Get “Class” object from generic type T

Question

I want to make generic function that return Object representation of XML document (using JAXB). I need to pass \"class\" object to JAXBContext constructor, but how I can get it

Answer 1

Take a look at this SO answer.

Basically, the type T isn't available at runtime - Java generics are subject to erasure by the compiler.

Fortunately you already have an instance of your class, so you can get the type information from there:

public  readXmlToObject(String xmlFileName, T jaxbClass) {

   // if jaxbClass is an instance of the data object, you can do this: 
   JAXBContext context = JAXBContext.newInstance(jaxbClass.getClass());

   // alternatively if jaxbClass is an instance of the Class object: 
   JAXBContext context = JAXBContext.newInstance(jaxbClass);
   // ......
}