Get field instance from abstract class

Question

Given, for example, a class like this:

public abstract class AbstractSomething {

    public static volatile SingularAttribute<Somefield, AnotherField> myAttribute;
}

how can I get an instance of myAttribute via reflection. There are no implementing classes for AbstractSomething .

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EDIT

No, we need an instance of the SingularAttribute<T, S> . And the reason we need to use reflection is becuase these classes are generated and passed into our method as a Class object. We have no way no know which AbstractSomething we are receiving. There are quite a few of them.

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EDIT 2

Found out what the issue was. When a Hibernate context is present in the application, the interfaces on the abstract class are replaced with their implementation counterparts when accessing them.

Answer 1

No big deal actually, you can do something like this:

Field field = AbstractSomething.class.getField("myAttribute")

And then you can access it by invoking field.get(null) and field.set(null, value)

The real question is WHY do you want to use reflection, but I guess you have your reasons.

EDIT:

If you have a Class instance in before hand (lets call it classInstance) then you can do

Field field = classInstance.getField("myAttribute")

to get the Field that reificates the field you are looking for... and if you want all fields just invoke the getFields method.

You don't really need a concrete implementation nor an instance of the reificated class in question in order to access the static fields.

Answer 2

No need for reflection. The field belongs to the class , and no matter how many subclasses there are, there is only one instance of the AbstractSomething class, so just:

SingularAttribute<Somefield, AnotherField> attr = AbstractSomething.myAttribute;