Question

I have a parameterized class. I would like to get the name of the class represented by the class name. For instance, what I want to do is this:

public T foo(){
    System.out.println(T.class.getName());
}

Answer 1

Java generics don’t work that way. If you have any bounds on T, you can access the bounds by querying the type variable definition. E.g.:

public class Foo<T extends Bar>{}

will let you get at Bar, but not at the subtype of Bar you are actually using. It doesn’t work, sorry.

Read the Java Generics FAQ for more info.

BTW: One common solution to this problem is to pass the subtype of T into your class, e.g.

public T foo(Class<? extends T> tType){
    System.out.println(tType.getName());
}

I know it’s cumbersome, but it’s all Java generics allow.