Why am I getting a static reference error and how do I fix it?

[SLDenman]

I am getting the "Cannot make a static reference to the non-static method add(Component) from the type Container" error on the last line where I am adding the Welcome label. Why and how do I fix it?

//import statements
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
 
//class header with extends JPanel
public class LoanComparison extends JPanel
{
 
    /**
     * 
     */
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    /**
     * 
     */
    static JPanel mainPanel, centerPanel, bottomPanel;
    static JLabel Welcome, loanAmount, years, rate, monthlypayment, totalpayment;
    static JTextField loanTextField;
 
    public static void main (String[]args)
    {
 
    //declare instance variables
    int years, balance;
    double loanAmount= 0, rate=0, monthlyrate=0, monthlypayment=0, totalpayment=0;
 
    //do following inside constructor method
 
        //set inherited Panel to BorderLayout
        //from here onwards, I will reference to this panel as main panel
        mainPanel.setLayout (new BorderLayout());
        JFrame frame= new JFrame("Comparing Loans");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
 
        //set preferred size for the main panel
        mainPanel.setLayout (new GridLayout (1,2,5,10));
 
        //create a label to display welcome message
        //add the above label to the main panel
        JLabel Welcome = new JLabel ("Welcome to Compairing Loans Application");
        add (Welcome);

[code green]

Looks like add() is a class method, therefore the class object must be referenced to access add()

[Dheeraj Joshi]

add is not a static method. So you need to access it using the object.

objname.method();

Regards
Dheeraj Joshi

[javabeginner1]

thank u sorted my headache :))
pweee..
cheers very helpful