfindingarray;
            
            if (pathfindingarray.array[x][y] != null) {
                if (pathfindingarray.array[x][y].leftovermove > move) {
                    return pathfindingarray;
                }
            }

            return pathfindingarray;
        }
}

And the main code that calls the pathfind method.

        pathfinding map2 = new pathfinding();
        map2.init ((byte)16,(byte)16);

        byte x = 1;
        byte y = 1;
        byte move = 7;
        byte [][] pathhistory = new byte [1][1];
        boolean [][] deadtiles = new boolean [16][16];
        
        map2 = pathfinding.pathfind(x,y,move,pathhistory,deadtiles,map2);

That last line is being flagged with the error:
"Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: Uncompilable source code - non-static method pathfind(byte,byte,byte,byte[][],boolean[][],initalize.battle.pathfinding) cannot be referenced from a static context
at initalize.battle.InitalizeBattle.main(InitalizeBattle.java:51)"

I'm not sure why that is.

[jasonhu hu]

hi,you should use the object name to invoke the method,not the class name .
the method is not static ,so you can not dircetly use by class name.

[jasonhu hu]

try the below...

****************************************
map2 = map2.pathfind(x,y,move,pathhistory,deadtiles,map2);

[fred rosenberger]

There are two kinds of methods in java - static and non-static.

A static method is one that can be called without there being any object. It doesn't rely on the state of something. For example, a square root function can be called and you can get the result if you pass it in a number. i.e. sqrt(25) would return 5.

a non-statis method is one that needs an object to have been created. For example, it makes no send to call a method getName() if there is no Dog object created. What, exactly, would you get the name of?

You are calling a non-static method (pathfinding()), but doing so with the general class name, not a specific object. Jasonhu's suggestion should work.