Casting a Object into Reflected Class and Method

Casting a Object into Reflected Class and Method - java

A normal form of what I am trying is this.
MyClassFacadeLocal cls = new MyClassFacadeLocal();
List allMyClass = cls.findAll();
Iterator it = allMyClass.iterator();
while(it.haxNext()) {
MyClass Obj = (MyClass)it.next();
out.println(obj.getTitle());
}
Now, the problem I am creating a global method, which can handle several cases of this. For this, I will pass the Entity Class name, method name and the List that is return by the .findAll() method. How to solve this using the reflection. What I tried was really rough and of course didn't work.
List allMyClass; //I will have passed this before
Iterator it = allMyClass.iterator();
while(it.hasNext()) {
try {
Class<?> c = Class.forName(this.getEntityClassName());
c.cast(it.next());
Method method = c.getDeclaredMethod("getTitle");
String title = method.invoke(c, null).toString();
} catch(Exception e) {
}
}
Gives: "object is not an instance of declaring class" error. But I am confident this is a usage flaw.

Really, you shouldn't use reflection to do that. Make all your entities implement a common interface with a getTitle() method:
public interface HasTitle {
public String getTitle();
}
public class MyClass1 implements HasTitle {
// ...
#Override
public String getTitle() {
return this.title;
}
}
public class MyClass2 implements HasTitle {
// ...
#Override
public String getTitle() {
return this.title;
}
}
...
/**
* This method can be invoked withg a List<MyClass1> or with a List<MyClass2>
* as argument, since MyClass1 and MyClass2 both implement HasTitle
*/
public void displayTitles(List<? extends HasTitle> entities) {
for (HasTitle entity : entities) {
out.println(entity.getTitle();
}
}

Your code does too much work by using Class.forName and uses the wrong reflection method getDeclaredMethod -- that one doesn't take into account the inherited methods. The c.cast line doesn't do anything -- it merely asserts that the object is an instance of its own class.
Use this code:
public static void printProp(List<?> xs, String methodName) {
try {
for (Object x : xs)
System.out.println(x.getClass().getMethod(methodName).invoke(x));
} catch (Exception e) { throw new RuntimeException(e); }
}

The first glance flaw I see is that you don't assign the
c.cast(it.next());
to new variable.

Related

Java invoke child method from parent object

I've got next situation:
There is an abstract class
public abstract class SuperClass {
public abstract void getString();
public abstract void method2();
}
public class InheritClass1 extends SuperClass {
#Override
public void getString(){...};
#Override
public void method2(){...};
}
public class InheritClass2 extends SuperClass {
#Override
public void getString{...};
#Override
public void method2(){...};
public void customMethod(){...};
}
There is another class that has a method that accepts SuperClass object as an argument. Depending on what kind of String is returned from getString I perform different actions. My case is that I am trying to call a child method while the object is of parent class:
public class Processor {
public String method(SuperClass type) {
switch (type.getString()) {
case "1":
return "OK"
case "2":
return ((InheritClass2) type).customMethod()
}
}
I do understand that this is BAD DESIGN, could you please help me with finding the best solution for this problem. Maybe generics are suitable in this case somehow. Also the thing is that customMethod() should be a part of not all classes.

