Question: Object returns int but cannot use it.

I am new to Java, i work in the web development industry so OOP is slightly different.

I have a question, i use a statement like:

if(config.getProperty("users." + player.getName() + ".stage") == 0){
//do some wicked stuff
}

It won't let me compare getProperty with the integer because getProperty is an object. But the object returns a result in the form of a number... why is this and how might i get around it? In PHP i would parse the result as an integer

I get the feeling i should be creating "stage" as an object belonging to each player?

Solved: I used config.getInt instead of getProperty

EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.