How to get attributes from an Object type in Java

Question

I am trying to implement an public boolean equals(Object other) method for my Java class where the first argument is passed as an Object type. The problem is that I do not know how to access to the attributes of an Object type.

Answer 1

Object a very general class and will likely be of little use to you on its own.

If you are trying to access properties of some other class then you need to check the Object other is an instance of YourClass and then cast it.

[enter link description here][1]

class yourClass {
    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object other) {
        // nothing to compare if other is null
        if(other == null) return false;

        // Can only be equals if they are both YourClass
        if(other instanceof YourClass){
            // Tell java to make other into YourClass instead of Object
            YourClass yourClass = (YourClass)other

            //Access properties of another here
            //...
        }

        // other is not an instance of YourClass so it cant be equals
        return false;
}


  [1]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8180430/how-to-override-equals-method-in-java