call a method from another class without static?

[pancake718]

Hey there,

i've tried to write a class and a testclass to.. test it.

it looks like this:

public class Raute{

	static int i, j, hoehe;
	String zeichen;
	
public static void Raute(int hoehe, String zeichen) {

for (i = 0; i < (hoehe/2)+1; i++) {
 
    for (j = 0 ; j < hoehe; j++) {
 
        if ( (j > (hoehe/2) - i) && (j < (hoehe/2) + i) ) {
            System.out.print(zeichen);
        }
        else {
            System.out.print(" ");
        }
 
	}
 
System.out.println();
 
}

for(i=(hoehe/2)+1; i>0; i--) {
	
	for(j=0; j<hoehe; j++) {
		if( (j > (hoehe/2) - i) && (j < (hoehe/2) + i) ) {
			System.out.print(zeichen);
		} else {
			System.out.print(" ");
		}
	}
	System.out.println();
}
}	


}

and the testclass:

public class RauteTest {
	
	public static void main(String args[]) {

		//int hoehe;
		//String zeichen;
		//zeichen = "*";
		//hoehe = 7;
	
		Raute.Raute(7, "x");

	}	
}

Now the problem is, if I don't write static in front of my first class, I cannot compile the test class (cannot find symbol-error).
And if I have it static, then I have to write static in front of my int-variables aswell, which I don't really like, b/c I've read that if you do so, you really just use that for constants. And mine aren't constants.
So I don't know how to call my method from the testclass without making it a static class!

Is there a way to do so? Or is it alright like this, but then what does this static-stuff really mean? I've tried to read in in java api, but I didn't really understand what was going on.

Can someone help? =)


-- pancake



P.S. sorry for any mistakes in grammar or spelling, I'm not lazy or anything.. I'm german ;)

[Norm]

You shouldn't have a method name the same as the class name. That makes for confusing code to read.
If you want to call a non-static method in a class, you need first to create an instance of the class and use that instance to call the method.
ClaNm aRef = new ClasNm(); // create an object and set a reference to it
aRef.theMethod(); // call a method in that class

There are several discussion of static at this site. Find static and read all about it.
The Java Language Specification, Third Edition - TOC

[Fubarable]

Create a Raute object and then call the non-static method off of the object.