Accessing class in static java method

Question

We have self registering subclasses of 'Handler' which we want to access through Subclass.me(). Is something similar to this possible in Java: ?

public class Handler{
static Vector<Handler> register=new Vector<Handler>();
public static Handler me() {
        return register.get( this.class);// TODO
}
}

public class SubClass extends Handler{
     SubClass(){register.add(this);}// OK
}

To clarify the question: Is it possible to retrieve the CLASS when calling a static java method? this.class obviously doesn't work, because 'this' is not available.

Answer 1

Static methods belong to the class. They cannot be overridden.

MyClass.myStaticMethod()

is the only correct way of accessing a static method.

Answer 2

In java, you cannot make a static reference to the non-static method/variable. So,

• If you want to access a non-static method / variable then you must create an instance of the class first.
• If you are going to access a static method / variable then you can access it directly through the class name without creating a instance.

Because, the static method and variable are belong to the Class not to the Instance while the non-static method and variable are belong to the Instance not to the Class.