How to access private data types from public classes?

[kevzspeare]

Suppose I have two classes, Artist and Driver:

public class Artist
{
	private String bestpicture="Slumdog Millionaire";
	private String bestforeign="Departures";
	private String bestcountry="Japan";
	private String bestdocu="Man on Wire";
	private String bestanim="WALL-E";
	private String bestactor1="Sean Penn";
	private String bestactor1film="Milk";
	private String bestactress1="Kate Winslet";
	private String bestactress1film="The Reader";
	private String bestactor2="Heath Ledger";
	private String bestactor2film="The Dark Knight";
	private String bestactress2="Penelope Cruz";
	private String bestactress2film="Vicky Cristina Barcelona";
	private String bestdirector="Danny Boyle";
	private String bestdirectorfilm="Slumdog Millionaire";
	private String bestscreen1="Dustin Lance Black";
	private String bestscreen1film="Milk";
	private String bestscreen2="Simon Beaufoy";
	private String bestscreen2film="Slumdog Millionaire";
	public String SetBestPicture(String bestpicture)
	{
		this.bestpicture = bestpicture;
		return bestpicture;
	}
	public String SetBestForeign(String bestforeign)
	{
		this.bestforeign = bestforeign;
		return bestforeign;
	}
	public String SetBestCountry(String bestcountry)
	{
		this.bestcountry = bestcountry;
		return bestcountry;
	}
	public String SetBestDocu(String bestdocu)
	{
		this.bestdocu = bestdocu;
		return bestdocu;
	}
	public String SetBestAnim(String bestanim)
	{
		this.bestanim = bestanim;
		return bestanim;
	}
	public String SetBestActor1(String bestactor1)
	{
		this.bestactor1 = bestactor1;
		return bestactor1;
	}
	public String SetBestActor1Film(String bestactor1film)
	{
		this.bestactor1film = bestactor1film;
		return bestactor1film;
	}
	public String SetBestActress1(String bestactress1)
	{
		this.bestactress1 = bestactress1;
		return bestactress1;
	}
	public String SetBestActress1Film(String bestactress1film)
	{
		this.bestactress1film = bestactress1film;
		return bestactress1film;
	}
	public String SetBestActor2(String bestactor2)
	{
		this.bestactor2 = bestactor2;
		return bestactor2;
	}
	public String SetBestActor2Film(String bestactor2film)
	{
		this.bestactor2film = bestactor2film;
		return bestactor2film;
	}
	public String SetBestActress2(String bestactress2)
	{
		this.bestactress2 = bestactress2;
		return bestactress2;
	}
	public String SetBestActress2Film(String bestactress2film)
	{
		this.bestactress2film = bestactress2film;
		return bestactress2film;
	}
	public String SetBestDirector(String bestdirector)
	{
		this.bestdirector = bestdirector;
		return bestdirector;
	}
	public String SetBestDirectorFilm(String bestdirectorfilm)
	{
		this.bestdirectorfilm = bestdirectorfilm;
		return bestdirectorfilm;
	}
	public String SetBestScreen1(String bestscreen1)
	{
		this.bestscreen1 = bestscreen1;
		return bestscreen1;
	}
	public String SetBestScreen1Film(String bestscreen1film)
	{
		this.bestscreen1film = bestscreen1film;
		return bestscreen1film;
	}
	public String SetBestScreen2(String screen2)
	{
		this.bestscreen2 = bestscreen2;
		return bestscreen2;
	}
	public String SetBestScreen2Film(String bestscreen2film)
	{
		this.bestscreen2film = bestscreen2film;
		return bestscreen2film;
	}	
}

public class Driver
{
	public static Artist alpha = new Artist();
	public static void main (String args[])
	{
		System.out.print("The 81st Academy Awards");
		System.out.print("\n------------------------");
		System.out.print("\n\nList of winners:");
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Picture: ");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Foreign Language Film: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nCountry of origin: ");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Documentary: ");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Animated Feature: ");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Actor in a Leading Role: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nFilm:");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Actress in a Leading Role: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nFilm:");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Actor in a Supporting Role: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nFilm:");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Actress in a Supporting Role: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nFilm:");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Director: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nFilm:");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Writing - Original Screenplay: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nFilm:");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
		System.out.print("\nBest Writing - Adapted Screenplay: ");
		
		System.out.print("\nFilm:");
		
		System.out.print("\n");
	}
}

And I want the Strings on the Artist class to be accessed by the Driver class. I need help here. What should I do?

[pbrockway2]

That's a lot of code !-)

public class Foo {
    private String str = "Some private String";

    public String getStr() {
        return str;
    }
}

public class Driver {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        Foo test = new Foo();
        System.out.println("The private string is " + test.getStr());
    }
}

[emceenugget]

why are you returning the string that you pass into your setter methods? why not just have them be void?

[Eranga]

Simply you should have get/set methods to access private members of a class. get/set methods are public, as pbrockway2 shows in his code. It's basically all about Encapsulation in Java.