Get type of a generic parameter in Java with reflection

Question

Is it possible to get the type of a generic parameter?

An example:

public final class Voodoo {
    public static void chill(List aListWithTy         


        

Answer 1

I've coded this for methods which expect to accept or return Iterable. Here is the code:

/**
 * Assuming the given method returns or takes an Iterable, this determines the type T.
 * T may or may not extend WindupVertexFrame.
 */
private static Class typeOfIterable(Method method, boolean setter)
{
    Type type;
    if (setter) {
        Type[] types = method.getGenericParameterTypes();
        // The first parameter to the method expected to be Iterable<...> .
        if (types.length == 0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Given method has 0 params: " + method);
        type = types[0];
    }
    else {
        type = method.getGenericReturnType();
    }

    // Now get the parametrized type of the generic.
    if (!(type instanceof ParameterizedType))
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Given method's 1st param type is not parametrized generic: " + method);
    ParameterizedType pType = (ParameterizedType) type;
    final Type[] actualArgs = pType.getActualTypeArguments();
    if (actualArgs.length == 0)
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Given method's 1st param type is not parametrized generic: " + method);

    Type t = actualArgs[0];
    if (t instanceof Class)
        return (Class) t;

    if (t instanceof TypeVariable){
        TypeVariable tv =  (TypeVariable) actualArgs[0];
        AnnotatedType[] annotatedBounds = tv.getAnnotatedBounds();///
        GenericDeclaration genericDeclaration = tv.getGenericDeclaration();///
        return (Class) tv.getAnnotatedBounds()[0].getType();
    }

    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown kind of type: " + t.getTypeName());
}