Question

Scenario:

• I have two classes named ListLayout and GridLayout which both implement CustomLayout.
• The user enters a String representing the layout they wish to use (“ListLayout” for example)

How can I create a ListLayout object based on the string entered by the user? I would need to be equivalent to just doing this:

CustomLayout layout = new ListLayout();

Ideally I would need to find a solution which would allow me to check if the String entered corresponds to a predefined class which implements CustomLayout before actually making the object (because it will throw an error if it doesn’t exist and I don’t check beforehand).

This is really getting me thinking…. thanks in advance for your help

Answer 1

Do something like this:

String userInput = //get user's input
while(!userInput.equalsIgnoreCase("ListLayout") && !userInput.equalsIgnoreCase("gridLayout")){
   System.out.println("Please enter a valid option");
   userInput = //get user's input again
}
CustomLayout layout;
if(userInput.equalsIgnoreCase("ListLayout")
   layout = new ListLayout();
else
   layout = new GridLayout();