Since only some (sub)classes implements customMethod, I would suggest to create an interface that contains this method:
public interface CustomInterface {
public String customMethod();
}
Your SuperClass can then remain just as it is. Only the subclasses/child classes that have customMethod, would then extend your SuperClass as well as implement this CustomInterface. This way, the child classes that do not implement CustomMethod (does not have the method in their class, such as InheritClass1 in your example), also remain just as they are.
Only child classes that have CustomMethod, such as InheritClass2 would then need to change slightly by saying it implements this new interface:
public class InheritClass2 extends SuperClass implements CustomInteface {
// the rest stays the same
}
Then in the section where you want to do the casting, you rather do the following:
public class Processor {
public String method(SuperClass type) {
switch (type.getString()) {
case "1":
return "OK"
case "2":
String s = "";
if (type instance of CustomInterface) {
s = (CustomInterface type).customMethod();
}
return s;
}
}
}
Using the interface in this way will help that you can implement all child classes and not just one as implementing the CustomInterface, and thus, all child classes will work with using instanceof and casting to the interface to call customMethod() - you won't have to handle each child that needs this method separately.
NOTE: Your code is clearly simplified example, it is unclear if the getString() method is just returning an identifier of the child classes in order for you to know which ones you can cast and then call custom Method on... If this is the purpose of your switch and getString methods - to identify which types implement the customMethod() and to call that method, and for any child class that does not have that method to return just "OK" - then you could instead do the following:
public class SubClass1 extends SuperClass implements CustomInterface {
// other mehtods...
public String CustomMethod() { return "SomeString1"; }
}
public class SubClass2 extends SuperClass {
// other methods...
// this subclass does not have the CustomMethod()
}
public class SubClass3 extends SuperClass implements CustomInterface {
// other methods...
public String CustomMethod() { return "SomeString3"; }
}
Then your Processor could look like this:
public class Processor {
public String method(SuperClass type) {
return (type instanceof CustomInterface) ? ((CustomInterface) type).CustomMethod() : "OK";
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Processor p = new Processor();
SuperClass obj1 = new SubClass1();
SuperClass obj2 = new SubClass2();
SuperClass obj3 = new SubClass3();
System.out.println(p.method(obj1)); // prints: "SomeString1"
System.out.println(p.method(obj2)); // prints: "OK"
System.out.println(p.method(obj3)); // prints: "SomeString3"
}
}
If you don't understand the ternary operator then you can read about it here That's the condition ? exprTrue : exprFalse syntax. It's a short if else statement basically.

You can create an interface, with default custom method implementation, like:
interface A {
default String customMethod() {
return "";
}
}
And abstract class will implement this interface:
public abstract class SupperClass implements A {
public abstract String getString();
public abstract void method2();
}

Bad design will cause you to get bad answers. If you don't want to cast your object to a child object. You could use reflection.
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
public class Processor {
public String method(SuperClass type) {
Method[] methods = type.getClass().getMethods();
for (Method m : methods) {
if (m.getName().equals("customMethod")) {
try {
return m.invoke(type);
} catch (Exception ex) {
// throw
}
}
}
return "OK";
}
}

Depending on your design you could apply:
if (type instanceof InheritClass2.class) return type.customMethod();
or
if (type.getClass() == InheritClass2.class) return type.customMethod();

Automatically delegating all methods of a java class

Say I have a class with many of public methods:
public class MyClass {
public void method1() {}
public void method2() {}
(...)
public void methodN() {}
}
Now I would like to create a wrapper class which would delegate all the methods to wrapped instance (delegate):
public class WrapperClass extends MyClass {
private final MyClass delegate;
public WrapperClass(MyClass delegate) {
this.delagate = delegate;
}
public void method1() { delegate.method1(); }
public void method2() { delegate.method2(); }
(...)
public void methodN() { delegate.methodN(); }
}
Now if MyClass has a lot of methods I would need to override each of them which is more or less the same code which just "delegates". I was wondering if it is possible to do some magic to automatically call a method in Java (so the Wrapper class would need to say "Hey if you call a method on me just go to delegate object and call this method on it).
BTW: I can not use inheritance because the delegate is not under my control.I just get its instance from elsewhere (another case would be if MyClass was final).
NOTE: I do not want IDE generation. I know I can do it with help of IntelliJ/Eclipse, but I'm curious if this can be done in code.
Any suggestions how to achieve something like this? (NOTE: I would probably be able to do it in some scripting languages like php where I could use php magic functions to intercept the call).

