Unable to access protected function from the child object

Question

Hi all ,
I have an abstract class having one protected method
package foo;
public abstract class A {
  protected String getName(){
             return "ABC';
package xyz;
public class B extends A {
          public void print(){
                          *super.getName();//this will get called*
package abc;
public class Ex {
        public static void main(String [] args){
           B b = new B();
           *b.getName(); //Im not able to calll this function*
}{code}
My question is why I m not able to call the protected method from child instance but inside the class ???
I have checked this link , it also didn't say about the instance access or access within class .
[http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/javaOO/accesscontrol.html]
Thanks and regards
Anshuman
Edited by: techie_india on Aug 31, 2009 11:25 AM                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Answer 1

jossyvjose wrote:
Hi Winston,
Did you mean like this? But still same behaviour.
package abc;
public class Ex extends A {
public static void main(String [] args){
B b = new B();
b.getName(); //still i am not able to calll this function
}No. Class 'Ex' would have to extend B in order to call b.GetName(). And I would definitely not make Ex part of your hierarchy (it's the sort of thing you see in SCJP questions, but definitely a bad idea).
What you can do though is to override the method; and Java allows you to change the visibility of overriden methods, provided they are more open. Thus, the following would be allowed:
package foo;
public abstract class A {
   protected String getName(){
      return "ABC';
package xyz;
public class B extends A {
   public void print(){
      System.out.println(super.getName()); // your previous code does nothing...
   public String getName() { // Note the "public" accessor
      return super.getName();
package abc;
public class Ex {
   public static void main(String [] args){
      B b = new B();
      b.getName(); // And NOW it'll work...
{code}Note that this is just example code. I wouldn't suggest it as general practise.
Also, when you write *public* methods, you should generally make them *final* as well (there are exceptions, but it's a good habit to get into; like making instance variables *private* - just do it).
HIH
Winston