[JAVA][Beginning Java 8 Games Development]

Chapter 10 ■ Directing the Cast of Actors: Creating a Casting Director Engine and Creating the Bagel Actor Class
If there are multiple Actor objects to be processed the inside of an if{...} construct, use the .addAll() method to
add the contents of the parameter list to your REMOVED_ACTORS Set object. This is accomplished by using
the Arrays.asList((Actor[]) actors)) construct inside of the .addAll() method call, which constructs the Actor[]
Array named actors that is compatible with (necessary for) using an .addAll() method call with a Set object type.
The second else{...} portion of this method body adds one single Actor object, since the actors.length was not greater
than one, by using an actors[0] annotation (first Actor parameter) and an .add() method call using the following code:
public void addToRemovedActors(Actor... actors) {
if (actors.length > 1) { REMOVED_ACTORS.addAll(Arrays.asList((Actor[]) actors)); }
else { REMOVED_ACTORS.add(actors[0]); }
Notice that since we have converted the Actor... parameters (which are destined for a List, but are not one yet)
into an Array (because the compiler can count the fixed number of items), so we can use the actors[0] notation.
Now that we have a way to add one or more Actor objects to the REMOVED_ACTORS Set HashSet, let’s
create a .resetRemovedActors() to clear out the REMOVED_ACTORS data set. Before we clear the Set object
we need to make sure all of the Actor objects contained within it are removed from the CURRENT_CAST Actor List
object, since that is what it is there for, so the first part of this method will call the .removeAll() method off of the
CURRENT_CAST ArrayList object and inside of this method pass over the REMOVED_ACTORS Set
object. After that we can use the .clear() method call off of the REMOVED_ACTORS object to reset it back to being
empty, so that it can be used all over again to collect Actor objects that need to be disposed of. The Java code, which is
shown in Figure 10-9, should look like the following:
public void resetRemovedActors() {
CURRENT_CAST.removeAll(REMOVED_ACTORS);
REMOVED_ACTORS.clear();
}
Next, we are going to look at how we can get NetBeans to code our CastingDirector() constructor method!
CastingDirector() Constructor: Having NetBeans Write the Code
There is a way that you can get NetBeans to write a constructor method for you, and since it is a little bit “hidden,”
I’ll show you how to find it! I left the insertion-bar cursor in Figure 10-10, to show you that I clicked on the final
keyword and the yellow light bulb “tip” icon that appears, and the pale yellow pop-up tooltip message that I get when
I mouse-over the tip light bulb. The message that I get is the “Move initializer to constructor(s),” and so I hit the
Alt-Enter key combo that is suggested. Sure enough, there is an option for NetBeans to write this constructor method
code for me.
www.it-ebooks.info
221