Question

This is Java, using BlueJ.

I have four classes called Person, Letter, Address and PhoneNumber. In each, I override the toString() method to return a concatenated string of the values I want from the class. When calling the Letter toString(), it is returning null on all values.

The idea is to use the hard coded information, pass it into the appropriate class, and return it in a standard letter format.

Am I headed in the right direction for printing out the information hard coded, or should I go a different route? This is a homework problem, but I feel I have hit a brick wall.

Here are the classes:

public class Person
{
private static String aPerson;
private String first;
private String middle;
private String last;    
private Address address;
private PhoneNumber phone;

public String getFirst()
{
    return this.first;
}

public void setFirst(String FirstName)
{
    this.first = FirstName;
}

    public String getMiddle()
{
    return this.middle;
}

public void setMiddle(String MiddleName)
{
    this.middle = MiddleName;
}

    public String getLast()
{
    return this.last;
}

public void setLast(String LastName)
{
    this.last = LastName;
}

public Address getMyAddress()
{
    return this.address;
}
public void setMyAddress(Address Address)
{
    this.address = Address;
}

public PhoneNumber getMyPhoneNum()
{
    return this.phone;
}

public void setMyPhoneNum(PhoneNumber Number)
{
    this.phone = Number;
}

public Person()
{
    aPerson = getFirst() + getMiddle() + getLast() + getMyAddress() + 
    getMyPhoneNum();
}

public String toString()
{
    return aPerson;
}
}

PhoneNumber:

public class PhoneNumber
{
private String number;
private int areaCode = 0;
private int phonePrefix = 0;
private int phoneLineNum = 0;
private int phoneExtension = 0;

public String getNumber()
{
    return number;
}

public void setNumber(String Number)
{
    number = Number;
}

public int getAreaCode()
{
    return areaCode;
}

public void setAreaCode(int AreaCode)
{
    areaCode = AreaCode;
}

public int getPrefix()
{
    return phonePrefix;
}

public void setPrefix(int Prefix)
{
    phonePrefix = Prefix;
}

public int getPhoneLineNumber()
{
    return phoneLineNum;
}

public void setLineNum(int PhoneNumber)
{
    phoneLineNum = PhoneNumber;
}

public int getExtension()
{
    return phoneExtension;
}

public void setExtension(int Extension)
{
    phoneExtension = Extension;
}
}

Address:

public class Address
{
private String state;
private String anAddress;
private String address;
private String city;
private int zip = 0;

public String getState()
{
   return state;
}

public void setState(String State)
{
   state = State;
}

   public String getAddress()
{
   return address;
}

   public void setAddress(String Address)
{
   address = Address;
}

   public String getCity()
{
   return city;
}

   public void setCity(String City)
{
   city = City;
}

   public int getZip()
{
   return zip;
}

   public void setZip(int Zip)
{
   zip = Zip;
}

public Address()
{
   anAddress = getState() + getAddress() + getCity() + getZip();
}

public String toString()
{
   return this.anAddress;
}
}

Letter:

public class Letter
{
private Person to;
private Person from;
private String body;
private String finishedLetter;

public Person getTo()
{
    return to;
}

public void setTo(Person newValue)
{
    to = newValue;
}

public Person getFrom()
{
    return from;
}

public void setFrom(Person newValue)
{
    from = newValue;
}

public String getBody()
{
    return body;
}

public void setBody(String newValue)
{
    body = newValue;
}

public Letter()
{
    finishedLetter = getTo() + " \n" + getFrom() + " \n" + getBody();
}

public String toString()
{
    return finishedLetter;
}
}

And main:

public class MainClass
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
    PhoneNumber phone1 = new PhoneNumber();
    phone1.setAreaCode(417);
    phone1.setPrefix(447);
    phone1.setLineNum(7533);
    phone1.setExtension(0);

    PhoneNumber phone2 = new PhoneNumber();
    phone2.setAreaCode(210);
    phone2.setPrefix(336);
    phone2.setLineNum(4343);
    phone2.setExtension(9850);

    Address address1 = new Address();

    address1.setState("MO");
    address1.setAddress("1001 East Chestnut Expressway");
    address1.setCity("Springfield");
    address1.setZip(65807);

    Address address2 = new Address();

    address2.setState("TX");
    address2.setAddress("4800 Calhoun Road");
    address2.setCity("Houston");
    address2.setZip(77004);

    Person person1 = new Person();

    person1.setFirst("Shane");
    person1.setMiddle("Carroll");
    person1.setLast("May");
    person1.setMyAddress(address1);
    person1.setMyPhoneNum(phone1);

    Person person2 = new Person();

    person2.setFirst("Ted");
    person2.setMiddle("Anthony");
    person2.setLast("Nugent");
    person2.setMyAddress(address2);
    person2.setMyPhoneNum(phone2);

    Letter aLetter = new Letter();

    aLetter.setTo(person2);
    aLetter.setFrom(person1);
    aLetter.setBody("This is the body");

    System.out.println(aLetter.toString());
}
}

Answer 1

Your Letter constructor is calling methods such as getTo() and getFrom() before those fields have been filled. Don’t do this since your finishedLetter String will never be correctly “finished”. i.e.,

public Letter()
{
    finishedLetter = getTo() + " \n" + getFrom() + " \n" + getBody();
}

will always result in null + "\n" + null + "\n" + null

Perhaps that sort of code should be in the toString() method instead.