Another basic newbie question..

I have been going over this for days now, Im sure it is very basic, but I have googled it over and over. I have java for dummies, school text book, and head first java, all of which have examples in them that almost look identical to this, but yet I still get an error.

The error is : non-static variable, this cannot be referenced from a static context.

Code:

---

package payrollwk4;

import java.util.Scanner;
/**
 *
 * @author erikjd21
 */
public class payrollwk4
{
 
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Employee empinfo = new Employee();// The error happens here
       
        empinfo.getInfo();
    }

    public class Employee
    {

        Scanner input = new Scanner (System.in);

        String name;

        public void getInfo(){

            System.out.println("Welcome to payroll manager!");
            System.out.print("Please enter the employee's name:");
            name = input.next();
        }
    }
}

---

This is the code that is giving the error. The part that is the error is where I am attempting to make an object of the employee class to use the method inside of it, to cause the information to print to the console. I feel that if I get this part down, the rest of the program will just flow together. Googling that error message says to create a constructor for the class to pull the method from. But I was under the impression that's what I was doing with the line that is giving me errors.

If anyone can, please tell me what I am forgetting to do.

Put the Employee class in its own file. There's no reason at all that you should be nesting classes here.

Don't put the class Employee inside the other class

Code:

---

public class Employee{
  constructor
  methods
  main(){
    create object
    call methods on the object
  }
}

---

OMG I apologize for wasting your time. I didnt know that each class should be within its own file. None of the books suggest that.

Thank you, making a new file fixed it

For future reference, every time I create a new class, I should make a seperate file for it?

No, then you would have hundreds of files to accomplish what one class file could accomplish. If your class relates to the purpose of the class file, AKA Bank Account class has deposit, new account, withdraw classes you wouldn't want to have three files to accomplish this.

Most, if not all of the examples you'll find in teaching books will have a class file and a tester file. More than 2 files is hardly needed when learning. Now when you embark on a programming project you might find yourself in the position to package more than one class file with your tester file.

Although I suppose it is a personal preference. I prefer to try and split the program up into smaller files. However, early on in programming it's probably very necessary since most classes will only be a couple hundred lines.

@op: you can have multiple classes in one file, one class(the same as the file name) should be public

Code:

---

public class A{
  public static void main(String[] args){
    A a = new A();
    B b = new B();
    C c = new C();
    D d = new D();
  }
}

class B{}
class C{}
class D{}

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