Question

I have below code written with Eclipse ide:

public interface X
{
  final public static int SOME_CONST = 0;
}
public class Handle implements X
{
  protected void methodHandle () { }
 //...
}

public class User implements X
{
  Handle handle = new Handle();
  private void methodUser ()
  {
    Y y = new Y()  // anonymous inner class
    {
      public void methodY ()
      {
        handle.methodHandle (); // <--- why this is NOT giving error ?
      }
    }
  }
}

Even though Handle.methodHandle () is protected, it’s still callable from the inner method of an anonymous inner class method ? Why is it happening, am I missing something ? The only relation between Handle and User is that they are implementing same X.

Answer 1

If both classes are in the same package, the protected method can be called.

See this for more details.