Can you set a multi-object array and call a method from it?

Question

To be exact, I'm curious as to whether an Object[] array is capable of storing and accessing other objects' methods. Here's a little example of what I'm trying to achieve.

//declare an array of *different* objects
private static Object[] function = {new Object1(),
                                    new Object2()}; 
//calls method(getNumber) from Object1()
function[0].getNumber();

Since I already found out that you can stack same objects into an array, I want to figure out if its possible to do so with different methods without using ArrayList. Just curious, so if you think there isn't a way to do this just tell me so, thanks :)

Answer 1

I am not sure what you are asking, but you should cast before calling a method on the plain object. Instead of this:

function[0].getNumber();

You should do something like this:

((MyType) function[0]).getNumber();

Answer 2

If the methods you want to call are the same for all the objects and you control their classes, you should extract the methods to a interface, and let the classes implement it.

This way you could have a CommonInterface[] array...

public CommonInterface { Number getNumber(); }

CommonInterface[] function = { new Object1(), new Object2() };
function[1].getNumber()