Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
constants, and user interface element scaling settings. If you are looking for an under-
standing regarding the concept of static, it can be thought of as fixed, or not capable of
being changed. A photograph is a static image, whereas video is not static. We'll look
at this concept often during this topic.
A nested class uses what is commonly referred to in Java as
dot notation
to refer-
ence the nested class “off of” its master, or parent, containing class. For instance,
MasterClass.NestedClass
would be the referencing format that would be used to ref-
erence a nested class via its master class (containing class) name, using generic class
type names here. If you created an InvinciBagel SplashScreen nested class to draw the
splash screen
for your Java game, it would be referenced in your Java code as
Invin-
ciBagel.SplashScreen
, using this Java 8
dot notation
syntax.
Let's take a look at, for example, the JavaFX Application class, which contains a
Parameters
nested class. This nested class
encapsulates
, or contains, the parameters
that you can set for your JavaFX application. Thus, this
Application.Parameters
nes-
ted class would be a part of the same
javafx.application
package as your
Application
class and would be referenced as
javafx.application.Application.Parameters
, if you
were using an import statement.
Similarly, the constructor method would be written as
Application.Parameters()
,
because the constructor method must have the exact same naming schema as the class
that it is contained in. Unless you are writing code for other developers, which is when
nested classes are most often used (such as the JavaFX Application class or the many
nested utility or constant provider classes which you will find in the Android OS), you
are far more likely to utilize non-static nested classes (commonly referred to as Java
in-
ner classes
).
A nested class can be declared by using the Java
static
keyword. A Java keyword is
also sometimes called a Java modifier. Therefore, if you were to do an
InvinciBa-
gel.SplashScreen
nested class, the
InvinciBagel
class and its
SplashScreen
nested class declaration (Java 8 programming structure) would look
something like this:
public class InvinciBagel extends Application {
static
class SplashScreen {
// The Java code that creates and displays your
splashscreen is in here
}
}
