Abstract method with variable list of arguments

Question

I haven\'t quite found an elegant way to solve this issue. I have an abstract class that several other classes are inheriting with an abstract method that can contain anywhere f

Answer 1

What you want is the Value Object Pattern.

Define a class that encapsulates the various parameter types into one value object, and have the abstract method accept a parameter of this type. Each variation of parameters you were considering would have its own value class.

Then simply add a generic type to the class and have the abstract method accept a parameter of that type:

public abstract class Item {
    public abstract void use(V v);
}

To use it, suppose MyItem needs a value object of type MyValueClass:

public class MyItem extends Item {
    public void use(MyValueClass v) {
    }
}