Object cannot find symbol.

[Acadian]

I'm new to Java and I've been going through the book Head-First-Java 2nd edition. I'm learning about objects and how to call them from within a different class, I follow the book exactly, but I'm getting a cannot find symbol error.

Here is my code.

class Movie {
String title;
String genre;
int rating;
void playIt() {
System.out.println("Playing the movie");
	}
}

public class MovieTestDrive {
public static void main(String[] args) {
	Movie one = new Movie();
	one.title = "Gone with the Stock";
	one.genre = "Tragic";
	one.rating = -2;
	Movie two = new Movie();
	two.title = "Lost in Cubicle Space";
	two.genre = "Comedy";
	two.rating = 5;
	two.playIt();
	Movie three = new Movie();
	three.title = "Byte Club";
	three.genre = "Tragic but ultimately uplifting";
	three.rating = 127;
	}
}

I can compile Movie.java properly, but when I try to compile MovieTestDrive.java, I get this output.

..\sample\test\MovieTestDrive.java:3: cannot find symbol
Movie one = new Movie();
^
symbol: class Movie
location: class MovieTestDrive
..\sample\test\MovieTestDrive.java:3: cannot find symbol
Movie one = new Movie();
^
symbol: class Movie
location: class MovieTestDrive
..\sample\test\MovieTestDrive.java:7: cannot find symbol
Movie two = new Movie();
^
symbol: class Movie
location: class MovieTestDrive
..\sample\test\MovieTestDrive.java:7: cannot find symbol
Movie two = new Movie();
^
symbol: class Movie
location: class MovieTestDrive
..\sample\test\MovieTestDrive.java:12: cannot find symbol
Movie three = new Movie();
^
symbol: class Movie
location: class MovieTestDrive
..\sample\test\MovieTestDrive.java:12: cannot find symbol
Movie three = new Movie();
^
symbol: class Movie
location: class MovieTestDrive
6 errors


Thanks

[Junky]

Are the two .java files in the same directory? If not you will need to use an import statement or simply place them in the same folder.

[sunde887]

As junky stated, put them in the same directory and your code should work. By the way, head first java does a great job covering stuff. If you need any help, dont hesitAte to come ask questions here, also, feel free to send memmsges if needed for help.

[Acadian]

Yes they are both in a directory in my jdk root called sample\test I am invoking javac from the bin directory on the command line like this.

javac ../sample/test/Movie.java then when that compiles ok

javac ../sample/test/MovieTestDrive.java

in a command prompt.

[sunde887]

It might be easier to save them in a new directory and then cd to the directory and then compile like that, try cding to the directory containing them in the root directory you saved them in and try compiling like that

[Junky]

That won't work as it is trying to find the Movie class in the current working directory ie the bin directory. A better approach is to modify your environment variable so it know where the java and javac exe's are. Then you cd to the directory where your files are to compile and run.

[Acadian]

Thanks, that was the problem :)

[Tolls]

Don't do your work in the JDK directory.
It's a bad habit to get into.