Casting Objects

[Arifa Riaz]

The code listed below compiles fine but fails on execution giving the following the error message.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ClassCastException: Animal
at CastExample.main(CastExample.java:37)
Could someone explain why this is happening.
Thanks
Arifa
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.*;
class Animal
{
public void Barks()
{
System.out.println("Animal Barks");
}
}
class Dog extends Animal
{
public void Barks()
{
System.out.println("Dog Barks");
}
}
class Spaniel extends Dog
{
public void Barks()
{
System.out.println("Spaniel Barks");
}
}
public class CastExample
{
public static void main (String args[])
{
Spaniel aPet = new Spaniel();
Animal theAnimal = aPet;
theAnimal.Barks();
Animal myAnimal = new Animal();
Dog myDog = (Dog)myAnimal;
myDog.Barks();
}
}

[Doug Gschwind]

Looks like this is due to the last three lines in main(). True, a Dog instance is an Animal instance, but the reverse is not true in this case. The cast that narrows the Animal instance to the Dog instance is incorrect.

[Doug Gschwind]

I should have elaborated a bit more.
No cast is needed to widen from a Dog instance to an Animal instance as the first three lines show in main(). However, to narrow from an Animal instance to a Dog instance requires that the Animal instance actually be a Dog or Spaniel instance to be a legal narrowing.
In addition, when narrowing, the instanceof operator should be put to use. e.g.
Dog spanky = new Dog();
doSomethingMethod(spanky);
public void doSomethingMethod(Animal a)
if (a instanceof Dog)
{
// Here the typecast will not cause a run time type exception.
// a must be non-null as well for the condition to test true.
Dog d = (Dog) a;
}
}

[Arifa Riaz]

Thank you Doug.