Gilad, thank you so much. I am new to Java and have been researching pass-by-ref/value topics in Java for the last hour! Essentially, the external variable output is a pointer to the same object as the object outputStream, is that correct? Thanks again.
On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 2:57 PM, Gilad Denneboom <[email protected]> wrote: > All of these variables are references to the same object, so when the > contents of the object are edited inside the writeText function the value > pointed at by the external variable (*outputStream* in getText) are changed > as well. > In other words, when *outputStream *is assigned to *output *(inside > writeText) all it says is for that variable to point to the same object > reference. It does not create a copy of the variable under a new name. > > On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 1:43 PM, A.M. Sabuncu <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I am reading the PDFTextStripper.java code and I am stuck trying to > > understand a mechanism used within the code. > > > > Following is the getText() method: > > > > public String getText( PDDocument doc ) throws IOException > > { > > StringWriter outputStream = new StringWriter(); > > writeText( doc, outputStream ); > > return outputStream.toString(); > > } > > > > As you can see, getText() calls writeText() with an outputStream. In > > writeText(), the global variable "Writer output" is set to outputStream: > > > > output = outputStream; > > > > But there is no code that sets outputStream back to output. > Nevertheless, > > outputStream.toString() (in getText) returns the extracted text. > > > > I know I am missing something here, and any help will be appreciated. If > > you think I should post this to the developers' list, please let me know. > > > > Thanks so much. > > > > PS: I am using the latest version of PDFBox 1.8.8. > > >
