How do I get a class instance of generic type T?

Question

I have a generics class, Foo. In a method of Foo, I want to get the class instance of type T, but I just can\'t call T.

Answer 1

Many poeple don't know this trick! Actually, I just found it today! It works like a dream! Just check this example out:

public static void main(String[] args) throws NoSuchMethodException {
    Date d=new Date();  //Or anything you want!
    printMethods(i);
}

public static <T> void printMethods(T t){
    Class<T> clazz= (Class<T>) t.getClass(); // There you go!
    for ( Method m : clazz.getMethods()){
        System.out.println( m.getName() );
    }
}

Answer 2

   public <T> T yourMethodSignature(Class<T> type) {

        // get some object and check the type match the given type
        Object result = ...            

        if (type.isAssignableFrom(result.getClass())) {
            return (T)result;
        } else {
            // handle the error
        }
   }

Answer 3

You can't do it because of type erasure. See also Stack Overflow question Java generics - type erasure - when and what happens.

Answer 4

If you are extending or implementing any class/interface that are using generics , you may get the Generic Type of parent class/interface, without modifying any existing class/interface at all.

There could be three possibilities,

Case 1 When your class is extending a class that is using Generics

public class TestGenerics {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Type type = TestMySuperGenericType.class.getGenericSuperclass();
        Type[] gTypes = ((ParameterizedType)type).getActualTypeArguments();
        for(Type gType : gTypes){
            System.out.println("Generic type:"+gType.toString());
        }
    }
}

class GenericClass<T> {
    public void print(T obj){};
}

class TestMySuperGenericType extends GenericClass<Integer> {
}

Case 2 When your class is implementing an interface that is using Generics

public class TestGenerics {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Type[] interfaces = TestMySuperGenericType.class.getGenericInterfaces();
        for(Type type : interfaces){
            Type[] gTypes = ((ParameterizedType)type).getActualTypeArguments();
            for(Type gType : gTypes){
                System.out.println("Generic type:"+gType.toString());
            }
        }
    }
}

interface GenericClass<T> {
    public void print(T obj);
}

class TestMySuperGenericType implements GenericClass<Integer> {
    public void print(Integer obj){}
}

Case 3 When your interface is extending an interface that is using Generics

public class TestGenerics {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Type[] interfaces = TestMySuperGenericType.class.getGenericInterfaces();
        for(Type type : interfaces){
            Type[] gTypes = ((ParameterizedType)type).getActualTypeArguments();
            for(Type gType : gTypes){
                System.out.println("Generic type:"+gType.toString());
            }
        }
    }
}

interface GenericClass<T> {
    public void print(T obj);
}

interface TestMySuperGenericType extends GenericClass<Integer> {
}

Answer 5

I have an (ugly but effective) solution for this problem, which I used recently:

import java.lang.reflect.TypeVariable;


public static <T> Class<T> getGenericClass()
{
    __<T> ins = new __<T>();
    TypeVariable<?>[] cls = ins.getClass().getTypeParameters(); 

    return (Class<T>)cls[0].getClass();
}

private final class __<T> // generic helper class which does only provide type information
{
    private __()
    {
    }
}

Answer 6

It's possible:

class Foo<T> {
  Class<T> clazz = (Class<T>) DAOUtil.getTypeArguments(Foo.class, this.getClass()).get(0);
}

You need two functions from hibernate-generic-dao/blob/master/dao/src/main/java/com/googlecode/genericdao/dao/DAOUtil.java.

For more explanations, see Reflecting generics.