Question

I just started learning java and I’m working on a program. I’m getting an error here:

locationsOfCells = simpleDotCom.getLocationCells();

but I’m not sure what the error is. Eclipse say

Cannot make a static reference to the non-static method
getLocationCells() from the type simpleDotCom

Can someone help me with this? What am I doing wrong?

public class simpleDotCom {
    int[] locationsCells;

    void setLocationCells(int[] loc){
        //Setting the array
        locationsCells = new int[3];
        locationsCells[0]= 3;
        locationsCells[1]= 4;
        locationsCells[2]= 5;
    }

    public int[] getLocationCells(){

        return locationsCells;

    }
}

public class simpleDotComGame {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        printBoard();
    }

    private static void printBoard(){
        simpleDotCom theBoard = new simpleDotCom();
        int[] locationsOfCells; 
        locationsOfCells = new int[3];
        locationsOfCells = theBoard.getLocationCells();

        for(int i = 0; i<3; i++){
            System.out.println(locationsOfCells[i]);
        }

    }

}

Answer 1

The problem is you are calling the getLocationCells() method as if it was a static method when in fact it is an instance method.

You need to first create an object from your class like this:

simpleDotCom myObject = new simpleDotCom();

and then call the method on it:

locationsOfCells  = myObject.getLocationCells();

Incidentally, there is a widely followed naming convention in the Java world, where class names always start with a capital letter – you should rename your class to SimpleDotCom to avoid confusion.