How do I write an external class with global constants?

Question

Hi you all !
First I want to explain what exactly I want to do:
I have an application that should run in different resolutions. The app runs fullscreen, and I don't use Layouts or something, just a single Frame with a Graphics Object.
Now to handle the different resolutions, I want to write an external class with some constants to use. The usage in my main Class should be something like this:
public
class blah
private Constants myConstants;
public blah()
if (highResolution)
myConstants = new hiResConstants();
else
myConstants = new loResConstants();
System.println(String.valueOf(myConstants.SCREEN_WIDTH);
}or somthing like that. The important fact is that I can choose the constants at runtime and that I am NOT forced to use methods to get the values, cause something like
System.println(String.valueOf(myConstants.getScreenWidth());sux if you have methods using 5 or more parameters.
Anybody out there who understood my problem and can help me??? PLEASE?
best regards,
Skippy

Answer 1

First, what's so much worse about
System.println(myConstants.getScreenWidth());
than
System.println(myConstants.ScreenWidth);
Is the extra five characters really that bad? (Note
you don't need the String.valueOf method call.)Well actually it was a wrong example I gave here, but it's not the call that makes me shake but the implementation:
public int screenWidth = 1024;vs.
public
int getScreenWidth()
return 1024;
}Here it makes a bigger difference, even when you think of managing about 100 or even more constants.
Second, why do you have methods that take five or more
parameters!?Well, maybe this example show up what I mean:
if (cursorIsInArea(100,100,200,200,areaId))
doSomeStuff();Ok, I could use Rectangles here, but if you think of the timing here (I draw 30 frames / sec and this check comes about every frame or the animation would be choppy) I refuse to create an Object everytime I make this call.
Btw: Is it worth thinking about the time of execution like I did in this example? OO is a neat thing, but is it that fast?
I don't think isCursorInArea(new Rectangle(100,100,200,200),areaId) is such a great idea, but I might be wrong.
It sounds like you're trying to compound a bad design
with an even worse design for no good reason!Well, I'm not that experienced Java programmer to judge about that, but I (and my profs at university too) found my codes well structured and designed so far.
Skippy
PS: the string.valueOf(123) call came from cut&paste:
system.out.println(string.valueOf(number1)+string.valueOf(number2));Try this without the function.... ;-)