Variable not getting set?

Question

'elo!
I have a slight problem when it comes to setting a variable. I guess it's some kind of variable-not-being-global-or-something-else-I-can't-figure-out-problem.
Anyway. What I have are two classes.
The first one is an extended JFrame that holds my GUI and some variables that I wanted to make sure every class could access. And that's what I thought I did.
Variable outside constructor, so that other methods can access it:
     String characterName = "";Methods modifying that variable.
     // Set char name
     public void setCharName(String name) {
          String characterName = name;
          System.out.println("Char. name: " + characterName);
     public String getCharName() {
          System.out.println("Char. name: " + characterName);
          return characterName;
     }When this class creates an instance of the other class a reference to the JFrame is passed to what is actually an extend JPanel. In that JPanel is a JTextField. When enter is pushed getText() grabs the text and sends it to pf.setCharName() (pf = parent frame). That works, the print gives me a correct result in the console. However when I do pf.getCharName() I only get the "Char. name: " output. The variable characterName is empty. (and it doesnt't return anything.)
So what am I doing wrong here? I'm stuck!
/Simon

Answer 1

   String characterName = "";The 'characterName' String has already been defined in the object
        // Set char name
     public void setCharName(String name) {
          String characterName = name;
          System.out.println("Char. name: " + characterName);
     }.In the 'setCharName' method, you are declaring another String 'characterName' again. This is considered as a local variable in the 'setCharName' method. That is the reason why it is not getting reflected in the getCharName method.
So, try this:
        // Set char name
     public void setCharName(String name) {
          this.characterName = name;
          System.out.println("Char. name: " + characterName);
     }Now, since characterName is no longer a local variable in the 'setCharName' method, it should get reflected in the getCharName method.