Question

I have a very simple program for a homework assignment, I’m trying to group bills by years and months using a class called “Payment” (terrible name, I know) that I store within an ArrayList (I’m open to suggestions for a better container).

However I get a strange error message from Eclipse (will put at end).

public class Payment {
    private double[] Month;
    private int Year;
    private boolean Paid;

    ....
    // A lot of setters, getters, nothing important
}

Now I want to create an array list

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Bill {
    ArrayList<Payment> Money = new ArrayList<Payment>();
    Money. // error -> Money didn't get highlighted, intellisense did not provide 
                      // a list of methods

Error reads as follows:

Multiple markers at this line:
    Syntax error, insert "enum Identifier" to complete EnumHeaderName
    Syntax error on token "Money", delete this token
    Syntax error on token "Money", delete this token
    Syntax error, insert "EnumBody" to complete EnumDeclaration

I have absolutely no idea why this happens. I went in my main file to test this out, it works there, just not here, within the “Bill” class, which is basically empty right now.

Answer 1

Seems like you are trying to call some ArrayList method on Money reference.

Note that, you cannot have statements like that directly inside the class. You need to have some method where you can put it.

Here’s an example: –

public int getListSize() {
    return Money.size();
}

If you put Money.size() outside all the methods, it will be a compiler error.
: –

public class Demo {
    Money.size();  // Compiler Error

    public void getSize() {
        Money.size();   // Ok. Well, I have just added it plain to show it works
                        // Ideally you would return it, or print it.
    }
}

However, you can have the call on the RHS, to assign the return value to an int: –

public class Demo {
    int size = Money.size();  // Now this is fine
}