Question

I have a java public class I need to modify (only one method). The class is in a package so I’m writing a new class that extends the first class and overriding the method I need to change.

Class A is

public class A {
    GL gl;
    GLU glu;
    PGraphicsOpenGL pgrap;
    //other fields

    //constructor

    public void method() {
        this.gl = pgrap.gl;
        this.glu = pgrap.glu;
        //something else I don't want in class B
    }
}

Class B is something like

public class B extends A {

    //constructor that recalls super()

    public void method() {
        super.gl = pgrap.gl;
        super.glu = pgrap.glu;
    }
}

but I get an error for super.gl = pgrap.gl: The field A.gl is not visible.
I don’t have any getter method written in the package, what should I do?

Thanks.

NOTE: I am not able to recompile the package or add the class B to the package.

Answer 1

The default access specifier is package-private which means classes in the same package as A can access this variable using the instances of A

A a = ....
a.gl = ...; // this works.

And package-private members (and private members) are not inherited, only protected and public members are.

Since A#method() is already doing the assignment operation, you call super.method() in B#method() to get your desired behavior. Or you should mark them as protected.