Using a String for an instance object name

Question

I have this code which gets info from an other class but I have to add another line other code for every instance object.

public static int giveShipData(String shipName,int Data){
    if(shipName.equals("Player")){i = Player.getData(Data);}
    return i;
}

Is it possible to have something like:

public static int giveShipData(String shipName,int Data){
    i = shipName.getData(Data);
    return i;
}

Sorry if I am using the wrong terminology I am self taught and new.

is Player#getData a static class method that receives an int and returns another int? — Luiggi Mendoza
– Luiggi Mendoza, Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 6:18
i = shipName.getData(Data); is wrong. shipName is instance of String class and haven't getData method. — Sam
– Sam, Commented Apr 8, 2012 at 6:20

wax · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-08 06:22:16Z

2

I think you'd better to reconsider your design. If you have a ship name and ship data I assume you must have a Ship class which looks something like this:

public class Ship {
    private String name;
    private int data;

    public Ship(String name, int data) {
        this.name = name;
        this.data = data;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public int getData() {
        return data;
    }
}

Besides this class there should be a class like Shipyard:

 public class Shipyard {
    private Map<String, Ship> shipsByNameMap = new HashMap<String, Ship>();

    public void registerShipByName(String name, Ship ship){
        shipsByNameMap.put(name, ship);
    }

    public Ship getShipByName(String name){
        return shipsByNameMap.get(name);
    }
}

So, at first you invoke shipyard.getShip("Player") method to get ship object, than you can invoke ship.getData() method to retrieve ship data.

answered Apr 8, 2012 at 6:22

wax

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2 Comments

twilding Over a year ago

Thanks this seems to do exactly what I want.

Adam Liss Over a year ago

+1 for Shipyard. :-) And for an excellent example of OOP. Suggestion: if registerShipByName takes two params, then the second could be the data. That way it could create a new Ship and then register it. If the Ship already exists, then registerShipByName needs only the Ship param, and it can get the name from the Ship.

wattostudios · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-08 05:55:01Z

0

You might be able to do something like this...

int[] ships = new int[3]; // 3 ships

public void populateShips(){
  for (int i=0;i<ships.length;i++){
    ships[i] = giveShipData(shipname,data);
    }
  }

public int giveShipData(String shipName,int data){
    return shipName.getData(data);
}

This would allow you to create any number of ships, just increase the size of the ships[] array to be however many ships you want.

Is this kinda what you're after?

answered Apr 8, 2012 at 5:55

wattostudios

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1 Comment

twilding Over a year ago

I would be nice if I didn't have to do this but this will work thank you.

Fox · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-08 05:59:52Z

0

As per your code "shipName" is a string...and it does not have getData() method. And why are you passing Data to the getData()... You could instead write something like this-

 i = ClassObj.getData(shipname);

and in the method getData return the info regarding the "shipname".

answered Apr 8, 2012 at 5:59

Fox

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