Perhaps the dynamic Proxy of java can help you. It only works if you consequently use interfaces. In this case, I will call the interface MyInterface and set up a default implementation:
public class MyClass implements MyInterface {
#Override
public void method1() {
System.out.println("foo1");
}
#Override
public void method2() {
System.out.println("foo2");
}
#Override
public void methodN() {
System.out.println("fooN");
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyClass wrapped = new MyClass();
wrapped.method1();
wrapped.method2();
MyInterface wrapper = WrapperClass.wrap(wrapped);
wrapper.method1();
wrapper.method2();
}
}
The wrapper class implementation would look like:
public class WrapperClass extends MyClass implements MyInterface, InvocationHandler {
private final MyClass delegate;
public WrapperClass(MyClass delegate) {
this.delegate = delegate;
}
public static MyInterface wrap(MyClass wrapped) {
return (MyInterface) Proxy.newProxyInstance(MyClass.class.getClassLoader(), new Class[] { MyInterface.class }, new WrapperClass(wrapped));
}
//you may skip this definition, it is only for demonstration
public void method1() {
System.out.println("bar");
}
#Override
public Object invoke(Object proxy, Method method, Object[] args) throws Throwable {
Method m = findMethod(this.getClass(), method);
if (m != null) {
return m.invoke(this, args);
}
m = findMethod(delegate.getClass(), method);
if (m != null) {
return m.invoke(delegate, args);
}
return null;
}
private Method findMethod(Class<?> clazz, Method method) throws Throwable {
try {
return clazz.getDeclaredMethod(method.getName(), method.getParameterTypes());
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
return null;
}
}
}
Note that this class:
extends MyClass, to inherit a default implementation (any other would do)
implements Invocationhandler, to allow the proxy to do reflection
optionally implement MyInterface (to satisfy the decorator pattern)
This solution allows you to override special methods, but to delegate all others. This will even work with sub classes of Wrapper class.
Note that the method findMethod does not yet capture the special cases.

