[java] Cannot make a static reference to the non-static method

Building a multi-language application in Java. Getting an error when inserting String value from R.string resource XML file:

public static final String TTT =  (String) getText(R.string.TTT);

This is the error message:

Error: Cannot make a static reference to the non-static method getText(int) from the type Context

How is this caused and how can I solve it?

getText is a member of the your Activity so it must be called when "this" exists. Your static variable is initialized when your class is loaded before your Activity is created.

Since you want the variable to be initialized from a Resource string then it cannot be static. If you want it to be static you can initialize it with the String value.

You can either make your variable non static

public final String TTT =  (String) getText(R.string.TTT);

or make the "getText" method static (if at all possible)

This question is not new and existing answers give some good theoretical background. I just want to add a more pragmatic answer.

getText is a method of the Context abstract class and in order to call it, one needs an instance of it's subclass (Activity, Service, Application or other). The problem is, that the public static final variables are initialized before any instance of Context is created.

There are several ways to solve this:

1. Make the variable a member variable (field) of the Activity or other subclass of Context by removing the static modifier and placing it within the class body;
2. Keep it static and delay the initialization to a later point (e.g. in the onCreate method);
3. Make it a local variable in the place of actual usage.

You can not make reference to static variable from non-static method. To understand this , you need to understand the difference between static and non-static.

Static variables are class variables , they belong to class with their only one instance , created at the first only. Non-static variables are initialized every time you create an object of the class.

Now coming to your question, when you use new() operator we will create copy of every non-static filed for every object, but it is not the case for static fields. That's why it gives compile time error if you are referencing a static variable from non-static method.

for others that find this in the search:

I often get this one when I accidentally call a function using the class name rather than the object name. This typically happens because i give them too similar names : P

ie:

MyClass myclass = new MyClass();

// then later

MyClass.someFunction();

This is obviously a static method. (good for somethings) But what i really wanted to do (in most cases was)

myclass.someFunction();

It's such a silly mistake, but every couple of months, i waste about 30 mins messing with vars in the "MyClass" definitions to work out what im doing wrong when really, its just a typo.

Funny note: stack overflow highlights the syntax to make the mistake really obvious here.

There are some good answers already with explanations of why the mixture of the non-static Context method getText() can't be used with your static final String.

A good question to ask is: why do you want to do this? You are attempting to load a String from your strings resource, and populate its value into a public static field. I assume that this is so that some of your other classes can access it? If so, there is no need to do this. Instead pass a Context into your other classes and call context.getText(R.string.TTT) from within them.

public class NonActivity {

    public static void doStuff(Context context) {
        String TTT = context.getText(R.string.TTT);
        ...
    }
}

And to call this from your Activity:

NonActivity.doStuff(this);

This will allow you to access your String resource without needing to use a public static field.