Question

I have a Java method with the following signature:

public <T> List<HtmlOptionsComposite> convertToHtmlOptionsCompositeList     (List<? extends T> objects,       Class<T> clazz,       String getValueMethodName,       String getDescriptionMethodName,       String getDiscontinuedMethodName) { ... } 

The clazz parameter is required by the method to use reflection (clazz.getMethod(...)) on each of the given objects, but do I really need to pass it in as a parameter to the method? Is there any way I can refactor the code to work out what clazz should be automatically?

Answer 1

You could call getClass() on the first object in the list. That would give you a Class<? extends T> rather than Class<T> though – and in particular that means may will be some methods which are given which shouldn’t be (because they’re not methods on T itself).