Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Java Java Objects Delivering the MVP Forum

Why isn't my constructor function sufficient for this challenge?

Hello. I'm a bit puzzled why my constructor isn't passing this challenge.

The task is:

Add a constructor that accepts a String named topic to Forum.java. Initialize the private field topic in the constructor to the value passed in.

my code is

public class Forum {
  private String topic;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts a topic and sets the private field topic

  public void Forum(String topic){
    this.topic = topic;
  }

  public String getTopic() {
    return topic;
  }


  /* Uncomment this when you are prompted to do so
  public void addPost(ForumPost post) {
    System.out.printf("A new post in %s topic from %s %s about %s is available",
            topic,
            post.getAuthor().getFirstName(),
            post.getAuthor().getLastName(),
            post.getTitle()
    );
  }
  */

}
Forum.java
public class Forum {
  private String topic;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts a topic and sets the private field topic

  public void Forum(String topic){
    this.topic = topic;
  }

  public String getTopic() {
    return topic;
  }


  /* Uncomment this when you are prompted to do so
  public void addPost(ForumPost post) {
    System.out.printf("A new post in %s topic from %s %s about %s is available",
            topic,
            post.getAuthor().getFirstName(),
            post.getAuthor().getLastName(),
            post.getTitle()
    );
  }
  */

}
User.java
public class User {
  // TODO: add private fields for firstName and lastName

  public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
    // TODO: set and add the private fields

  }

  // TODO: add getters for firstName and lastName

}
ForumPost.java
public class ForumPost {
  private User author;
  private String title;
  private String description;

  // TODO: add a constructor that accepts the author, title and description

  public User getAuthor() {
    return author;
  }

  public String getTitle() {
    return title;
  }

  public String getDescription() {
    return description;
  }
}
Main.java
public class Main {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("Beginning forum example");
    if (args.length < 2) {
      System.out.println("Usage: java Main <first name> <last name>");
      System.err.println("<first name> and <last name> are required");
      System.exit(1);
    }
    /* Uncomment this when prompted
    Forum forum = new Forum("Java");
    // TODO: pass in the first name and last name that are in the args parameter
    User author = new User();
    // TODO: initialize the forum post with the user created above and a title and description of your choice
    ForumPost post = new ForumPost();
    forum.addPost(post);

// */
  }

}

1 Answer

andren
andren
28,558 Points

The reason is that you define void as the return type. Constructors do not have return types, that's one of the things that separate them from regular methods.

If you don't specify a return type, like this:

public Forum(String topic){
    this.topic = topic;
}

Then your constructor will work.

Thank you for that explanation. I must have missed that or forgotten that from the videos. That worked perfectly.

Thanks again!