Unit 5 5.1 5.2 5.4 5.41 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 HW

Accessor Methods

Team Teach

• 2 min read

What is an Accessor Method?

An accessor method, also known as getter methods allows other objects to obtain the value of instance variables or static variables.

Purpose of Accessor Methods

  • Allows safe access to instance variables
  • Accessor Methods keep data access private and secure
  • If you need to access instance variables form a different class, accessor methods are necessary

Lets Make Our Own Accessor Methods

public class Minion
{
    // Start by defining instance variables that you'll want to access later via the accessor methods
    private double height;
    private String name;
    private String hair;
    private int eyes;

    // Default Constructor
    //String n, int c
    public Minion()
    {
        height = 3.7;
        name = "Bob";
        hair = "None";
        eyes = 2;
    }

    // Overloaded Constructor
    public Minion(double h, String n, String hr, int e)
    {
        height = h;
        name = n;
        hair = hr;
        eyes = e;
    }
    // Accessor Methods!
    public double getHeight()
    {
        return height;
    }
    public String getName()
    {
        return name;
    }
    public String getHair()
    {
        return hair;
    }
    public int getEyes()
    {
        return eyes;
    }
}

// Create minion object Kevin
Minion kevin = new Minion(4.10,"Kevin","Sprout-Cut",2);

// Print Kevin's properties
System.out.println(kevin.getName());
System.out.println(kevin.getHeight());
System.out.println(kevin.getHair());
System.out.println(kevin.getEyes());

Kevin
4.1
Sprout-Cut
2

Popcorn Hack

Gru is preparing for his big mission to steal the moon, and he needs to assign his minions various tasks based on their skills. Create a new getter method called skillLevel and print out the Minion’s skillLevelMinion class with the attributes name, task, and skillLevel. Implement some getter accessor methods, and then create a Minion object to retrieve its values.

public class Minion {
    private String name;
    private String task;
    private String skillLevel;
    
    // Create  skillLevel instance variable

    public Minion(String n, String t, String s)
    {
        name = n;
        task = t;
        skillLevel = s;
    }
    // Getter Methods
    public String getName()
    {
        return name;
    }
    public String getTask()
    {
        return task;
    }
    public String getSkillLevel() {
        return skillLevel;
    }
    // Add getter method here
}
Minion Stuart = new Minion("Stuart", "Developing propulsion system", "Expert");
System.out.println(Stuart.getName());
System.out.println(Stuart.getTask());
System.out.println(Stuart.getSkillLevel());
// Add print statement to get skillLevel

Stuart
Developing propulsion system
Expert

Things to keep in mind when creating your Accessor Methods

  • The accessor method must be public so that you can retrieve your instance variables outside of the class
  • The return Type must match the type of the instance variable accessed
  • The naming convention is often getNameOfVariable
  • There should be no parameters in your getter methods

image