Try: public float  meth(){ return
floatVar; }

yes, i tried adding the keyword "public" to the method, but alas, i did
nothing...

What do you mean it did nothing. Can you send me a snippet of code
showing how you are trying to use that method  (i.e. the code which is
calling that method)?

here is some of my code... is there a way to change it so that the
variable being returned as 0.0 can take the value of oneNum, like the
variable test? thanks

public class  treeCounter extends JApplet implements ActionListener {
float oneNum, test;
public void init(){
gV();
test = gV();
System.out.println(test); // returned as 3.0
f = new SampleFrame(output);
}
}

class SampleFrame extends Frame{
// a few variable  declarations
SampleFrame(String title){
// other code in here
Main main = new Main();
main.show();
}
}

class Main extends JFrame{
// variable declarations
public Main(){
treeCounter dp = new treeCounter();
oNum = dp.gV;
System.out.println(oNum); // returned as 0.0
// more code
}
}

In treeCounter, do you have a method  gV() or a variable  gV? If it is a
method, then your code would be:

oNum = dp.gV();

If it is a variable, then you can declare the variable as public in your
treeCounter and do this:

oNum = db.gV;

However, the second example is not good object-oriented programming as
it breaks encapsulation.

You did not provide the code where gV the method or variable can be
found, so I am not sure how to interpret this.

Variables which are declared within a method  have
a scope local to that method.<br><br>If you want
variables accessable from method to method, you need to
declare them in the class.<br><br>For
example:<br><br>public class  myClass{<br>private int
firstVariable;<br><br><br>public method1(){<br> firstVariable = 10;<br>
System.out.println("FirstVariable: =" + firstVariable);<br>}<br><br>public
method2(){<br> int localVariable = firstVariable;<br>
firstVariable = firstVariable + localVariable;<br>
System.out.println("FirstVariable has Changed: + firstVariable);<br>
System.out.println("LocalVariable now equals : " +
localVariable);<br>}<br><br>}<br><br>While one can do this, it is not a very
good
programming practice. variables  which you want to share
access to should be passed into a method and returned if
they need to be changed outside the scope of that
method.<br><br>If you are changing too many "instance" variables,
it's time to look at your design. Doing this causes A
LOT of problems in maintance.

yes, my variable  is declared in the class, and can be accessed by other methods
in the class, but that's not the issue, I want access  to it when the method  is
called from ANOTHER class.

Did you see my post regarding making your method  public?

You could also mark your variable  as public, but this goes against one
of the primary tenets of object-oriented programming, namely
encapsulation.

Why do you have to be so complicated? You're gonna confuse the poor
guy.

I've been talking with SmallTalk programmers.... I've been
corrupted!!