How to make this static??

[DonCL]

When i run the following, i get this error message:

FileList.java:21: non-static method searchDir(java.io.File,java.lang.String) can
not be referenced from a static context
matching = searchDir(curDir, search);
^

Thanks for any help. Here is the code:

import java.io.File;

import java.util.*;

public class FileList {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      File curDir = new File("C:/");
      byte b[] = new byte[100];
      String search;
      String s[];
      Vector matching;

      System.out.print("Please enter your search criteria: ");
      
      // get your input
      System.in.read(b);

      // decode the byte array 
      search = new String(b);

    matching = searchDir(curDir, search);
      
      // to get the values in the Vector
      s = new String[matching.size()];

      System.out.println("Matching results:");
      for(int i=0; i < matching.size(); i++)   {
         s[i] = (String)matching.elementAt(i);
         System.out.println(s[i]);
         
         // you don't really need the s[], you could also do this
         // System.out.println(matching.elementAt(i));
      }
        
   }
   

   public Vector searchDir(File curDir, String searchText){
      Vector matching = new Vector();   
   
      File[] allFiles = curDir.listFiles();   
   
      for(int c=0; c < allFiles.length; c++)   {
         if (allFiles[c].isFile())   {
         
            // this will match any file that contains the searchText
            if (allFiles[c].getName().indexOf(searchText) >= 0)
               matching.addElement(allFiles[c].getName());  
      
         }
      }
      return matching;
   }
}

 

[idarke]

You are calling searchDir from your main method, which is a static method. As a rule of thumb, you can access static things from non-static things, but you can't access non-static things from static things. Read up on static methods to get a better understanding of this.

The more traditional way of doing this is to put all the code that's in main into a constructor for your class (or into a method called from your constructor), then just use main to instantiate another instance of your entire class, like this:

public class FileList
{
public FileList()
{
...all your code that's in main right now
}

public Vector searchDir(File curDir, String searchText)
{
}

public static void main(String[] args)
{
new FileList();
}
}

 

[godcomplex]

There are two things that you can do.

1. You can make the method searchDir a static method.
2. You must instaniate a FileList object in your main method and use the searchDir method via that object. So that would mean your code would look something like this:

public static void main(String args[]) {
File curDir = new File("C:/"
byte b[] = new byte[100];
String search;
String s[];
Vector matching;

System.out.print("Please enter your search criteria: "

// get your input
System.in.read(b);

// decode the byte array
search = new String(b);

FileList fl = new FileList();
matching = fl.searchDir(curDir, search);
.
.
.

-gc
"I don't look busy because I did it right the first time."

 

[DonCL]

Thanks, I will try these methods.