Description Michael Schneider 2005-08-05 03:46:59 EDT

If I access a class member of an invisible class (other package, class has
package private access), I get an error, which is ok. But the error says, that
the class does not exists, instead of telling me, that the class is just not
accessable. 

See this code:

   --- in package pkgB ---

package pkgB;

// class with package private access
class B {
	public static final String str = "string in invisible class";
}

   --- in package pkgA ---

package pkgA;

import pkgB.*; // referencing package of invisible class B

public class A {
	public void f() {
		B b = new B();       // correct msg: "The type B is not visible"
		String s1 = b.str;   // no error at all
		String s2 = B.str;   // !!! wrong msg: "B cannot be resolved"
	}
}

From this behaviour follows, that I am not able to correct the line of String s2
by "Change visibility of 'B' to public". It may lead me to the false conclusion,
that I have a typo in my java code.

BTW: Sun's javac (SDK 1.5) tells me the right thing:

  src/pkgA/A.java:9: pkgB.B is not public in pkgB; cannot be accessed from
outside package
                String s2 = B.str;