Understanding Encapsulation Using Examples
In this lesson, you will get a rmer understanding of encapsulation in Java with the help of examples.
WE'LL COVER THE FOLLOWING
• A Bad Example
• A Good Example
As discussed earlier, encapsulation refers to the concept of binding data and
the methods operating on that data in a single unit also called a class.
The goal is to prevent this bound data from any unwanted access by the code
outside this class. Let’s understand this using an example of a very basic User
class.
Consider that we are up for designing an application and are working on
modeling the log in part of that application. We know that a user needs a
username and a password to log into the application.
A very basic User class will be modeled as:
Having a field for the userName
Having a field for the password
A method named login() to grant access
Whenever a new user comes, a new object can be created by passing the
userName and password to the constructor of this class.
class User class Main
main(){
String userName
String password new User
new User
void login() new User
Main class uses the User
class to create new Objects
A Bad Example #
Now it is time to implement the above discussed User class.
class User
+String userName
+String password
+ void login()
+ sign indicates public members
The code according to the above illustration is given below:
// User Class
class User {
// Public Fields
public String userName;
public String password;
// Parameterized Constructor to create new users
public User(String userName, String password) {
this.userName = userName;
this.password = password;
}
public void login(String userName, String password) {
//Check if the username and password match
if (this.userName.toLowerCase().equals(userName.toLowerCase()) && this.password.equals(pa
// .toLowrcase converts all the characters to lowercase & .equals checks if two strings m
System.out.println("Access Granted against the username: "+this.userName +" and passwor
}
else System.out.println("Invalid Credentials!"); //Else invalid credentials
}
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
User educative = new User("Educative","12345"); //Creates a new user and stores the passw
educative.login("Educative","12345"); //Grants access because credentials are valid
educative.login("Educative", "3456"); //Does not grant access because the credentials are
educative.password = "3456"; //OOPS SOMEONE ACCESSED THE PASSWORD FIELD
educative.login("Educative", "3456"); // GRANTS ACCESS BUT THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED!
}
In the above coding example, we can observe that anyone can access, change
or print the password and userName fields directly from the main() method.
This is dangerous in the case of this User class because there is no
encapsulation of the credentials of a user and anyone can access their account
by manipulating the stored data. So the above code was not a good coding
convention.
A Good Example #
Let’s move on to a good convention for implementing the User class!
class User
-String userName
-String password
+ void login()
- sign indicates private members
// User Class
class User {
// Private fields
private String userName;
private String password;
//Parameterzied constructor to create a new users
public User(String userName, String password) {
this.userName = userName;
this.password = password;
}
public void login(String userName, String password) {
//Check if the username and password match
if (this.userName.toLowerCase().equals(userName.toLowerCase()) && this.password.equals(pa
// .toLowrcase converts all the characters to lowercase & .equals checks if two strings m
System.out.println("Access Granted against the username: "+this.userName +" and passwor
}
else System.out.println("Invalid Credentials!"); //Else invalid credentials
}
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
User educative = new User("Educative","12345"); //Creates a new user and stores the passw
educative.login("Educative","12345"); //Grants access because credentials are valid
educative.login("Educative", "3456"); //Does not grant access because the credentials are
//educative.password = "3456"; //Uncommenting this line will give an error
//Fields of User class cannot be accessed now
}
}
In the above example, the fields of userName and password are declared
private .
As a rule of thumb, in a class, all the member variables should be declared
private and to access and operate on that data public methods like getters,
setters and custom methods should be implemented.
This is the concept of encapsulation. All the field containing data are private
and the methods which provide an interface to access those fields are public.
Now let’s test your understanding of encapsulation with the help of a quick
quiz!
