Overriding Methods of a Superclass

In this section:

• Overview
• Overriding methods
• Changing method body

Overview

You can override any method of a parent class, using the code generation facility. IntelliJ IDEA creates a stub that contains a call to the method of the superclass, leaving the developer with the task of providing some meaningful source code.

Overriding methods

To override methods, follow these steps:

1. With the class in question having the focus, invoke the Override method command in one of the following ways:
   • Press Ctrl+O.
   • On the main menu, choose Code | Override method.
   • Right-click the editor, choose Generate on the context menu, or press Alt+Insert, and choose Override methods.
2. Select methods that can be overridden from the Select methods to override dialog box. The list of methods does not include the methods that are already overridden, or cannot be accessed from the current subclass.

   

3. Select one or more methods to override.
4. If necessary, select the following options:
   • Insert @Override to add the @Override annotation.
   • Copy JavaDoc to insert JavaDoc comments from the overridden methods (if any).
5. Having generated the overriding method, create the required source code. Note the icon that marks the overriding method in the left gutter. Use this icon to view the name of the base class, and navigate to the overridden method.

   

Changing method body

File template responsible for overriding a method (Overridden method body) accepts predefined template variables from "File Header" (File | Settings - Editor - File and Code Templates - Code - File Header ), e.g. ${USER}, ${DATE}, etc.

For example, consider the following file template:

Provided that an overridden class contains two methods, this template expands into the following code: