setWidth(double) has protected access in Control

Question

There is a width property under Properties inherited from class javafx.scene.control.Control here:

http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/api/javafx/scene/control/Button.html

Upon clickign the width property, you can see the following page:

http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/api/javafx/scene/control/Control.html#widthProperty

with the "See Also" option where getWidth(), setWidth(double) are listed:

I am trying to use setWidth(double) for my button but I get an error message in NetBeans that:

setWidth(double) has protected access in Control

I am using it like this in my code for my button:

public Button[] stop_QR;

stop_QR[i].setWidth(20); 

I know it is declared as protected, but I don't understand why I can't use it? Please advise

Answer 1

It is made protected to allow layout managers calculate the optimal bounds of the Node. The users are expected to use setPrefWidth(), setMinWidth() and setMaxWidth() methods to constrain preferred node size.

Answer 2

Protected means a field or method can only be accessed by it's super and subclasses.