How can I determine the type of a generic field in Java?

Question

I have been trying to determine the type of a field in a class. I\'ve seen all the introspection methods but haven\'t quite figured out how to do it. This is going to be use

Answer 1

I haven't found any framework who determines a generic field type through the inheritance layers so i've written some method:

This logic determines the type through the field information and the current object class.

Listing 1 - logic:

public static Class determineType(Field field, Object object) {
    Class type = object.getClass();
    return (Class) getType(type, field).type;
}

protected static class TypeInfo {
    Type type;
    Type name;

    public TypeInfo(Type type, Type name) {
        this.type = type;
        this.name = name;
    }

}

private static TypeInfo getType(Class clazz, Field field) {
    TypeInfo type = new TypeInfo(null, null);
    if (field.getGenericType() instanceof TypeVariable) {
        TypeVariable genericTyp = (TypeVariable) field.getGenericType();
        Class superClazz = clazz.getSuperclass();

        if (clazz.getGenericSuperclass() instanceof ParameterizedType) {
            ParameterizedType paramType = (ParameterizedType) clazz.getGenericSuperclass();
            TypeVariable[] superTypeParameters = superClazz.getTypeParameters();
            if (!Object.class.equals(paramType)) {
                if (field.getDeclaringClass().equals(superClazz)) {
                    // this is the root class an starting point for this search
                    type.name = genericTyp;
                    type.type = null;
                } else {
                    type = getType(superClazz, field);
                }
            }
            if (type.type == null || type.type instanceof TypeVariable) {
                // lookup if type is not found or type needs a lookup in current concrete class
                for (int j = 0; j < superClazz.getTypeParameters().length; ++j) {
                    TypeVariable superTypeParam = superTypeParameters[j];
                    if (type.name.equals(superTypeParam)) {
                        type.type = paramType.getActualTypeArguments()[j];
                        Type[] typeParameters = clazz.getTypeParameters();
                        if (typeParameters.length > 0) {
                            for (Type typeParam : typeParameters) {
                                TypeVariable objectOfComparison = superTypeParam;
                                if(type.type instanceof TypeVariable) {
                                    objectOfComparison = (TypeVariable)type.type;
                                }
                                if (objectOfComparison.getName().equals(((TypeVariable) typeParam).getName())) {
                                    type.name = typeParam;
                                    break;
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } else {
        type.type = field.getGenericType();
    }

    return type;
}

Listing 2 - Samples / Tests:

class GenericSuperClass {
    T t;
    E e;
    A a;
    BigDecimal b;
}

class GenericDefinition extends GenericSuperClass {

}

@Test
public void testSimpleInheritanceTypeDetermination() {
    GenericDefinition gd = new GenericDefinition();
    Field field = ReflectionUtils.getField(gd, "t");
    Class clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, gd);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Integer.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(gd, "b");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, gd);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, BigDecimal.class);
}

class MiddleClass extends GenericSuperClass { }

// T = Integer, E = String, A = Double
class SimpleTopClass extends MiddleClass { }

@Test
public void testSimple2StageInheritanceTypeDetermination() {
    SimpleTopClass stc = new SimpleTopClass();
    Field field = ReflectionUtils.getField(stc, "t");
    Class clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, stc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Integer.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(stc, "e");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, stc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, String.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(stc, "a");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, stc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Double.class);
}

class TopMiddleClass extends MiddleClass { }

// T = Integer, E = Double, A = Float
class ComplexTopClass extends TopMiddleClass {}

@Test void testComplexInheritanceTypDetermination() {
    ComplexTopClass ctc = new ComplexTopClass();
    Field field = ReflectionUtils.getField(ctc, "t");
    Class clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, ctc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Integer.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(ctc, "e");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, ctc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Double.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(ctc, "a");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, ctc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Float.class);
}

class ConfusingClass extends MiddleClass {}
// T = Integer, E = Double, A = Float ; this class should map between a and e
class TopConfusingClass extends ConfusingClass {}

@Test
public void testConfusingNamingConvetionWithInheritance() {
    TopConfusingClass tcc = new TopConfusingClass();
    Field field = ReflectionUtils.getField(tcc, "t");
    Class clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, tcc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Integer.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(tcc, "e");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, tcc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Double.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(tcc, "a");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, tcc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Float.class);
    field = ReflectionUtils.getField(tcc, "b");
    clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, tcc);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, BigDecimal.class);
}

class Pojo {
    Byte z;
}

@Test
public void testPojoDetermineType() {
    Pojo pojo = new Pojo();
    Field field = ReflectionUtils.getField(pojo, "z");
    Class clazz = ReflectionUtils.determineType(field, pojo);
    Assert.assertEquals(clazz, Byte.class);
}

I'm looking forward to hear your feedback!