Ask for help on Java access to protected methods

[fangzhong]

Hi,
I use a java toolkit, and I want to access a class (Morphy) in it.

There is only one constructor function for class Morphy:
Morphy(WordNet wn).

As some methods in this class are protected, and I will call them.
Here is my code:

import danbikel.wordnet.WordNet;
import danbikel.wordnet.Morphy;

public class wn extends Morphy {

public void test(){
wn a=new wn();
a.morphWord("running","v"); // it is a protected method in Morphy
}
}

It just report an compile error: cannot find symbol: symbol : constructor Morphy().

Can anyone tell me how to fix the problem? I don't know how to add the constructor in my code.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Fubarable]

Whenever you extend a class, your new class's constructor will always first call the parent class's constructor. This can be an explicit call by having a call to super(...) as the first call in the wn constructor, or if not explicitly done, then the compiler will make an implicit call to the default Morphy constructor which has no parameters. Since this constructor doesn't exist, the compiler is throwing the exception. The fix is to have an explicit call to the Morphy constructor with the proper Wordnet parameter as the first line of your wn constructor. i.e.,

public wn(WordNet wordnet)
{ 
  // explicit call to the parent class's constructor with proper parameter
  super(wordnet); 

  //... the rest of your wn constructor goes here
}

Make sense?

also, please capitalize the first letter of all classes if you want to follow Java coding conventions.

[fangzhong]

thank you very much, Fubarable.
It is done following your guidance.

[Fubarable]

You're welceome, but in the future, please don't cross-post the same question in multiple fora. It is considered rude.