This question is 6 months old already and #CoronA's wonderful answer has satisfied and been accepted by #walkeros, but I thought I would add something here as I think this can be pushed an extra step.
As discussed with #CoronA in the comments to his answer, instead of having to create and maintain a long list of MyClass methods in WrapperClass (i.e. public void methodN() { delegate.methodN(); }), the dynamic proxy solution moves this to the interface. The issue is that you still have to create and maintain a long list of signatures for the MyClass methods in the interface, which is perhaps a bit simpler but doesn't completely solve the problem. This is especially the case if you don't have access to MyClass in order to know all the methods.
According to Three approaches for decorating your code,
For longer classes, a programmer must choose the lesser of two evils:
implement many wrapper methods and keep the type of decorated object
or maintain a simple decorator implementation and sacrifice retaining
the decorated object type.
So perhaps this is an expected limitation of the Decorator Pattern.
#Mark-Bramnik, however, gives an fascinating solution using CGLIB at Interposing on Java Class Methods (without interfaces). I was able to combine this with #CoronaA's solution in order to create a wrapper that can override individual methods but then pass everything else to the wrapped object without requiring an interface.
Here is MyClass.
public class MyClass {
public void method1() { System.out.println("This is method 1 - " + this); }
public void method2() { System.out.println("This is method 2 - " + this); }
public void method3() { System.out.println("This is method 3 - " + this); }
public void methodN() { System.out.println("This is method N - " + this); }
}
Here is WrapperClass which only overrides method2(). As you'll see below, the non-overridden methods are, in fact, not passed to the delegate, which can be a problem.
public class WrapperClass extends MyClass {
private MyClass delagate;
public WrapperClass(MyClass delegate) { this.delagate = delegate; }
#Override
public void method2() {
System.out.println("This is overridden method 2 - " + delagate);
}
}
Here is MyInterceptor which extends MyClass. It employs the proxy solution using CGLIB as described by #Mark-Bramnik. It also employs #CononA's method of determining whether or not to send the method to the wrapper (if it is overridden) or the wrapped object (if it is not).
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import net.sf.cglib.proxy.MethodInterceptor;
import net.sf.cglib.proxy.MethodProxy;
public class MyInterceptor extends MyClass implements MethodInterceptor {
private Object realObj;
public MyInterceptor(Object obj) { this.realObj = obj; }
#Override
public void method2() {
System.out.println("This is overridden method 2 - " + realObj);
}
#Override
public Object intercept(Object arg0, Method method, Object[] objects,
MethodProxy methodProxy) throws Throwable {
Method m = findMethod(this.getClass(), method);
if (m != null) { return m.invoke(this, objects); }
Object res = method.invoke(realObj, objects);
return res;
}
private Method findMethod(Class<?> clazz, Method method) throws Throwable {
try {
return clazz.getDeclaredMethod(method.getName(), method.getParameterTypes());
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
return null;
}
}
}
Here is Main and the results you get if you run it.
import net.sf.cglib.proxy.Enhancer;
public class Main {
private static MyClass unwrapped;
private static WrapperClass wrapped;
private static MyClass proxified;
public static void main(String[] args) {
unwrapped = new MyClass();
System.out.println(">>> Methods from the unwrapped object:");
unwrapped.method1();
unwrapped.method2();
unwrapped.method3();
wrapped = new WrapperClass(unwrapped);
System.out.println(">>> Methods from the wrapped object:");
wrapped.method1();
wrapped.method2();
wrapped.method3();
proxified = createProxy(unwrapped);
System.out.println(">>> Methods from the proxy object:");
proxified.method1();
proxified.method2();
proxified.method3();
}
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public static <T> T createProxy(T obj) {
Enhancer e = new Enhancer();
e.setSuperclass(obj.getClass());
e.setCallback(new MyInterceptor(obj));
T proxifiedObj = (T) e.create();
return proxifiedObj;
}
}
>>> Methods from the unwrapped object:
This is method 1 - MyClass#e26db62
This is method 2 - MyClass#e26db62
This is method 3 - MyClass#e26db62
>>> Methods from the wrapped object:
This is method 1 - WrapperClass#7b7035c6
This is overridden method 2 - MyClass#e26db62
This is method 3 - WrapperClass#7b7035c6
>>> Methods from the proxy object:
This is method 1 - MyClass#e26db62
This is overridden method 2 - MyClass#e26db62
This is method 3 - MyClass#e26db62
As you can see, when you run the methods on wrapped you get the wrapper for the methods that are not overridden (i.e. method1() and method3()). When you run the methods on proxified, however, all of the methods are run on the wrapped object without the pain of having to delegate them all in WrapperClass or put all of the method signatures in an interface. Thanks to #CoronA and #Mark-Bramnik for what seems like a pretty cool solution to this problem.

Check the #Delegate annotation from Lombok framework:
https://projectlombok.org/features/Delegate.html

Switch to Groovy :-)
#CompileStatic
public class WrapperClass extends MyClass {
#Delegate private final MyClass delegate;
public WrapperClass(MyClass delegate) {
this.delagate = delegate;
}
//Done. That's it.
}
http://mrhaki.blogspot.com/2009/08/groovy-goodness-delegate-to-simplify.html

You don't have to do this -- your Wrapper class is a subclass of the original class, so it inherits all of its publicly accessible methods -- and if you don't implement them, the original method will be called.
You shouldn't have extends Myclass together with a private MyClass object -- that's really really redundant, and I can't think of a design pattern where doing that is right. Your WrapperClass is a MyClass, and hence you can just use its own fields and methods instead of calling delegate.
EDIT: In the case of MyClass being final, you'd be circumventing the willfull declaration to not allow subclassing by "faking" inheritance; I can't think of anyone willing to do that other than you, who is in control of WrapperClass; but, since you're in control of WrapperClass, not wrapping everything you don't need is really more than an option -- it's the right thing to do, because your object is not a MyClass, and should only behave like one in the cases you mentally considered.
EDIT you've just changed your question to mean something completely different by removing the MyClass superclass to your WrapperClass; that's a bit bad, because it invalidates all answers given so far. You should have opened another question.

