Question

In Java I have two classes:

Class A
{
  public String ID;
  public Object Name;
}

Class B
{
  public String ID;
  public Object Name;
}

I want to have a method where I can pass it either a Class A or B object:

public void SomeMethod(???  arg)
{
  String id = arg.ID;
  Object name= arg.Name;
}

Is it possible to pass an object of either class A or B to this method? If so, how is the method’s signature written?

The only solution I can think of is to create an interface that both Class A and B implements containing get and set methods to set the fields ID and Name. Then the method’s signature would be a parameter whose type is the interface. I was hoping that maybe there is a simpler way, possibly with generics?

Answer 1

You don’t need generic types. Simple inheritance will do the job

abstract class Base {
  public String ID;
  public Object Name;
}

class A extends Base {
}

class B extends Base {
}

public void SomeMethod(Base arg)
{
  String id = arg.ID;
  Object name= arg.Name;
}