[GROOVY-9418] Why implicitly call of the inner class instance not allowed?

• Type: Bug
• Status: Open
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Affects Version/s: 2.4.18
• Component/s: Groovy Console, groovy-runtime
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: gekm
• Created: 22/Feb/20 15:15
• Updated: 23/Feb/20 12:22

Description

A parent and inner child classes:

class Parent {
    def name
    def child = new Child()
    def call() {
        println('parent called')
    }
}

class Child {
    def call() {
        println('child called')
   }
}

Calling:

import base.Parent

parent = new Parent(name: 'parent')
parent()
parent.child.call()
parent.child()

output:

parent called
child called
Caught: groovy.lang.MissingMethodException: No signature of method: base.Parent.child() is applicable for argument types: () values: []
Possible solutions: call(), find(), find(groovy.lang.Closure), getChild(), setChild(java.lang.Object), split(groovy.lang.Closure)