Question

I am trying to pass a method in as a parameter to a method in another class. The method is defined in the first class and the other class’s method is static. Seeing it will make it easier to understand:

Setup

public class MyClass extends ParentClass {
    public MyClass() {
        super(new ClickHandler() {
            public void onClick(ClickEvent event) {
                try {
                    OtherClass.responseMethod(MyClass.class.getMethod("myMethod",Boolean.class));
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        });
    }

    public void myMethod(Boolean success) {
        if(success.booleanValue()) {
            //do stuff
        }
    }
}

When I try to build, though, I get the following error:

Error

The method getMethod(String, Class<boolean>) is undefined for the type Class<MyClass>

The problem isn’t that it’s not finding myMethod, it’s not finding Class<MyClass>.getMethod and I don’t know why.

Update

We’ve reworked this part of the code and are not using ‘getMethodorgetDeclaredMethod`. Since npe found a couple of problems with what I was doing plus put a lot of effort into finding the answer, I’m accepting that answer.

Answer 1

Update 2

The compile-time error suggests, that you are using Java 1.4 to compile the class.
Now, in Java 1.4, it was illegal to define array parameters as Type..., you had to define them as Type[], and this is the way the getMethod is defined for the Class:

Method getMethod(String name, Class[] parameterTypes)

Because of that, you cannot use the simplified 1.5 syntax and write:

MyClass.class.getMethod("myMethod",boolean.class));

what you need to do is:

MyClass.class.getMethod("myMethod",new Class[] {boolean.class}));

Update 1

The code you posted, does not compile because of another reason:

super(new ClickHandler() {

    // This is anonymous class body 
    // You cannot place code directly here. Embed it in anonymous block, 
    // or a method.

    try {
        OtherClass.responseMethod(
            MyClass.class.getMethod("myMethod",boolean.class));
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
});

What you should do is create a ClickHander constructor that accepts a Method, like this

public ClickHandler(Method method) {

    try {
        OtherClass.responseMethod(method);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

}

and then, in MyClass constructor invoke it like this:

public MyClass() {
    super(new ClickHandler(MyClass.class.getMethod("myMethod",boolean.class)));
}

Original answer

More to this, from the JavaDoc of Class#getMethod(String, Class...)

Returns a Method object that reflects the specified public member method of the class or interface represented by this Class object.

And your method is private, not public.

If you want to get access to private methods, you should rather use Class#getDeclaredMethod(String, Class...) and make it accessible by calling setAccessible(true).