int cannot be dereferenced in hash function

[jemimaloh]

hi, this is my hash function, could anyone explain to me why the lines in red are experiencing an "int cannot be deferenced"? Thank you.

public static int hashFunc3(int key) 
{
	int hashVal = 0;
 for (int j=0; j<key.length(); j++) //left to right 
	{
 int letter = key.charAt(j) - 96; //get char code
		hashVal = (hashVal * 27 + letter) % arraySize; //mod
	}
	return hashVal;  //no mod
} //end hashFunc3()

[masijade]

"key" is an integer, not a String.

[jemimaloh]

"key" is an integer, not a String.

my bad... thanks man.