How to pass a type as a method parameter in Java

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In Java, how can you pass a type as a parameter (or declare as a variable)?

I don't want to pass an instance of the type but the type itself (eg. int, String, etc).

In C#, I can do this:

private void foo(Type t)
{
    if (t == typeof(String)) { ... }
    else if (t == typeof(int)) { ... }
}

private void bar()
{
    foo(typeof(String));
}

Is there a way in Java without passing an instance of type t?
Or do I have to use my own int constants or enum?
Or is there a better way?

Edit: Here is the requirement for foo:
Based on type t, it generates a different short, xml string.
The code in the if/else will be very small (one or two lines) and will use some private class variables.

java types
6 Answers

You could pass a Class<T> in.

private void foo(Class<?> cls) {
    if (cls == String.class) { ... }
    else if (cls == int.class) { ... }
}

private void bar() {
    foo(String.class);
}

Update: the OOP way depends on the functional requirement. Best bet would be an interface defining foo() and two concrete implementations implementing foo() and then just call foo() on the implementation you've at hand. Another way may be a Map<Class<?>, Action> which you could call by actions.get(cls). This is easily to be combined with an interface and concrete implementations: actions.get(cls).foo().

user_1578820

Oh, but that's ugly, non-object-oriented code. The moment you see "if/else" and "typeof", you should be thinking polymorphism. This is the wrong way to go. I think generics are your friend here.

How many types do you plan to deal with?

UPDATE:

If you're just talking about String and int, here's one way you might do it. Start with the interface XmlGenerator (enough with "foo"):

package generics;

public interface XmlGenerator<T>
{
   String getXml(T value);
}

And the concrete implementation XmlGeneratorImpl: 

    package generics;

public class XmlGeneratorImpl<T> implements XmlGenerator<T>
{
    private Class<T> valueType;
    private static final int DEFAULT_CAPACITY = 1024;

    public static void main(String [] args)
    {
        Integer x = 42;
        String y = "foobar";

        XmlGenerator<Integer> intXmlGenerator = new XmlGeneratorImpl<Integer>(Integer.class);
        XmlGenerator<String> stringXmlGenerator = new XmlGeneratorImpl<String>(String.class);

        System.out.println("integer: " + intXmlGenerator.getXml(x));
        System.out.println("string : " + stringXmlGenerator.getXml(y));
    }

    public XmlGeneratorImpl(Class<T> clazz)
    {
        this.valueType = clazz;
    }

    public String getXml(T value)
    {
        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(DEFAULT_CAPACITY);

        appendTag(builder);
        builder.append(value);
        appendTag(builder, false);

        return builder.toString();
    }

    private void appendTag(StringBuilder builder) { this.appendTag(builder, false); }

    private void appendTag(StringBuilder builder, boolean isClosing)
    {
        String valueTypeName = valueType.getName();
        builder.append("<").append(valueTypeName);
        if (isClosing)
        {
            builder.append("/");
        }
        builder.append(">");
    }
}

If I run this, I get the following result: 

integer: <java.lang.Integer>42<java.lang.Integer>
string : <java.lang.String>foobar<java.lang.String>

I don't know if this is what you had in mind.

user_372130

You should pass a Class...

private void foo(Class<?> t){
    if(t == String.class){ ... }
    else if(t == int.class){ ... }
}

private void bar()
{
   foo(String.class);
}
user_214410

If you want to pass the type, than the equivalent in Java would be 

java.lang.Class

If you want to use a weakly typed method, then you would simply use

java.lang.Object

and the corresponding operator

instanceof

e.g.

private void foo(Object o) {

  if(o instanceof String) {

  }

}//foo

However, in Java there are primitive types, which are not classes (i.e. int from your example), so you need to be careful.

The real question is what you actually want to achieve here, otherwise it is difficult to answer:

Or is there a better way?

user_2603290

You can pass an instance of java.lang.Class that represents the type, i.e.

private void foo(Class cls)
user_2574460
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