How Can You Access Protected Features From Another Package

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You can access protected features from other classes by subclassing the that

class in another package, but this cannot be done for friendly features.

In Java, the protected access modifier allows access to the members (fields, methods, and nested classes) within the same package or by subclasses, regardless of the package they are in. However, there are some rules to keep in mind:

  1. Same Package Access:
    • Classes in the same package can access protected members of other classes in that package.
      java

      package com.example.package1;

      public class ClassA {
      protected int x;
      }

      package com.example.package2;

      public class ClassB extends com.example.package1.ClassA {
      public void method() {
      int value = x; // Accessing protected member from the same package
      }
      }

  2. Subclass Access in Different Package:
    • If a class extends another class, it can access the protected members of the superclass, even if they are in different packages.
      java

      package com.example.package1;

      public class ClassA {
      protected int x;
      }

      package com.example.package2;

      public class ClassB extends com.example.package1.ClassA {
      public void method() {
      int value = x; // Accessing protected member from a subclass in a different package
      }
      }

  3. Non-Subclass Access in Different Package:
    • Non-subclasses in a different package cannot access protected members of other classes, even if they belong to the same package.
      java

      package com.example.package1;

      public class ClassA {
      protected int x;
      }

      package com.example.package2;

      public class ClassC {
      public void method() {
      // This would result in a compilation error
      // int value = new com.example.package1.ClassA().x;
      }
      }

In summary, to access protected members from another package, you either need to be in the same package or extend the class containing the protected members. If you are not in the same package and not a subclass, you won’t be able to access the protected members.