Casting inheritance class in instance

Question

Hi All..
my question is almost same as the question in this post:
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=545767&messageID=2655556
in the post, charlie2086 ask how to access method in class ComputerPlayer when play declared as:
Player play = new ComputerPlayer();jsalonen answer with 3 solutions:
1) Declare the method in the Player class
2) Declare play as ComputerPlayer rather than Player
3) Cast play to ComputerPlayer before accessing the method. It is:
((ComputerPlayer)play).theMethod();But however, i would like to ask, is it possible to cast the inheritance class? what i mean is, play declared as:
Player play = new ComputerPlayer();and apply a 1 time casting in the instance, so that each time will no need to apply:
((ComputerPlayer)play).theMethod();when access methods in class ComputerPlayer
Thx or ur all helps..

Answer 1

But however, i would like to ask, is it possible to
cast the inheritance class? what i mean is, play
declared as:
Player play = new ComputerPlayer();
and apply a 1 time casting in the instance, so that
each time will no need to apply:
((ComputerPlayer)play).theMethod();when access methods in class ComputerPlayer
Oh yes, you could do that, but you will have to it in a variable like this
          ComputerPlayer cPlayer = ((ComputerPlayer)play) ;
          //now use cPlayer variable to access methods in class ComputerPlayer
   play has been declared as type 'Player' . So if u want 2 use the 'play' variable, then ofcourse you will have 2 cast it each time.
however, if u r class has been properly designed, u could, using play access all methods of ComputerPlayer (either inherited from Player or overridden in ComputerPlayer), except those methods defined exclusively by ComputerPlayer (i.e not inherited from Player).
tx,
ram.