inner class and outer class

[munna next]

Inner class can automatically able to access all the outer memebrs including private members. What advantage it will get when an inner class extends Outer class ?

Case1:

class outer{
String name;

class inner{//it will be able to access "name" }
}

Case 2:

class outer{
String name;

class inner extends outer {//it will be able to access "name" because it's an inner class }
}

Can anybody explain the advantage in the second case ? Tahnks

[Barry Gaunt]

A subclass cannot access private members of the superclass. If a subclass of the outer class is also an inner class of the outer class it can access the private members of the superclass, something it cannot normally do if it were just a subclass.
[ July 26, 2006: Message edited by: Barry Gaunt ]

[Barry Gaunt]

I'm not sure whether my last post is relevant to your question but I'll leave it anyway.

In the second case the inner class is an outer class, whereas in the first example there is no parent-child relationship. So in the second case you can use the benefits (or curses) of polylmorphism and co., but in the first case you cannot.

[Ashish Laddha]

Rather than advantage, I would say one of the feature in the latter case is innerclass object can be referenced by superclass reference.

[munna next]

I understand the concept. Thanks