2 variables get linked

[JavaNoob84]

//Hi,

//I have a piece of code in which I created a tempArray that I fill with data from a file.
arrayList <someDataType> tempArr = new arrayList <someDataType>(); //local variable

//After I hit a delimiter in the file, I want to use this temp variable to set a parameter in another object:
AnotherObj tempAnotherObj = new AnotherObj(); //local variable
tempAnotherObj .setparam(tempArr );

//finally I add tempAnotherObj to an array of AnotherObj which is a private variable of the class this method belongs to:
arrAnotherObjAr.add(tempAnotherObj );

//now I clear tempArr from step 1 because I want to fill with new data until i hit a new delimiter again
tempArr.clear();

//As soon as that happens all the data both in the tempAnotherObj and arrAnotherObjAr lose the data recently acquired (tested with prints on both side of clear line).
//It is as if tempArr gets perma linked to tempAnotherObj and arrAnotherObjAr. I just want to grab its data and move on. Is there something I could do to break this dependency?
//Thanks in advance.

[Fubarable]

Please show us a small test program that demonstrates your problem. Please be sure to use code tags when posting code, and to separate your question from your code so the one doesn't clutter the other.

Best of luck.

[JavaNoob84]

---

                                              double degX = 0, degY = 0;
           			coordsLine = br.readLine();            			
            			ArrayList <LatLon> tempArray = new ArrayList<LatLon>();
            			SurfacePolygon tempSurfacePolygon = new SurfacePolygon();
            			int j=0,k=0, last_K=0;
            			while(coordsLine != null)
            			{     
            				if (coordsLine.startsWith(";")) //polygon delimiter
            				{            					
            					tempSurfacePolygon.setLocations(tempArray);            					
            					System.out.println("tempSurfacePolygon coords=" + tempSurfacePolygon.getOuterBoundary());
            					polygonAr.add(tempSurfacePolygon);     
            					System.out.println("polygonAr " +  j + " coords=" + ((SurfacePolygon) polygonAr.get(j)).getOuterBoundary());
            					tempArray.clear();  //<-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AFTER THIS IS EXECUTED BOTH tempSurfacePolygon AND polygonAr LOSE THE DATA
            					System.out.println("tempSurfacePolygon coords=" + tempSurfacePolygon.getOuterBoundary());
            					System.out.println("polygonAr " +  j + "after clear coords=" + ((SurfacePolygon) polygonAr.get(j)).getOuterBoundary());
            					j++;						//count the number of polygons            					            				}
            				else
            				{
                				degX = Double.parseDouble(coordsLine.substring(0, coordsLine.indexOf(" ")-1));
                				degY = Double.parseDouble(coordsLine.substring(coordsLine.indexOf(" ")+1,coordsLine.length() ));                				
                				tempArray.add(LatLon.fromDegrees(degY,degX));    
            				}            				
            				coordsLine = br.readLine();
            			}            			
            			            			
            			System.out.println("polygonAr size is  " + polygonAr.size());
            			for (int i=0; i<j; i++)
            			{
            				System.out.println("polygonAr " +  i + " coords=" + ((SurfacePolygon) polygonAr.get(i)).getOuterBoundary());           				
            			}

[pbrockway2]

AFTER THIS IS EXECUTED BOTH tempSurfacePolygon AND polygonAr LOSE THE DATA

What you are seeing is the logic of references. When you call tempSurfacePolygon.setLocations(tempArray) then the polygon gets a reference to the array. If you later do anything with the array (like clear it) everybody who has a reference to the array will "see" the changes. It works the other way around as well: if the polygon happened to do something to the array (like add elements) then those changes would have an effect on the method you posted.

(You don't actually say what setLocations() does - but I'm assuming it just keeps a local copy of the reference. Ie assigns the argument's value to some local value)

The solution is probably for setLocations() to create its own array into which it copies the latlon values in the array whose reference is passed.

[JavaNoob84]

Thanks. I got around the problem by using a .clone() on a tempArray and it was fine after that. Is that a standard Java solution? Kinda want to conform to established coding conventions.