error: non-static method newAnimal() cannot be referenced

[alpdog14]

This might be obvious error to all programmers but i am new to programming and cannot find out what is going on. I have 3 classes (Animal, Fox, and Rabbit). I can get the code to compile using instanceof() but I am trying to use polymorphism to replace certain code but cannot get it to compile. Here is the code:

Animal code is:

public abstract class Animal
{
   public Animal newAnimal(){
        Animal babyAnimal;
        if (this instanceof Rabbit){
            babyAnimal = new Rabbit(false);
        }else{
            babyAnimal = new Fox(false);
        }
        return babyAnimal;
    }
}

Rabbit code is:

public class Rabbit extends Animal
{
  public Animal newAnimal() {
        return new Rabbit(false);
    }
}

Fox code is:

public class Fox extends Animal
{
   public Animal newAnimal() {
        return new Fox(false);
    }
}

So when I try to replace the instanceof() code in Animal with Rabbit.newAnimal I get that error saying:

non-static method newAnimal() cannot be referenced from a static context

so this is the new code i am trying to use in Animal in its place:

public Animal newAnimal(){
        Animal babyAnimal;
        if (Rabbit.newAnimal()){
            Rabbit.newAnimal();
        }else{
            Fox.newAnimal();
        }
        return babyAnimal;
    }

[emceenugget]

because you are trying to call newAnimal from the class, not an instance, you must define it as "static".

public static Animal newAnimal() { ... }

[alpdog14]

thanks emceenugget. i changed the two methods in Fox and Rabbit to static and changed the Animal class code to:

public Animal newAnimal(){
Animal babyAnimal;
if (this instanceof Rabbit){
babyAnimal = Rabbit.newAnimal();
}else{
babyAnimal = Fox.newAnimal();
}
return babyAnimal;
}

And now the error I get in both Fox and Rabbit classes are:

"newAnimal() in *Rabbit* cannot override newAnimal() in Animal; overriding method is static"

Please let me know what i am doing wrong.

[hardwired]

public class AnimalTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Fox fox = new Fox();
        Animal animal = fox.newAnimal();
        System.out.println("animal = " + animal.getClass().getName());
    }
}

abstract class Animal {
   public abstract Animal newAnimal();
}


class Rabbit extends Animal {
    boolean b;

    public Rabbit(boolean b) {
        this.b = b;
    }

    public Animal newAnimal() {
        return new Rabbit(false);
    }
}

class Fox extends Animal {
    boolean b;

    public Fox() {
        this(false);
    }

    public Fox(boolean b) {
       this.b = b;
    }

    public Animal newAnimal() {
        return new Fox(false);
    }
}