Can I access new methods in anonymous inner class with some syntax?

Question

Is there any Java syntax to access new methods defined within anonymous inner classes from outer class? I know there can be various workarounds, but I wonder if a special sy

Answer 1

A student in my class asked our professor if this could be done the other day. Here is what I wrote as a cool proof of concept that it CAN be done, although not worth it, it is actually possible and here is how:

public static void main(String[] args){

    //anonymous inner class with method defined inside which
    //does not override anything
    Object o = new Object()
    {
        public int test = 5;
        public void sayHello()
        {
            System.out.println("Hello World");
        }
    };

    //o.sayHello();//Does not work

    try 
    {
        Method m = o.getClass().getMethod("sayHello");
        Field f = o.getClass().getField("test");
        System.out.println(f.getInt(o));
        m.invoke(o);
    } catch (Exception e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

By making use of Java's Method class we can invoke a method by passing in the string value and parameters of the method. Same thing can be done with fields.

Just thought it would be cool to share this!