Given a @Test case, why is toString giving error?

[ssk2659]

hi! Given a @Test case(JUnit), why is toString giving error? The Test case is

 @Test public void test_equals1(){assertTrue(new Exam("Richard","Carver",1,"final",100).equals(new Exam("Richard","Carver",1,"final",100)));}

When I run the test it just gives me errors on all of the cases which are referred to the toString method. Why is that? How can I fix that?

class Exam {
    	
    	private String firstName;
    	private String lastName;
    	private int ID;
    	private String examType;
    	private int score;
    
    	
    	public Exam(String firstName, String lastName, int ID, String examType, int score)
    	{
    		this.firstName = firstName;
    		this.lastName = lastName;
    		this.ID = ID;
    		this.examType = examType;
    		this.score = score;
    	}
    	
    	public String getFirstName()
    	{
    		return this.firstName;
    	}
    	
    	public String getLastName()
    	{
    		return this.lastName;
    	}
    	
    	public int getID()
    	{
    		return this.ID;
    	}
    	
    	public char getExamType()
    	{
    		char examTypeCasted = 0;
    		examTypeCasted = examType.charAt(0);
    		return Character.toUpperCase(examTypeCasted);
    	}
    	
    	public int getScore()
    	{
    		return this.score;
    	}
    	
    	public String toString()
    	{
    		return this.firstName + " " + this.lastName + " " + this.ID + " " + this.examType + " " + this.score;
    	}
    	
    	public boolean equals(Exam e)
    	{
    		if(this.equals(e))
    			return true;
    		else
    		return false;
    	}
    
    }

[jim829]

You have not indicated that your other issues (in other threads) have been resolved. Others may get tired of not getting feedback on their recommendations or help.

Regards,
Jim

[ssk2659]

Sorry, jim829, previous threads were very helpful. Thank you, folks! I'll change that in seconds.

[jim829]

Sorry, jim829, previous threads were very helpful. Thank you, folks! I'll change that in seconds.

Ok, Great! Now, your equals method looks like it recursively calls itself. This is not appropriate. A proper equals method uses Object as its type. Second, you need to compare specific state information of the class using == or equals as appropriate. Here is an example:

class Foobar {
   int val;
   String str =""; // default value
   public boolean equals(Object o) {
      if (this == o) {
            return true;
      }
      if (o instanceof Foobar) {
          Foobar f = (Foobar) o;
          if (val == f.val && str.equals(f.str)) {
             return true;
          }
      }
   }
   return false;
}

Please read the JDK documentation on the equals method defined in the Object class.

Regards,
Jim

[ssk2659]

Thank you for this info, Jim! I did equatting every primitive and String type to each other and it worked completely and passed every test.