Can I have different copies of a static variable for each different type of inheriting class

inheritance, java, static-variables

Solution

Use an abstract method:

public class Entity
{
     public abstract Bitmap getSprite();

     public void draw(Canvas canvas, int x, int y)
     {
          canvas.drawBitmap(getSprite(), x, y, null);
     }
}

public class Marine extends Entity
{
    public Bitmap getSprite() {
        return /*the sprite*/;
    }
}

The sprite returned by getSprite can be a static if you like. Nice things about this approach:

You can't (easily) forget to include a sprite in your subclass, since the compiler will complain if you don't implement the abstract method.

It's flexible. Suppose a Marine should look different once he "levels up". Just change Marine's getSprite method to take the level into account.

It's the standard OO-idiom for this sort of thing, so people looking at their code won't be left scratching their heads.

Problem

I want to have the same static variable with a different value depending on the type of class. So I would have ``` public class Entity { public static Bitmap sprite; public void draw(Canvas canvas, int x, int y) { canvas.drawBitmap(sprite, x, y, null); } } public class Marine extends Entity { } public class Genestealer extends Entity { } ``` And then in my main program go: ``` Marine.sprite = // Load sprite for all instances of Marine Genestealer.sprite = // Load sprite for all instances of Genestealer ``` I don't want to store the same sprite in every instance of the class. I want one for each type of class. I want to inherit the static sprite variable and the draw function which will draw the sprite. But I don't want the Genstealer sprite to override the Marine sprite. Is this possible? How would I do it?

Original source