question about ArrayList

[Micah Pezdirtz]

im not sure if this question is a beginner or intermediate, but here it is:
my friend told me that with the new update of java 5.0 update7 you can make ArrayLists for a specific object, which i though would save me god knows how much trouble with casting objects back to their true state, but when it came to adding things to these arraylists, this is were my problem starts.
when i try to add something(of the same type the arraylist stores) using the .add(*) method, i get a compilation error telling me "<identifier> expected". what is my problem? i suppose its because i dont know anything about the update except that you can make an ArrayList of a specific type...

[Keith Lynn]

Can you show the code you wrote?

[Micah Pezdirtz]

  private ArrayList <Jutsu> jutsuList=new ArrayList();
private ArrayList <String> name=new ArrayList();
 
private ArrayList <HandSeal> temp=new ArrayList();
        
temp.add(new HandSeal(HandSeal.snakeVal));
        //error ^ right there it says(same for other lines)
temp.add(new HandSeal(HandSeal.tigerVal));
temp.add(new HandSeal(HandSeal.monkeyVal));
temp.add(new HandSeal(HandSeal.boarVal));
temp.add(new HandSeal(HandSeal.horseVal));
temp.add(new HandSeal(HandSeal.tigerVal));
jutsuList.add(new Jutsu("Gokakyu",f,'C',temp));  

whereas Jutsu and HandSeal are (obviously) custom classes. lol, if you know the anime Naruto you will get it.

[Keith Lynn]

My guess is that you've got these lines outside of a method in your class definition.

[Micah Pezdirtz]

hey thats true! why is this important though? not that i wont put them in a method now, but how come it cant do this outside a method?

[Keith Lynn]

You can't have regular code outside of a method or block in a class definition. You can declare instance variables and initialize them when you declare them outside a method, but assignment statements and things like that can't be outside of a method or at least a block in the class definition.

[Micah Pezdirtz]

a block, isn't that just like {/*code*/}? when i just though about it, making a method in this situation would actually be very troublesome.

[Keith Lynn]

Why troublesome?

You have to have a main method if you're going to run an application.

[Micah Pezdirtz]

its going to be a library of these "jutsus" and now i just realized something, i can initialize all these values in main or in a method....is that what i want to do? i want to be able to call something like "JutsuLibrary.jutsuList.get(x)" or something....
[ September 23, 2006: Message edited by: Micah Pezdirtz ]

[Keith Lynn]

You can declare the ArrayLists static and populate them in a static initializer block.

[Micah Pezdirtz]

thanks alot, i was really kinda stuck with this!

[Bridget Kennedy]

Your ArrayList declarations might also generate some sort of "unchecked conversion" compilation warning. To be even more clear and safe, change:

private ArrayList <String> name=new ArrayList();
private ArrayList <HandSeal> temp=new ArrayList();

to:

private ArrayList <String> name=new ArrayList<String>();
private ArrayList <HandSeal> temp=new ArrayList<HandSeal>();

[ September 25, 2006: Message edited by: Bridget Kennedy ]

[Ken Blair]

Originally posted by Micah Pezdirtz:
its going to be a library of these "jutsus" and now i just realized something, i can initialize all these values in main or in a method....is that what i want to do? i want to be able to call something like "JutsuLibrary.jutsuList.get(x)" or something....

Sounds like very hacky code. Why are you using an index to get the Jutsu? Could this all be better served by some simple enumerations?

What exactly is the use of this? There's undoubtedly a better way.

[Brian Buchholtz]

Sorry for digging up an old post...

I'm afraid that I've run into the same problem and was wondering if anyone did find a solution.

This is where I'm at:

class myClass {
 
int Member1, Member2;
String Member3;
 
}
 
ArrayList<myClass> myList = new ArrayList<myClass>();

How do I accomplish something like this:

myList.Member3.add("data");

Thanks!

-Brian

[Adam Schaible]

It may be intuitive ot think like:
myList.Member3.add("data");

...but it doesn't look like that.

Generics were introduced with Java 1.5 - it allows you to supply compile-time type declarations for collections (among other things).

An ArrayList is still a List, though

1.4 syntax

List myList = new ArrayList();
//build list
MyClass myClass = (MyClass) myList.get(0);

1.5 syntax

List<MyClass> myList = new ArrayList<MyClass>();
//build list
MyClass myClass = myList.get(0);

I simply don't have to cast.

I could do something like:

myList.get(0).Member3.someMethod();

Does that make sense?

[Brian Buchholtz]

Hi Adam,

Your suggestion takes me a step closer. Thank you for your help!

For whatever reason, the compiler thinks that I've neglected to import 'java.lang.String' when trying to add items to the list.

I'm using Java 1.5. Should I be using the Generic data type instead?

Best,

-Brian

[Brian Buchholtz]

I get it... never mind!