How to override/extend an inner class from a subclass?

Question

I want to change how a method of a class executes without overriding the method, and only overriding (or ideally extending) the inner class. Assume that I cannot change the fact

Answer 1

It's not possible by only changing value2. The problem is that 'new' calls aren't dispatched dynamically - the 'new' in toString will always create A::Thing. You could fix this creating a factory : something like this:

public class A {
  static class Thing {
    public int value() { return 10+value2(); }
    public int value2() { return 10; }
  }

  private Thing makeThing() { return new Thing(); }


  public String toString() {
    Thing t = new Thing();
    return Integer.toString(t.value());
  }
}

public class B extends A {
  static class Thing extends A.Thing {
    public int value2() { return 20; }
  }

  private Thing makeThing() { return new Thing(); }

}