Static method from superclass called on subclass

Question

I need to call a superclass static method on a subclass and be aware that it was called on a subclass. The following code shows the use case, please notice the method invocation on a subclass B.importantMethod() and the place where I need to know that it was called on subclass: //would like to get B here .

class A {
    public static void importantMethod() {
        System.out.println("???"); //would like to get B here
    }
}

class B extends A {
    //no implementation, just inheritance
}

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        B.importantMethod();
    }
}

Any possible way of achieving this will be good for me. My tries ended up with nothing, I always get A , not B .

Answer 1

This is just not possible. Static methods always belong to the class that defines them. importantMethod is a method of class A .

Answer 2

static methods are class methods and thus belong to that class; there is no way to do what you want. For a further explanation, see this topic . If you provide more information about the problem you are trying address this way, may be we can help you find an alternative solution.