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Java Java Objects Delivering the MVP Forum

Having trouble setting a constructor for the Forum class

Probably an easy question to answer, but I believe I am correctly doing the task at hand. The program continues to tell me I need to create a constructor that allows for a String named topic.

Forum.java
public class Forum{
  private String topic;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts a topic and sets the private field topic

  //public String getTopic() {
 //   return topic;
  //}

  public String getTopic(String topic){

    this.topic = topic; 
    return topic; 
  }


  /* Uncomment this when you are prompted to do so
  public void addPost(ForumPost post) {
    System.out.printf("A new post in %s topic from %s %s about %s is available",
            topic,
            post.getAuthor().getFirstName(),
            post.getAuthor().getLastName(),
            post.getTitle()
    );
  }
  */

}
User.java
public class User {
  // TODO: add private fields for firstName and lastName

  public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
    // TODO: set and add the private fields

  }

  // TODO: add getters for firstName and lastName

}
ForumPost.java
public class ForumPost {
  private User author;
  private String title;
  private String description;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts the author, title and description

  public User getAuthor() {
    return author;
  }

  public String getTitle() {
    return title;
  }

  public String getDescription() {
    return description;
  }
}
Main.java
public class Main {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("Beginning forum example");
    if (args.length < 2) {
      System.out.println("Usage: java Main <first name> <last name>");
      System.err.println("<first name> and <last name> are required");
      System.exit(1);
    }
    /* Uncomment this when prompted
    Forum forum = new Forum("Java");
    // TODO: pass in the first name and last name that are in the args parameter
    User author = new User();
    // TODO: initialize the forum post with the user created above and a title and description of your choice
    ForumPost post = new ForumPost();
    forum.addPost(post);

// */
  }

}

1 Answer

michaelcodes
michaelcodes
5,604 Points

Hi there! So there are two things here. In the code that you have here:

public class Forum{
  private String topic;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts a topic and sets the private field topic

  //public String getTopic() {
 //   return topic;
  //}

We do not want to comment out this code, this is a getTopic method that is already there and part of the program. Now the code that we have here:

  public String getTopic(String topic){

    this.topic = topic; 
    return topic; 
  }

This code writes a method called getTopic that also returns the topic. This is not a constructor, to create a constructor we want to name it the same as the class name. Additionally, the constructor will not return anything so we don't include a type:

public Forum(String topic) {
    this.topic = topic;
  }

Altogether with the uncommented code:

public class Forum {
  private String topic;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts a topic and sets the private field topic

  public String getTopic() {
    return topic;
  }

  public Forum(String topic) {
    this.topic = topic;
  }

I hope this helped! take care and happy coding!