Setting multiple boolean variables to false in Java

Question

I need to assign multiple boolean variables to false in java (As a part of my Android Application)

What is the best way to do that?

Is the following method correct? Does it have any drawbacks/pitfalls?

boolean showDownloadButton, showOpenFileButton, showProgressBar, showErrorMessage, showDownloadWhenReady;

showDownloadButton = showProgressBar = showOpenFileButton =  showErrorMessage = showDownloadWhenReady = false;

As another comment, if these booleans are class members, they are automatically initialized to false. If they are not class members, then your design is probably wrong. — Daniel
– Daniel, Commented Jul 11, 2015 at 17:16

Sergey Kalinichenko · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-11 17:20:40Z

1

There is no drawback or advantage to this, because each individual variable is set separately anyway. Setting it to boolean literal false or to a result of another assignment returning false makes no difference, apart from the readability.

Note that you could potentially simplify your code by making an array of booleans instead, and using constant indexes to access individual values:

static final int DOWNLOAD_BTN = 0;
static final int OPEN_FILE_BTN = 1;
static final int PROGRESS = 2;
static final int ERROR_MSG = 3;
static final int DOWNLOAD_WHEN_RDY = 4;
static final int ELEMENT_COUNT = 5;
...
boolean[] visibility = new boolean[ELEMENT_COUNT];
...
if (visibility[ERROR_MSG]) {
    ...
}

edited Jul 11, 2015 at 17:20

answered Jul 11, 2015 at 17:17

Sergey Kalinichenko

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