Resource loading into ArrayList for tile-based game. (Java)

Question

So i'm attempting to develop a tile-based game using eclipse, and i have run into a problem on how to load the resources from the resource folder into an ArrayList. I have a file reader that can load all of the needed files into a list, but i can't use class folders for each tile type (grass, stone, etc) because an ArrayList can only store one class type. Is there a way to load all sub-classes of the tile super-class into a single ArrayList.

Answer 1

If you have a parent class (or interface) that all of the other classes extend from, then you can simply use an ArrayList of that parent class. Just create an ArrayList of Tiles.

List<Tile> tiles = new ArrayList<Tile>();

Tile a = new GrassTile(); //GrassTile extends Tile
Tile b = new StoneTile(); //StoneTile extends Tile

tiles.add(a);
tiles.add(b);

for(Tile t : tiles){
   t.doTileStuff();
}

Edit: You could also reconsider your design and try to favor composition over inheritance. Instead of having a bunch of classes that extend Tile, have a single Tile class that contains attributes that determine how it behaves and looks.