JCH
Java Community | Help. Code. Learn.•3w ago
Darknesslion5|Christian

changing `.toString()` in subclasses without overwriting everything

// in class Person (personID, name, age)
@Override
        public String toString(){
                return String.format("Person: %04d: [name:%s, age:%d]", this.personID, this.name, this.age) ;
        }
// in class Person (personID, name, age)
@Override
        public String toString(){
                return String.format("Person: %04d: [name:%s, age:%d]", this.personID, this.name, this.age) ;
        }
// in class Student (super(personID, name, age), degree)
@Override
        public String toString() {
                // current state, since i dont know how to do it different
                return "Student{} " + super.toString();
        }
// in class Student (super(personID, name, age), degree)
@Override
        public String toString() {
                // current state, since i dont know how to do it different
                return "Student{} " + super.toString();
        }
  public static void main(String[] args) {

                Person freddi = new Person("Freddi", 30);
                Person richard = new Person("Richard", 30);
                Person andre = new Student("André", 21);

                System.out.println(freddi.toString());
                System.out.println(richard.toString());
                System.out.println(andre.toString());
        }
  public static void main(String[] args) {

                Person freddi = new Person("Freddi", 30);
                Person richard = new Person("Richard", 30);
                Person andre = new Student("André", 21);

                System.out.println(freddi.toString());
                System.out.println(richard.toString());
                System.out.println(andre.toString());
        }
thats the output i get: 
Person: 0001: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0002: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student{} Person: 0003: [name:André, age:21]
Person: 0004: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0005: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student{} Person: 0006: [name:André, age:21]
Person: 0001: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0002: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student{} Person: 0003: [name:André, age:21]
Person: 0004: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0005: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student{} Person: 0006: [name:André, age:21]
and the output i want to get is: 
// I know it makes no sense having one ID for Person & Student.
// its just for practise
Person: 0001: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0002: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student: 0003: [name:André, age:21]
Person: 0004: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0005: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student: 0006: [name:André, age:21]
// I know it makes no sense having one ID for Person & Student.
// its just for practise
Person: 0001: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0002: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student: 0003: [name:André, age:21]
Person: 0004: [name:Freddi, age:30]
Person: 0005: [name:Richard, age:30]
Student: 0006: [name:André, age:21]
My Question Is there a way to just change a part of the .toString() method without @Overrideing it entirely. one bothersome solution i thought of is creating a formater taking a String (String type = "Person") created by the constructor. but still itd be botherring.
5 Replies
JavaBot
JavaBot•3w ago
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dan1st
dan1st•3w ago
you can use getClass().getName()/getClass().getSimpleName() 
// in class Person (personID, name, age)
@Override
public String toString(){
        return String.format("%s: %04d: [name:%s, age:%d]", this.getClass().getSimpleName(), this.personID, this.name, this.age) ;
}
// in class Person (personID, name, age)
@Override
public String toString(){
        return String.format("%s: %04d: [name:%s, age:%d]", this.getClass().getSimpleName(), this.personID, this.name, this.age) ;
}
Darknesslion5|Christian
Darknesslion5|ChristianOP•3w ago
thanks, i currently did it with String[] type = getClass().toString().split("[.]"); and type[1] but getClass().getSimpleName() is definetly better xd
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JavaBot•3w ago
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JavaBot•3w ago
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