Credits go to CoronA for Pointing out the Proxy and InvocationHandler classes. I worked out a more reusable utility class based on his solution, using generics:
public class DelegationUtils {
public static <I> I wrap(Class<I> iface, I wrapped) {
return wrapInternally(iface, wrapped, new SimpleDecorator(wrapped));
}
private static <I> I wrapInternally (Class<I> iface, I wrapped, InvocationHandler handler) {
return (I) Proxy.newProxyInstance(wrapped.getClass().getClassLoader(), new Class[] { iface }, handler);
}
private static class SimpleDecorator<T> implements InvocationHandler {
private final T delegate;
private SimpleDecorator(T delegate) {
this.delegate = delegate;
}
#Override
public Object invoke(Object proxy, Method method, Object[] args) throws Throwable {
Method m = findMethod(delegate.getClass(), method);
if (m == null) {
throw new NullPointerException("Found no method " + method + " in delegate: " + delegate);
}
return m.invoke(delegate, args);
}
}
private static Method findMethod(Class<?> clazz, Method method) throws Throwable {
try {
return clazz.getDeclaredMethod(method.getName(), method.getParameterTypes());
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
return null;
}
}
}
Test it:
public class Test {
public interface Test {
public void sayHello ();
}
public static class TestImpl implements Test {
#Override
public void sayHello() {
System.out.println("HELLO!");
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Test proxy = DelegationUtils.wrap(Test.class, new TestImpl());
proxy.sayHello();
}
}
I wanted to create an automatic delegation class that executes the delegatee's methods on the EDT. With this class, you just create a new utility method that will use an EDTDecorator, in which the implementation will wrap m.invoke in a SwingUtilities.invokeLater.
However, if I reflect on this, I may want to reconsider making a non-Reflection based proxy per interface that I have - it might be cleaner and faster, and more understandable. But, it's possible.

Define a method in WrapperClass i.e. delegate() that returns the instance of MyClass
OR
You can use reflection to do that but the caller has to pass the method name as an argument to an exposed method. And there will be complications regarding the method arguments/overloaded methods etc.
BTW: I can not use inheritance because the delegate is not under my control.I just get its instance from elsewhere (another case would be if MyClass was final)
The code that you have posted has public class WrapperClass extends MyClass
Actually your current implementation of WrapperClass is actually a decorator on top of MyClass

Let me redefine the problem for a specific case.
I want to override the close method of ResultSet interface in jdbc. My aim is to close the preparedstatement in close method of result set. I could not access to the Class (DelegatingResultSet) that implements in ResultSet interface. There are a lot of methods in ResultSet interface and overriding them one by one and calling the corresponding method from the ResultSet object is one solution. For a dynamic solution I used Dynamic ProxyClasses (https://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/reflection/proxy.html).
// New ResultSet implementation
public class MyResultSet implements InvocationHandler {
ResultSet rs;
PreparedStatement ps;
private Method closeMethod;
public MyResultSet(ResultSet rs, PreparedStatement ps) {
super();
this.rs = rs;
this.ps = ps;
try {
closeMethod = ResultSet.class.getMethod("close",null);
} catch (NoSuchMethodException | SecurityException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void close() {
try {
rs.close();
ps.close();
} catch (SQLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static Object newInstance(ResultSet rs, PreparedStatement ps) {
return java.lang.reflect.Proxy.newProxyInstance(rs.getClass().getClassLoader(), rs.getClass().getInterfaces(),
new MyResultSet(rs,ps));
}
public Object invoke(Object proxy, Method m, Object[] args)
throws Throwable {
Object result = null;
try {
Class declaringClass = m.getDeclaringClass();
if (m.getName().compareTo("close")==0) {
close();
} else {
result = m.invoke(rs, args);
}
} catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
throw e.getTargetException();
} catch (Exception e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e.getMessage());
} finally {
}
return result;
}
}
// How to call it:
ResultSet prs = (ResultSet) MyResultSet.newInstance(rs,ps);

