Generic type, cast to method,field

Question

i have this class

class GameLoaderClass<V> {

V classValue = null;

Class<?> aClass;

ClassType classType;

public GameLoaderClass(ClassType classType, Class<?> aClass) {
    this.classType = classType;
    this.aClass = aClass;
}

public V getClassType(String name) {
    if (this.classType == ClassType.FIELD) {
        return this.classValue = aClass.getDeclaredField(name);
    } else
        return this.classValue = aClass.getMethod(name);

}

But i get this following error..

Required type: C Provided: Method

any way to fix it?, thanks

Answer 1

I would be better to use return type Object instead of using generics.

public Member getClassType(String name) {
    if (this.classType == ClassType.FIELD) {
        return aClass.getDeclaredField(name);
    } 
    return aClass.getMethod(name);
}

And in the place where you call the method you could do

Member obj = loader.getClassType("someName");
if(o instance of Field) {
    Field f = (Field) obj;
    // do the rest
} else /* Assuming Field or Method are the possible types of returned objects */ {
    Method m = (Method) obj;
    // do the rest
}

EDIT: Based on @Onkar's comment, it would be better to return an object of type Member instead of Object as both Method and Field implement Member .