[RESOLVED] Cannot find symbol class

[shik28]

I am new to java. I am trying a simple game with three classes SimpleDotComGame, SimpleDotCom, GameHelper in three different .java files all put together in a directory dotGame. SimpleDotComGame.java has the main method. I have declared package name as

package dotGame

in each of these files. SimpleDotCom.java and GameHelper.java compile without any errors. But when I run SimpleDotComGame.java I get the following error:

cannot find symbol
symbol: class GameHelper

Please help me with the same.

[keang]

SimpleDotComGame.java is looking for a class called GameHelper when the class is actually called dotGame.GameHelper which is why it can't find it.

Have you recompiled SimpleDotComGame.java after adding the package name to the other classes.

[shik28]

Have you recompiled SimpleDotComGame.java after adding the package name to the other classes.

Yes I have added the package to other classes and then compiled them too. The error still persists.

[shik28]

Hey, I got the solution. The code started working fine when I removed

package dotGame;

from all the three classess!

But I didn't get the reason why!

[keang]

It works without the package name because classes without a package name are all put in the default package and as long as they are all in the same directory they are all visible to each other.

It will also work with the package name if you set it up correctly. Can you post all the code and/or show how you are compiling the classes and running the app and also any warning or error messages that appear for both compile and runtime.

[shik28]

It will also work with the package name if you set it up correctly. Can you post all the code and/or show how you are compiling the classes and running the app

//code for SimpleDotCom
package dotGame;
public class SimpleDotCom {
	int [] locationCells ;
	int numOfHits = 0;

	public void setLocationCells(int [] locs) {
			locationCells = locs;
	}
	
	public String checkYourself(String stringGuess) {
		int guess = Integer.parseInt(stringGuess);
		String result = "miss";
		for (int cell : locationCells) {
			if (guess == cell)
			{
				result = "hit";
				numOfHits++;
				break;				
			}
		}

		if (numOfHits == locationCells.length)
		{
			result = "kill";
		}

			System.out.println(result);
			return result;
	}
}

//Code for GameHelper.java
package dotGame;
import java.io.* ;
public class GameHelper 
{
	public String getUserInput(String prompt) {
		String inputLine = null;
		System.out.print (prompt + " ");
		try
		{
			BufferedReader is = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
			inputLine = is.readLine();
			if (inputLine.length() == 0)
			{
				return null;
			}
		}
		catch (IOException e)
		{
			System.out.println("IOException: " +e);
		}
		return inputLine;
	}
}

//Code for SimpleDotComGame.java
package dotGame;
public class SimpleDotComGame
{
	public static void main(String[] args) 
	{
		int numOfGuesses = 0;
		GameHelper helper = new GameHelper();
		SimpleDotCom theDotCom = new SimpleDotCom();
		int randomNum = (int)(Math.random() * 5);

		int [] locations = {randomNum, randomNum+1, randomNum+2};
		theDotCom.setLocationCells(locations);
		boolean isAlive = true;

		while (isAlive == true)
		{
			String guess = helper.getUserInput("Enter a number");
			String result = theDotCom.checkYourself(guess);
			numOfGuesses++;

			if (result.equals("kill"))
			{
				isAlive = false;
				System.out.println("You took " + numOfGuesses + " guesses");
			}
		}
	}
}

and also any warning or error messages that appear for both compile and runtime.

Errors:

E:\dotGame>javac SimpleDotCom.java

E:\dotGame>javac GameHelper.java

E:\dotGame>javac SimpleDotComGame.java
SimpleDotComGame.java:8: cannot find symbol
symbol  : class GameHelper
location: class dotGame.SimpleDotComGame
                GameHelper helper = new GameHelper();
                ^
SimpleDotComGame.java:8: cannot find symbol
symbol  : class GameHelper
location: class dotGame.SimpleDotComGame
                GameHelper helper = new GameHelper();
                                        ^
SimpleDotComGame.java:9: cannot find symbol
symbol  : class SimpleDotCom
location: class dotGame.SimpleDotComGame
                SimpleDotCom theDotCom = new SimpleDotCom();
                ^
SimpleDotComGame.java:9: cannot find symbol
symbol  : class SimpleDotCom
location: class dotGame.SimpleDotComGame
                SimpleDotCom theDotCom = new SimpleDotCom();
                                             ^
4 errors

I have saved all the files in a folder dotGame in E:\

[keang]

When code is in a package you need to compile it from the root of the package ie:

E:>javac dotGame\SimpleDotComGame.java

If your source had been in the directory E:\SRC\dotGame then you would do

E:\SRC>javac dotGame\SimpleDotComGame.java

[shik28]

It's compiling fine now after your reply @keang. How do I run it btw?

[keang]

E:>java dotGame.SimpleDotComGame

[shik28]

Hey thanks a lot!!! It's working!!