I really appreciated #CoronA's answer. I also looked at #Mark Cramer's answer, but, if I'm not missing something, I think that there are always at least two instances of the "proxified" class with a strange relationship beteen the two objects.
This, along with the fact that cglib is now deprecated, pushed me to find a new implementation based on ByteBuddy.
This is what I came up with:
public class MyClass {
public String testMethod() {
return "11111";
}
public String testMethod2() {
return "aaaaa";
}
}
public class MyClassWithDelegate extends MyClass {
private static final Constructor<? extends MyClassWithDelegate> CONSTRUCTOR_WITH_DELEGATE;
static {
Constructor<? extends MyClassWithDelegate> temp = null;
try {
final var instrumentedMyClassWithDelegateType =
new ByteBuddy()
.subclass(MyClassWithDelegate.class)
.method(ElementMatchers.any())
.intercept(MethodDelegation.to(MethodInterceptor.class))
.make()
.load(MyClassWithDelegate.class.getClassLoader())
.getLoaded();
temp = instrumentedMyClassWithDelegateType.getConstructor(MyClass.class);
} catch (final Exception e) {
LOGGER.error("Cannot instrument class {}", MyClassWithDelegate.class, e);
}
CONSTRUCTOR_WITH_DELEGATE = temp;
}
public static MyClassWithDelegate getInstanceWithDelegate(final MyClass myClass) {
try {
return CONSTRUCTOR_WITH_DELEGATE.newInstance(myClass);
} catch (final Exception e) {
LOGGER.error("Cannot get instance of {}", MyClassWithDelegate.class, e);
throw new IllegalStateException();
}
}
private final boolean initialized;
private final MyClass delegate;
public MyClassWithDelegate(final MyClass delegate) {
super();
this.delegate = delegate;
this.initialized = true;
}
public String testMethod() {
return "22222";
}
public static class MethodInterceptor {
#RuntimeType
public static Object intercept(#This final MyClassWithDelegate self,
#Origin final Method method,
#AllArguments final Object[] args,
#SuperMethod final Method superMethod) throws Throwable {
if (!self.initialized || method.getDeclaringClass().equals(MyClassWithDelegate.class)) {
return superMethod.invoke(self, args);
} else {
return method.invoke(self.delegate, args);
}
}
}
}
The initialized field is used to prevent method calls the super constructor from being redirected to the delegate before its assignment (in this case it wouldn't be a problem, but I wanted to create a generic solution).
Every method called on an instance of MyClassWithDelegate will be redirected to the delegate, except from methods declared inside MyClassWithDelegate itself.
In this example, calling testMethod() on an instance of MyClassWithDelegate will return "22222", while testMethod2() will return "aaaaa".
Obviously, the delegation will actually work only if every instance of MyClassWithDelegate is obtained calling the getInstanceWithDelegate factory method.

Use actual type of the class when using inheritance

Let's say we have a class with the following method:
public class Entry {
private String name;
public static Entry getOrCreate(String name) {
// ...
return new Entry(name);
}
}
This class may be subclassed (e.g. SubEntry), and the logic behind "getOrCreate" does not change. But the subclasses should not return a new object of the type Entry, but of the type of the respective subclass (e.g. return SubEntry(name))
How can I realize this without reimplementing the method getOrCreate for every subclass of Entry? Is there a term for this kind of technique?

Subclassing Entry does not affect the getOrCreate method because static methods are not part of a class instance; they do not logically belong in any class.
If you instead move getOrCreate into a non-static Factory class, you can use some Generics magic to determine the returned type:
public class Entry {
private String name;
}
abstract class AbstractEntryFactory<T extends Entry>
public abstract T getOrCreate(String name);
}
public class EntryFactory extends AbstractEntryFactory<Entry>
#Override
public Entry getOrCreate(String name) {
// ...
return new Entry(name);
}
}
public class SubEntryFactory extends AbstractEntryFactory<SubEntry>
#Override
public SubEntry getOrCreate(String name) {
// ...
return new SubEntry(name);
}
}
Actually calling the getOrCreate would look different from what it would look like with your code. Instead of this:
Entry myEntry = Entry.getOrCreate("my name");
It would instead look like this:
Entry myEntry = new EntryFactory().getOrCreate("my name");
Or this:
SubEntry myEntry = new SubEntryFactory().getOrCreate("my name");

