need help wit this compareTo method

[ShinTec]

cant figure out this int cannot be deferenced error
it wont let me compile the code what im i doing wrong
does the compare to only work for string objects only instead of ints
any help would be much appreciated here my code

public class Boy implements Comparable <Boy> 
{
	//attributes
	private String boyName;
	private int boyNumber;
	
	//constructor
	public Boy(String boyName,int boyNumber)
	{
		setBoyName(boyName);
		setBoyNumber(boyNumber);
	}
	public Boy(Boy theObject)
	{
		this.setBoyNumber(this.getBoyNumber());
	}	
	public Boy()
	{
		
	}
	//get set methods
	//------------------------------------
	public void setBoyName(String boyName)
	{
		this.boyName = boyName;
	}
	public String getBoyName()
	{
		return this.boyName;
	}
	//---------------------------------------
	public void setBoyNumber(int boyNumber)
	{
		this.boyNumber = boyNumber;
	}
	public int getBoyNumber()
	{
		return this.boyNumber;
	}
	//---------------------------------------
	/*public boolean equals(Object theObject)
	{
	
	}*/	
	
	//---------------------------------------
	public String toString()
	{
		return String.format("%s , %d\n",getBoyName(),getBoyNumber());
	}
	//-----------------------------------------
	public int compareTo(Boy boyToCompare)//for search method
	{
		int compareClass = this.getClass().getName().compareToIgnoreCase(boyToCompare.getClass().getName());
		
		if(compareClass == 0)
		{
			return this.getBoyNumber().compareToIgnoreCase(boyToCompare.getBoyNumber());
		}
		else
		{
			return compareClass;
		}		
	}							
}//end of boy class

this is the line thats giving me trouble jcreator :confused:

return this.getBoyNumber().compareToIgnoreCase(boyToCompare.getBoyNumber());

thanks in advance for the help

[JosAH]

this is the line thats giving me trouble jcreator :confused:

return this.getBoyNumber().compareToIgnoreCase(boyToCompare.getBoyNumber());

thanks in advance for the help

The getBoyNumber() method returns an 'int'. Ints are primitive types and don't have any methods; therefore you can't dereference ints, i.e. they don't have an compareToIgnoreCase( ... ) method (nor any other method).

kind regards,

Jos

[AndreB]

you cannto compare elemntar types like 'int' (that your boynumber) with a compareToIgnoreCase. That even does not makes sense.

But you can compareTo a boy object with anthoer object.
and you can comapare boyName with compareToIgnoreCase with another string
and you can comapre boyNumber with '==' operator

[ShinTec]

i cant believe i didnt pick those things up cheers for that josAh and andreB :D

[AndreB]

omg, i realized how many writing errors i have in my post :-)
shame on me