Cannot find symbol error -- what am I missing

[Christopher Laurenzano]

I'm working on a little horse racing program to learn Java (been a while, but am getting back into it).

What this class and its methods do is ask the user to enter the name of the horses he'd like to race, then add them to the entryList Array List, then ask if he wants to scratch any horses. After that then the horses are randomly assigned their post positions in the setRaceField () method, assigning the positions for the race (which currently is the index of each horse, randomly assigned; which I'm still working on how to do).

Here's the code.

import java.util.*;
import java.lang.*;

public class race {
RaceHelper helper = new RaceHelper();
String entryName;
String scratch;
int postPosition;
ArrayList<thoroughbred> entryList = new ArrayList<thoroughbred>();
ArrayList<thoroughbred> raceField = new ArrayList<thoroughbred>();

   public void enterEntryList() {
    /*/enter the horses in the race and determine the size of the entryList,
        and then scratch any horses. */
	System.out.println();
	System.out.println("First, enter the names of the horses in this race,"
                       + " up to a maximum of 14 horses.  Enter ''quit'' to stop entries.");
        System.out.println();		
		        while (entryList.size()<14){
			    String entryName = (helper.getUserInput(
                                    "Enter the name of the horse:"));
			    if(entryName.equalsIgnoreCase("quit")) {
				break;
			    }
                     	    thoroughbred horse = new thoroughbred();	   
		            horse.setName(entryName);
		            entryList.add(horse);
			    System.out.println ((entryList.indexOf(horse)+1) +
                             ": "+ horse.getName());
			    System.out.println();
		     }// close outer while loop    

        System.out.println();        
	System.out.println(entryList.size()+
                  " horses have been entered in this race:");
	System.out.println();

	for (int i=0; i<entryList.size(); i++){
	  System.out.println( (i+1) + ": " +(entryList.get(i).getName()));
	}//end for loop
	System.out.println();

	scratch=helper.getUserInput(
                    "Would you like to scratch any of the horses before the race begins?");

	if (scratch.equalsIgnoreCase("Y")) {
	   scratchHorse();
	}
	entryList.setRaceField();

}// close method	

public void scratchHorse() {
	System.out.println();	
	System.out.println(
             "Enter the number of the horse to be scratched.  Enter ''done'' when finished.");
	System.out.println();

	while (!scratch.equalsIgnoreCase("done")) {
// enter each horse to be scratched and adjust size of entryList
		scratch=helper.getUserInput("Scratch Horse:");

		if (scratch.equals("done")) {
			break;
		}// close if
		while (Integer.parseInt(scratch)>entryList.size()){
/*test to see if entry is a number that can be parsed into an int,
 "done", or a number of a horse in the entryList is in the entryList */

			System.out.print("You must enter a number of a horse"
                           + " in the entry list or ''done'' if you are finished or don't want to scratch any horse."); 
System.out.println("Please reenter:"); 
			scratch=helper.getUserInput("");
			if (scratch.equals("done")) {
			break;
			}// close if
		}// close inner while loop

		int s=Integer.parseInt(scratch);

		entryList.remove(s-1);

		System.out.println();
		System.out.println("Current Field:");
		System.out.println();
		for (int i=0; i<entryList.size(); i++){
	        System.out.println( (i+1) + ": " +(entryList.get(i).getName()));

	        }//end for loop
		System.out.println();
	  }//close outer while loop

	System.out.println();
	System.out.println("Final list of horses for this race:");
	System.out.println();

   	for (int i=0; i<entryList.size(); i++){
	  System.out.println( (i+1) + ": " +(entryList.get(i).getName() ) );
	}//end for loop

	System.out.println();
	entryList.setRaceField();

 } //close method


public void setRaceField() {
//set the final field for the race randomly, using the elements in entryList Array list
	double randomNumber = (Math.random()*entryList.size() );
	System.out.println(randomNumber); 
	postPosition = (int) randomNumber;
	System.out.println(postPosition);
}// close setRaceField method
	
	
public static void main (String [] args) {
		race thoroughbredRace= new race();
		thoroughbredRace.enterEntryList();
  	}//close main
}//close class

The problem occurs in lines 62 and 115. When I compile the class I get these error messages:

race.java:62: error: cannot find symbol
entryList.setRaceField();
^
symbol: method setRaceField()
location: variable entryList of type ArrayList<thoroughbred>
race.java:115: error: cannot find symbol
entryList.setRaceField();
^
symbol: method setRaceField()
location: variable entryList of type ArrayList<thoroughbred>
2 errors


if a just use setRaceField(); it compiles and runs(there's not code in the method yet, but it runs and just ends and gives me back my prompt in Terminal.) even if i do put code in there such as a simple print line, I still get the error messages

So why can't I call the method on the ArrayList entryList? again it's probably something simple, but I just don't get it.

[Mohamed Sanaulla]

You can call only those methods on ArrayList which it has defined or it inherits from its parent classes. This is true for all the objects in Java. You can invoke only those methods which a class defines or inherits from its parent class. In this example the method setRaceField is not defined in ArrayList or in any of its parent classes.

[Mohamed Sanaulla]

Another thing which I noted in your code is that you need to work on the java code conventions. The best place to start is our own Javaranch Style Guide.

[Campbell Ritchie]

I have had to reformat much of that code: breaking the long lines and the long // type comments and the excess blank lines which don&apos't add to legibility.
Don't use double apostrophe: use \" instead. Don't use tabs for indenting: get a decent text editor and it can convert your tabs to the right number of spaces.

[Christopher Laurenzano]

Thanks for the tips on coding conventions; forgot about those.

I use text editor on my Mac, but it doesn't allow me to change the tabs, I don't think.