Create instance of generic type in Java?

Question

Is it possible to create an instance of a generic type in Java? I\'m thinking based on what I\'ve seen that the answer is no (due to type erasure), but

Answer 1

You are correct. You can't do new E(). But you can change it to

private static class SomeContainer<E> {
    E createContents(Class<E> clazz) {
        return clazz.newInstance();
    }
}

It's a pain. But it works. Wrapping it in the factory pattern makes it a little more tolerable.

Answer 2

You can do this now and it doesn't require a bunch of reflection code.

import com.google.common.reflect.TypeToken;

public class Q26289147
{
    public static void main(final String[] args) throws IllegalAccessException, InstantiationException
    {
        final StrawManParameterizedClass<String> smpc = new StrawManParameterizedClass<String>() {};
        final String string = (String) smpc.type.getRawType().newInstance();
        System.out.format("string = \"%s\"",string);
    }

    static abstract class StrawManParameterizedClass<T>
    {
        final TypeToken<T> type = new TypeToken<T>(getClass()) {};
    }
}

Of course if you need to call the constructor that will require some reflection, but that is very well documented, this trick isn't!

Here is the JavaDoc for TypeToken.

Answer 3

package org.foo.com;

import java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedType;
import java.lang.reflect.Type;

/**
 * Basically the same answer as noah's.
 */
public class Home<E>
{

    @SuppressWarnings ("unchecked")
    public Class<E> getTypeParameterClass()
    {
        Type type = getClass().getGenericSuperclass();
        ParameterizedType paramType = (ParameterizedType) type;
        return (Class<E>) paramType.getActualTypeArguments()[0];
    }

    private static class StringHome extends Home<String>
    {
    }

    private static class StringBuilderHome extends Home<StringBuilder>
    {
    }

    private static class StringBufferHome extends Home<StringBuffer>
    {
    }   

    /**
     * This prints "String", "StringBuilder" and "StringBuffer"
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) throws InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException
    {
        Object object0 = new StringHome().getTypeParameterClass().newInstance();
        Object object1 = new StringBuilderHome().getTypeParameterClass().newInstance();
        Object object2 = new StringBufferHome().getTypeParameterClass().newInstance();
        System.out.println(object0.getClass().getSimpleName());
        System.out.println(object1.getClass().getSimpleName());
        System.out.println(object2.getClass().getSimpleName());
    }

}