Assuming you wanted to be able to call Entry.getOrCreate() to create a type of SubEntry, you'll have to pass along some extra information. The reason is that the getOrCreate() method is not inherited by SubEntry, since it is a static method. So if you want to call it the way I mentioned, you'll have to pass along the class name that you want to create. In the code below there are no checks to validate that Class clazz is an Entry or a subtype, but this gives you a start.
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
public class TestClass {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Entry entry = (Entry)Entry.getOrCreate("entry", Entry.class);
SubEntry subEntry = (SubEntry)SubEntry.getOrCreate("subEntry", SubEntry.class);
System.out.println("entry class: " + entry.getClass().getName());
System.out.println("subEntry class: " + subEntry.getClass().getName());
}
}
class Entry {
private String name;
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public static Object getOrCreate(String name, Class clazz) {
// If a constructor is created that takes a String, such as "public Entry(String name)",
// then each sub class will need to implement that method. Instead I used a getter and
// setter for the name attribute.
try {
Entry entry = (Entry)clazz.newInstance();
entry.setName(name);
return entry;
}
catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
}
class SubEntry extends Entry {
}
The end result is this output:
entry class: Entry
subEntry class: SubEntry

There are two questions you are asking:
How do I do this?
What is this technique called?
The second one is much more important than the first.
It seems to me like what you are trying to achieve is similar to the concept of cloning (link) or virtual constructor. But you would like this to be a static method, which raises the question as to why? Since a static method is tied to a certain class, not an instance, you should call it through that class in which case you may just as well explicitly be calling new. But having searched for "retrive class in static context" I would say it is not possible to do exactly what you wrote in the question.
If you convert the static method to a normal method, this can be done by using reflection:
class Entry {
private String name;
public Entry(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public Entry() {
this.name = null;
}
public Entry getOrCreate(String name) {
try {
return getClass().getConstructor(String.class).newInstance(name);
} catch (Exception e) {
return new Entry(name);
}
}
}
class BetterEntry extends Entry {
public BetterEntry(String name) {
super(name);
}
public BetterEntry() {
super();
}
}
You would then be calling the function from an instance, like so:
Entry a = new Entry().getOrCreate("First");
Entry b = new BetterEntry().getOrCreate("Second");
Entry c = b.getOrCreate("Third");
The dynamic types of a, b, c are Entry, BetterEntry and BetterEntry. You could leave out the default constructors, but I added them to make calling getOrCreate feel more like a static method.
If you really want the method to be static, the simplest way would be to just reimplement this function in every subclass.

