Question

In the code below, I don’t want to use instanceof to know the type of repository.
Is it the only way to get the type? Is it possible to know de type with the wildcard RepositoryVet<?>? This would save me doing lots of test.

public ArrayList<String> rechercherTabTailles(String sexe,String SI,RepositoryVet<?> repository) {
    ArrayList<String> tabTailles;
    repository.Open();
    repository.rechercherspin(sexe);
    if (SI.compareTo("US") ==  0) {
        if (repository instanceof ChaussureRepository) 
            tabTailles= ((ChaussureRepository) repository).taillesUS;
        if (repository instanceof ChemiseRepository) 
            tabTailles= ((ChemiseRepository) repository).taillesUS;
    }
}

To complete my question :
RepositoryVet is already an abstractClass defined like this :

public abstract class RepositoryVet implements IRepositoryVet {

public ArrayList<String> taillesEU;
public ArrayList<String> taillesUS;
public ArrayList<String> taillesUK;
public ArrayList<String> taillesIT;
public ArrayList<String> taillesJP;
public ArrayList<String> taillescm;
public ArrayList<String> taillesinch;

etc….
}

And “ChaussureRepository” is a class that extends RepositoryVet like this :

public class ChaussureRepository extends RepositoryVet {

public ArrayList<String> taillesEU;
public ArrayList<String> taillesUS;
public ArrayList<String> taillesUK;
public ArrayList<String> taillesIT;
public ArrayList<String> taillesJP;
public ArrayList<String> taillescm;
public ArrayList<String> taillesinch;

etc….

Answer 1

Well, you could use a property in the repository to represent the type, e.g. an enum.
You’d still need some tests though.

However, in your case, inheritance might be the better approach: create a common interface that provides a method List<String> getTaillesUS() (or maybe List<String> getTailles(TailesType tailesType) (where TailesType would be an enum with at least the value US).