"cannot find symbol method add(java.util.Date)"

Question

I'm getting an error "cannot find symbol method add(java.util.Date)", although what I'm passing it was declared a Date. What am I missing?

import java.util.*;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.text.*;


class Entry {
    Date date;

    Entry(Date aDate) {
        date = aDate;
    }
}

public class td {
    public static void main(String[] args) { 

        List<Entry> entries = new ArrayList<Entry>();

        DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
        Date aDate = df.parse("2011-02-27"); // Date aDate = new Date() also fails

        entries.add(aDate);

        System.out.println(entries.get(0));
    }
}

A more specific case of the general question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25706216/what-does-a-cannot-find-symbol-compilation-error-mean — Raedwald, Feb 26 '16 at 20:09

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 28 '11 at 19:19

6

Are you sure you want not entries.add(new Entry(aDate)); ? It seems to be the purpose of Entry class.

And generally speaking, if you declare list as List<Entry>, you should store Entry instances in it, not Date.

Also, your error says "cannot find symbol method add(java.util.Date)" . So, it's not Date class that's missing. It's add(java.util.Date) method.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 19:19

Nikita Rybak

67,365
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Sigh. You're right. The compiler also insists that I wrap the df.parse statement with try & catch. While I'm at it, I should have entries.get() return something sensible. – foosion Feb 28 '11 at 19:30
@foosion Instead of wrapping, it might be easier to add `throws Exception` to the `main` method declaration. Since you can't do anything useful with error, it's better to just let it pass. – Nikita Rybak Feb 28 '11 at 19:32
That is easier. It also prevents "not initialized" errors if I don't declare and initialize aDate outside the try/catch – foosion Feb 28 '11 at 19:34

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 20:02

0

To re-iterate: List has add(Entry) method and doesn't have add(Date) method.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 20:02

iluxa

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36

"cannot find symbol method add(java.util.Date)"

2 Answers2