Java How do you declare a generic parameter to be any interface

I'm trying to learn some reflection in Java and I've run into a snag. Essentially I'm trying to create a really generic event system. Yes I know there are already many out there but this is more of an exercise in learning than anything practical. Anyway, I keep getting the following error when I declare an Instance of EventSource<PersonnameChangeListener, PersonNameChangeEvent>
error: type argument PersonNameChangeListener is not within bounds of type-variable ListenerT
private EventSource<PersonNameChangeListener,
where ListenerT is a type-variable:
ListenerT extends Class declared in class EventSource
So My question is, "How do I declare that I want a generic parameter to be any interface?"
Thank you in advance,
Jec
public interface PersonNameChangeListener extends EventListener
{
public void nameChangeOccured(PersonNameChangeEvent event);
}
public class PersonNameChangeEvent extends EventObject
{
private String m_OldName;
private String m_NewName;
public PersonNameChangeEvent(Object source,
String oldName,
String newName)
{
super(source);
m_OldName = oldName;
m_NewName = newName;
}
public String getOldName()
{
return m_OldName;
}
public String getNewName()
{
return m_NewName;
}
}
public class EventSource<ListenerT extends Class, EventT>
{
List<ListenerT> m_ListenerList;
public EventSource()
{
m_ListenerList = new ArrayList<>();
}
public void addNameChangeListener(ListenerT listener)
{
m_ListenerList.add(listener);
}
public void removeNameChangeListener(ListenerT listener)
{
m_ListenerList.remove(listener);
}
private void fireNameChangedEvent(EventT event) throws IllegalAccessException,
InvocationTargetException
{
for (ListenerT listener : m_ListenerList)
{
Method[] methods = listener.getDeclaredMethods();
for (Method method : methods)
{
Class<?>[] parameterTypes = method.getParameterTypes();
final int parameterCount = method.getParameterCount();
if (parameterCount == 1
&& parameterTypes[1].getTypeName().compareTo(event.getClass().getTypeName()) == 0)
{
try
{
method.invoke(this, event);
}
catch (IllegalAccessException | InvocationTargetException e)
{
throw e;
}
break;
}
}
}
}
}

There's really no value in declaring ListenerT to be a generic type parameter if you're going to have to reflect on it anyway to get the methods you need. I would remove the type parameter entirely and just use Object.
Important note: Doing it this way only makes sense for learning the reflection API, not for doing this in production. I realize you said that, but I wanted to reemphasize the point.

How to group classes that do not share the same interface and are not modifyable?

I have several legacy classes that have no common interface nor superclass, though have the same methods. Most of these methods are protected.
Anyhow, I'd like to write a service that executes always the same routine on these classes, and thus call always the same methods, no matter what class it is.
Normally I'd give these classes a common interface, but I cannot modify the legacy classes, though I have to work with them.
Is there any chance to group them? Maybe a designpattern I'm not aware of?
class classA {
protected String getData() {
return "I'm class A";
}
}
class classB {
protected String getData() {
return "I'm class B";
}
}
class MyGeneralService {
void execute(<ClassA or B> clazz) {
//do something
clazz.getData();
//do something
//call another methods that are common to both classes
}
}

This sounds like exactly the kind of problem the Adapter Pattern is designed to solve.
Essentially, wrap each of your legacy classes with an associated adapter class, which does implement a common interface. The adapter class should simply forward method calls as appropriate.
Note: The fact that the methods you want to call from the outside world are protected is curious. The adapter pattern will not help you call methods you were previously unable to call (other than via reflection, of course).

I suggest to use decorator pattern. If You create decorator class using the same name of package then You will have access to protected method

If the object can only be class A or B, then why not:
if (clazz instanceof A) {
((A)clazz).getData();
} else {
((B)clazz).getData();
}
Or create wrappers for A and B that implement a common interface as asuggested ijn the comments.
Otherwise you could use reflection:
void execute(Object obj) {
//do something
try {
Method method = obj.getClass().getMethod("getData");
method.setAccessible(true);
String value = (String) method.invoke(obj);
//do something
//call another methods that are common to both classes
} catch (NoSuchMethodException nsmx) {
// object does not have the method
}
}

Something like this should work:
class ClassA {
protected String getData() {
return "I'm class A";
}
}
class ClassB {
protected String getData() {
return "I'm class B";
}
}
class ClassC {
public String getData() {
return "I'm class C";
}
}
interface HasData {
public String getData();
}
class DataA extends ClassA implements HasData {
#Override
public String getData() {
return super.getData();
}
}
class DataB extends ClassB implements HasData {
#Override
public String getData() {
return super.getData();
}
}
class DataC extends ClassC implements HasData {
// No need to redefine it if it is already public.
}
class MyGeneralService {
public <C extends HasData> void execute(C c) {
c.getData();
}
}

We Keep Coding

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995.

Casting a Object into Reflected Class and Method - java

The first glance flaw I see is that you don't assign the c.cast(it.next()); to new variable.

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Java How do you declare a generic parameter to be any interface

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