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Thread: An easy question

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    Default An easy question

    This is one of those that is hard to serach, but if you know what is happening it shouldn't be too bad to explain. I would even settle if you would just give me a term to research

    new javax.mail.Authenticator() {
    			protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
    				return new PasswordAuthentication(username, password);
    			}
    		  });

    What is occuring here? Be very non-specefic (the snippet I gave is only a peice of code) I just want to know what function is being invoked above.


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    Super Moderator helloworld922's Avatar
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    Default Re: An easy question

    You are creating an object of an anonymous class, which extends/implements javax.mail.Authenticator (depends on if javax.mail.Authenticator is a class or an interface).

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    KAJLogic (December 1st, 2013)

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    Default Re: An easy question

    It will continue to be hard to search for with the unhepful thread title you've given this topic. Please give your topics better titles that describe the help needed or the Java subject to be discussed. For example, this topic concerns the javax.mail.Authenticator().

    What do the API page and/or Oracle tutorial tell you about the code you've posted?

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    Default Re: An easy question

    Greg, I couldn't think of any better title (I will try harder next time). The idea though is javax.mail.Authenticator has nothing to do with my question. I was simply wondering what function was being applied. I could have done this to better illustrate my question:


    (A)
     
    Example ex = new path.to.use() {
                                 // do stuff 2
                               // what sort of things can I do here, and why would i use this?
                                                }


    I can disern from helloworld's post that class "use" has to be extended by my ex object. Will the above code actually apply a new construct with a whole new body?

    Let us say:
    (B)[CODE]
    public class use {
     
    public use(Object o) {
    // does stuff 1
     }
     
    }


    How does snippet A work with B? And, will stuff 1 & two be done? I will make a test class to try some of this out, but any backround on this sort of technique would be nice. It seems quite odd to me.

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    Default Re: An easy question

    An anonymous class is just like a regular class, except it has no name. That means you can never refer to the type.

    new BaseType(base_parameters){
        // pretty much everything you can put into a normal class
        // except anonymous classes have no explicit constructors
        public void method1()
        {}
        private int field1;
     
    };

    This is similar to (but NOT exactly the same) wrapping the class definition with an instantiation of an object of that type:
    class AnonType extends BaseType // note: could be an interface, in which case use implements
    {
        public void method1() {}
        private int field1;
    }
     
    // ...
    new AnonType();

    There are a few things that anonymous classes can do that normal classes can't (and vise-versa), see: Anonymous Classes (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Classes and Objects)

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    Default Re: An easy question

    I understand and agree that it's hard to pick an appropriate thread title when you have no idea what the topic of your question is called. However, my experience is that threads titled "Easy . . ." never are.

    You found the most obscure example of an anonymous inner class I've ever seen. A reference for the example or a link to it might have been helpful. If you're actually studying the code you posted or code of that complexity, you may be a bit ahead of yourself. It's okay to stretch one's reach for knowledge, but it's important to already have the appropriate foundation on which to add the new info or to backfill those weak areas as they are discovered. Now that you know about anonymous inner classes, you should write several of your own examples using the links provided by helloworld922.

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    KAJLogic (December 1st, 2013)

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