New to NetBeans - project with multiple classes

[Humphrey Bogart]

Hello. I'm new to NetBeans and pretty new to Java as well. I apologize in advance for any excessively stupid questions.

I created a new NetBeans project (called UsesMosaic) in it's own package. The UsesMosaic calls on methods in a class called Mosiac. I have the Mosaic.class already writen and compiled, and it resides in the same folder in which I have the UsesMosaic package. Anywhere in the UsesMosaic program that calls a method in the Mosaic.class, I get an error from NetBeans: "Cannot find symbol symbol: variable Mosaic".

Can anyone tell me how to set up NetBeans so a project can access methods from another file?

I can write the same UsesMosaic program in WordPad, save it in the folder where I have the Mosaic.class, and successfully compile and run it using a command prompt. This tells me that my coding is correct, and that UsesMosaic can correctly access the Mosaic.class. Now how do I do this when writing UsesMosaic in NetBeans?

Thanks.

[pbrockway2]

I created a new NetBeans project (called UsesMosaic) in it's own package. ... I have the Mosaic.class already writen and compiled, and it resides in the same folder in which I have the UsesMosaic package. ... I can write the same UsesMosaic program in WordPad, save it in the folder where I have the Mosaic.class, and successfully compile and run it using a command prompt.

This suggests a problem to me. Do UsesMosaic and Mosaic belong to the same package - ie do they both have "package <whatever>;" as the first line of their source code? If so then the class files should go in the same folder, if not then they should not.

As a general rule if one of your classes belongs to a specific package, then they all should.

[Humphrey Bogart]

Hello. Thanks for your reply

The Mosaic.class is not part of or in any package.

When I created the new NB project (UsesMosaic), the wizard gives an option to place the new project in a package. I used this option to create a new package for the UsesMosaic project. That package exists in its own folder that resides in the same folder that contains the Mosaic.class file.

If I understand packages correctly, the Mosaic.class and the UsesMosaic.class should reside in the same package. But I do not know how to do this in NetBeans.

Let's try ths question. I have a file named Mosaic already written and compiled. I want to write a new program in NB that will call on the Mosaic.class. How do I do this in NB?

This suggests a problem to me. Do UsesMosaic and Mosaic belong to the same package - ie do they both have "package <whatever>;" as the first line of their source code? If so then the class files should go in the same folder, if not then they should not.

As a general rule if one of your classes belongs to a specific package, then they all should.