Error - The operator * is undefined for the argument type(s) boolean, float

CantSayIHave

I have a class AlienPod:

public class AlienPod {
  public Globals globals = new Globals();

  public float xPos, yPos;
  public float Width, Height;
  public float travelDistance;

  public boolean isActive = false;

  public AlienPod (float xin, float yin, float travelin) {
    xPos = xin;
    yPos = yin;
    travelDistance = travelin;

    Width = globals.alienIcon.width;
    Height = globals.alienIcon.height;
  }

  public void activate () {
    this.isActive = true;
  }

  public void deactivate () {
    this.isActive = false;
  }

  public void moveToward (float towardX, float towardY) {
    this.xPos = this.xPos + (( this.xPos < towardX ) * this.travelDistance ) - (( this.xPos > towardX ) * this.travelDistance );
    this.yPos = this.yPos + (( this.yPos < towardY ) * this.travelDistance ) - (( this.yPos > towardY ) * this.travelDistance );
  }

}

However an error occurs at

this.xPos = this.xPos + (( this.xPos < towardX ) * this.travelDistance ) - (( this.xPos > towardX ) * this.travelDistance );

All data types appear to be float, so I'm lost.

Thanks

CantSayIHave

I just realized my error, ( this.xPos < towardX ) returns a boolean, so I'll need to convert it to a float.

Chrisir

you use < and >

which returns boolean

Chrisir

do you mean - instead of < maybe?

GoToLoop

Use int() in order to convert the boolean expression to either 0 or 1:
https://Processing.org/reference/intconvert_.html

CantSayIHave

However, now I realize I can't cast from boolean to float

CantSayIHave

Oh, thanks very much GoToLoop

koogs

i'd write it out in full - it'll be clearer to other people / yourself in the future

if (xPos < towardX) {
    xPos += travelDistance;
} else if (xPos > towardX) {
    xPos -= travelDistance;
}

(you only need the 'this.' if there's confusion between the class members and parameter names)

(and a += b is equiv to a = a + b)

Chrisir

much better than the totally unclear previous version....

koogs

(Especially now I've fixed the syntax error)

Chrisir

;-)