Question

Possible Duplicate:
How do I copy an object in Java?

I’ve got a function in my class Claus which calls a function to accept type Claus. I’m currently passing in this as the argument, however it’s editing the current instance of the class which I don’t want it to do. Instead, I’d like it to clone the current instance of the class and edit that, keeping the copies separate. How can I do that?

EDIT

Perhaps I should have clarified my question a little further…

I’ve got an object which is inside another object.. e.g Claus and floss. I’ve been reading up on shallow copy vs deep copy and I think I’ve got Claus copying correctly. I’m doing it like so…

public Claus(Claus g){
    cla = new Floss(g.getFloss());
            //irrelevant other variables...
    p = g.getP();
    c = g.getC();
}

However, the function within Claus which I’m declaring in the constructor the exact same way.. that is….

 cla = new Floss(g.getFloss());

Where cla = the Floss variable and g = Claus which is being passed into the Constructor. The Floss object doesn’t seem to be creating a deep copy like it should. Why is this happening?

Answer 1

Implement Cloneable and use this.clone(), just like any other variable.