toString() method

[01allenh]

I'm overriding the toString() method for a Polygon class. An instance of Polygon has n points (i.e the number of points varies). These points are stored in an array of points, how do I convert these points to a string representation when the number of points is different for each instance of the Class? Is there some way of recursively doing this?

[MasterD]

You could try it like that

Point[] points;
...
// Returns "2:(1,2):(2,3)", if your point's toString methode returns "(x,y)"
public String toString() {
String s = points.length;
for(Point p : points) {
s += ":" + p.toString();
}
return points;
}

even

public String toString() {
  return points.toString();
}

is possible.

I wouldn't go for any recursion.

[arseny]

You can also use a StringBuffer class - you will be able to pass it inside method call to fill it inside method. Concatenation of two strings (the '+' operator) always give a new String instance - using StringBuffer you can use a single instance.