Using foreach loop with methods in another class (Java)

Question

I have a program that creates a couple objects and adds each one to an ArrayList, then is supposed to loop over each object in the ArrayList and use a getter from another class within the project to display information on each object. I can't get the objects in my foreach loop to use any of the methods in my other class. Here is my main, including the trouble loop at the bottom:

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class ITECCourseManager {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        ArrayList ITECCourse = new ArrayList();

        ITECCourse infotech = new ITECCourse("Info Tech Concepts", 1100, 5, "T3050");
        infotech.addStudent("Max");
        infotech.addStudent("Nancy");
        infotech.addStudent("Orson");
        ITECCourse.add(infotech);

        ITECCourse java = new ITECCourse("Java Programming", 2545, 3, "T3010");
        java.addStudent("Alyssa");
        java.addStudent("Hillary");
        ITECCourse.add(java);

        for (Object course : ITECCourse) {
            System.out.println("Name: " + course.getName());
        }
    }
}

And here is the other class in my project with the method I need to use:

public class ITECCourse {

    public String name;
    public int code;
    public ArrayList<String> students;
    public int maxStudents;
    public String room;

    ITECCourse(String courseName, int courseCode, int courseMaxStudents, String roomNum) {

        name = courseName;
        code = courseCode;
        maxStudents = courseMaxStudents;
        students = new ArrayList<String>();
        room = roomNum;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

If I replace course.getName() with java.getName(), the code works. I'm confused why I can't use a foreach loop across the ArrayList to use the getter for each object, when I am able to call the object and use the method directly from the same place in the code.

Edit: Thank you for the answers, simple mistake only had to make two/three changes: declare ArrayList<ITECCourse> at the beginning, change Object in for loop to ITECCourse, and of course change my arraylist from ITECCourse to ITECCourseList so there isn't confusion with my ITECCourse class.

It's a very bad idea to name a variable identically to a class. — shmosel, Sep 30 '16 at 01:30
Think about it for one second. Does an `Object` have a method `getName()`? — nhouser9, Sep 30 '16 at 01:33
Put another way, since Java is statically typed, you can only call a method on an object if that object is *declared* to have a type that has that method. — Ole V.V., Sep 30 '16 at 02:33

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 30 '16 at 01:31

The call to course.getName() doesn't work because you've defined course as an Object in your loop and Object doesn't have the method getName(). If you add a type parameter to your ArrayList declaration such as ArrayList<ITECCourse>, then you can iterate over the list of ITECCourse instances rather than Object.

On a side note, naming your variable ITECCourse will just lead to confusion because it's the same as your class. Might be better to name your variable something like itecCourseList.

Using foreach loop with methods in another class (Java)

1 Answers1