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(); }

}

Answer 2

You should be able to just extend the inner class with Thing extends A.Thing. As long as it's visible in your scope it shouldn't be a problem.

Answer 3

I think you need a factory method for this. Consider the following example (derived from your snippet):

static class A {
    static class Thing {
        public int value() {
            return 10 + value2();
        }
        public int value2() {
            return 10;
        }
    }
    protected Thing createThing() {
        return new Thing();
    }
    public String toString() {
        return Integer.toString(createThing().value());
    }
}

static class B extends A {
    static class Thing extends A.Thing {
        public int value2() {
            return 20; 
        }
    }
    @Override
    protected Thing createThing() {
        return new Thing(); // creates B.Thing
    }
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println(new B());
}

Output:

30