Can outer classes call methods of their inner class?

Question

I have code that establishes a connection to the server during an event that the user clicks on a specific button. I created an inner class to listen for the action. As part of the only method that I have in the inner class, I also establish the server connection mentioned earlier.

My question is, can a Socket connection be used only from an "inner" class? Or, can an external class continue to communicate with the specified server?

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However, I understand that the inner class has unlimited access to the outer class (as if it were an outer class. My question is the other way around).

Answer 1

Create such an instance and get access to what you want:

OuterClass.InnerClass innerObject = outerObject.new InnerClass(); 

Answer 2

All methods declared in the inner class are available ... whether they are declared as public or ... private .

If the internal methods are static , then they can always be called by code in the external class. You just need to define a method name with the name of the inner class.

Otherwise, the outer class code needs a reference for an instance of the inner class to call methods on it. (But it normal.)

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(If you asked about whether the inner class can call methods in the outer class, this is a bit more complicated. In most cases this applies, but if the inner class is NOT static , it can also call instance methods on its outer class via this .)