Change superclass instance variables from subclass

Question

I got this task and I can't quite figure out how to solve it: "Change all three of the x-variables related to the C-class."

class A {
    public int x;
}

class B extends A {
    public int x;
}

class C extends B {
    public int x;

    public void test() {
        //There are two ways to put x in C from the method test():
        x = 10;
        this.x = 20;

        //There are to ways to put x in B from the method test():
        ---- //Let's call this Bx1 for good measure.
        ---- //Bx2

        //There is one way to put x in A from the method test();
        ---- //Ax1
    }
}

To test, I set up this:

public class test {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        C c1=new C();
        c1.test();
        System.out.println(c1.x);

        B b1=new B();
        System.out.println(b1.x);

        A a1=new A();
        System.out.println(a1.x);
    }
}

Which gives 20, 0, 0.

Now, I figured out I could write Bx1 like this:

super.x=10;

That would change the x in B, but I could not figure out how to call it in my test.java.

How do you get Bx1, Bx2, Ax1, and how do you call them for a test?

Answer 1

You can access the superclass's version of x by using a superclass type reference:

System.out.println("A's x is " + ((A)this).x);

That will get A#x.

But in general, it's a very bad idea to shadow a superclass's public instance members.

Example: (live copy on IDEOne)

class Example
{
    public static void main (String[] args) throws java.lang.Exception
    {
        new C().test();
    }
}

class A {
    public int x = 1;
}

class B extends A {
    public int x = 2;
}

class C extends B {
    public int x = 3;

    public void test() {
        //There are two ways to put x in C from the method test():
        System.out.println("(Before) A.x = " + ((A)this).x);
        System.out.println("(Before) B.x = " + ((B)this).x);
        System.out.println("(Before) C.x = " + this.x);
        ((A)this).x = 4;
        System.out.println("(After) A.x = " + ((A)this).x);
        System.out.println("(After) B.x = " + ((B)this).x);
        System.out.println("(After) C.x = " + this.x);
    }
}

Output:

(Before) A.x = 1
(Before) B.x = 2
(Before) C.x = 3
(After) A.x = 4
(After) B.x = 2
(After) C.x = 3