Question

I read this article:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-javadev2-8/index.html

The abstract class Model in Listing 2. have static variable datastore.

abstract class Model {
 static def datastore = DatastoreServiceFactory.datastoreService
  ...

The class Race in Listing 3. extends the abstract class Model.

class Race extends Model {
 public Race(params){
  super(params)
 }
}

In Listing 5. and Listing 6.use the author no-static variable datastore (this.datastore) in static method. I suppose, the static method is in class Race.

static def findByName(name){
     def query = new Query(Race.class.simpleName)
     query.addFilter("name", Query.FilterOperator.EQUAL, name)
     def preparedQuery = this.datastore.prepare(query)
     if(preparedQuery.countEntities() > 1){
      return new Race(preparedQuery.asList(withLimit(1))[0])
     }else{
      return new Race(preparedQuery.asSingleEntity())
     }
    }

How is it possible? Thanks for explanation.
Tom

Answer 1

EDIT — you were right, I was on the complete wrong track before. The answer is simple, in groovy, you can use the ‘this’ keyword in static methods.

http://groovy.codehaus.org/Differences+from+Java

When used like that, ‘this’ refers to the class, not an instance. Groovy.