Accessing Enclosing Class Members From Inner Class Subclass

Question

I have the following scenario that I cannot get to work. Notice the comments in B.doWork() for the problem code. In B.doWork(), how do I access m_strA?
* A.java
* Created on July 5, 2002, 2:20 PM
package Projects.InnerTrouble.Files;
public class A {
     public abstract class InnerA {
          public abstract void doWork ();
     public String m_strA;
     /** Creates new A */
     public A ()
               new InnerA() {
                         public void doWork ()
                                   System.out.println("A$InnerA$1's doWork() called!");
                                   m_strA = "Annonymous subclass of InnerA's doWork did this";
                    }.doWork();
     * @param args the command line arguments
     public static void main (String args[])
               A oTemp = new A();
               System.out.println(oTemp.m_strA);
               B.getB(oTemp).doWork();
               System.out.println(oTemp.m_strA);
class B extends A.InnerA {
     public B (A a)
               a.super();
     public void doWork ()
               System.out.println("B's doWork() called!");
               // How do I access m_strA within B's doWork() method?  The following is what I would expect to be the answer, but it does not compile
               // A.this.m_strA = "B's doWork did this";
     private static A.InnerA sm_oInnerA;
     public static A.InnerA getB (A a)
               if (sm_oInnerA == null)
                    sm_oInnerA = new B(a);
               return (sm_oInnerA);

Answer 1

The whole point is that B is not an inner class of A
so it does not have access to A's member variables.
Eventhough B extends an inner class of A, that does
not make B an inner class of A. That is in the JLS,
but not so elegantly as I have put it, hehe.
If B were an innerclass of InnerA, then it would
qualify to access A's member variables.OK, I think that you are finally getting through to my thick skull on this one. Let me restate and get your check-off on my understanding of the situation.
The only classes with access to A's this reference are A and inner classes of A that are found within the definition of A. So, despite the fact that A and B are in the same package (and B should have access to A's non-private members because B and A are in the same package), and despite the fact that we would normally state that B "is a" InnerA (which is an inner class of A and would have access to a reference to the A.this reference), B is not allowed access to A.this (because B "is not really a" InnerA in the same way that the anonymous implementation of InnerA "is a" InnerA). However, nothing would prevent me from giving B access to a reference of the enclosing A as long as it was done via a method of InnerA, and as long as the implementation of that method is contained in A's implementation.
Does this "access" rule realy make sense? Are you aware of the justification for this rule? Or is the justification stated in the JLS? I would think that the compiler ought to be able to figure this kind of thing out and allow it. It seems to me the fact that I defined B in the way that I did, and the fact that B "is a" InnerA, implies that I desired a fairly tight relationship to A. In fact, I desired the exact relationship that exists for the anonymous implementation of InnerA.
The following is a modified version of my original example that runs as I originally wanted it to, but works around the access rules discussed on this forum thread:
* A.java
* Created on July 5, 2002, 2:20 PM
package Projects.InnerTrouble.Files;
public class A {
     public abstract class InnerA {
          public abstract void doWork ();
          /** added to allow implementors of InnerA that are not enclosed in A's class definition to have access to the enclosing class */
          public A myEnclosingInstance ()
                    return (A.this);
     public String m_strA;
     /** Creates new A */
     public A ()
               new InnerA() {
                         public void doWork ()
                                   System.out.println("A$InnerA$1's doWork() called!");
                                   m_strA = "Annonymous subclass of InnerA's doWork did this";
                    }.doWork();
     * @param args the command line arguments
     public static void main (String args[])
               A oTemp = new A();
               System.out.println(oTemp.m_strA);
               B.getB(oTemp).doWork();
               System.out.println(oTemp.m_strA);
class B extends A.InnerA {
     public B (A a)
               a.super();
     public void doWork ()
               System.out.println("B's doWork() called!");
               // The following is what I would expect to be the answer, but it does not compile
               // A.this.m_strA = "B's doWork did this";
               // added myEnclosingInstance() to get functionality desired above
               myEnclosingInstance().m_strA = "B's doWork did this";
     private static A.InnerA sm_oInnerA;
     public static A.InnerA getB (A a)
               if (sm_oInnerA == null)
                    sm_oInnerA = new B(a);
               return (sm_oInnerA);
}