I'm in the middle of my largest project so far and really could use some help, I have an array of strings that i want to convert to an array of objects that are referenced (i think it's the right word) to other parts of the array.

Like a child has parents. index 1 is referenced to 3 and 4. Where 1=child and 3+4=it's parents.

String array [ String1,String2,String3....]
into
Object array [program.Cat@5dcec6, program.Cat@b25b9d....]

so it seems like it does create an array with objects but i'm missing something, i cant get what the object contains..i think it's something wrong with the constructor in Cat. So the object contains 3 int and one String atm. I'm not sure i have done the constructor correctly to save and return the values either.

only 2 classes are involved in this process. Big thanks for any help.

//the constructor
package program;

import java.util.*;

/**
 *
 * @author Stormy
 */

public class Cat {

//this is the new arrays containing the objects.
public static ArrayList<Cat> sireCats = new ArrayList<Cat>();
public static ArrayList<Cat> damCats = new ArrayList<Cat>();

private String ems;
private int partner;
private int father;
private int mother;

public Cat(){
}

public void setEms(String e){
    this.ems=e;
}
      
public String getEms(){
    return ems;
}

public void setFather(int c){
    this.father = c;
}

public int getFather(){
    return father;
}

public void setMother(int c){
    this.mother = c;
}

public int getMother(){
    return mother;
}

public void setPartner (int c){
    this.partner = c;
}

public int getPartner (){
    return partner;
}

}

****************************************************************

//the converter from String array to object array

package program;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

/**
 *
 * @author Stormy
 */
public class ObjectifyArray {
  //String array = list.
   public void ArrayToObjects(List<String> list,int sex){//gets list and sex of cat
    for(int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++ ){
        int mother = i*2;     //sets mothers index
        int father = (i*2)+1; //sets fathers index
        int partner = i+1;  //sets partners index 
        Cat catToAdd = new Cat();
        if(sex==1){
        catToAdd.setEms(list.get(i));
        catToAdd.setMother(mother);
        catToAdd.setFather(father);
        catToAdd.setPartner(partner);
        Cat.sireCats.add(catToAdd);
        }
        else if(sex==2){
        catToAdd.setEms(list.get(i));
        catToAdd.setMother(mother);
        catToAdd.setFather(father);
        catToAdd.setPartner(partner);
        Cat.damCats.add(catToAdd);
        }
        }
        System.out.println("damCats "+Cat.damCats);
        System.out.println("sireCats "+Cat.sireCats);
        
    }
}

if there are other suggestions on how to do this the best way they are more then welcome.