When should I use the java 5 method cast of Class?

Question

Looking through some code I came across the following code

trTuDocPackTypdBd.update(TrTuDocPackTypeDto.class.cast(packDto));

and I\'d like

Answer 1

I can't find an example where the cast method is possible and the cast syntax not. However, looking at the code, it seems that in case the cast is not possible, the cast method throws a ClassCastException with no type information attached, whereas the cast syntax will give you some hints (as in, "could not cast Snoopy to TyrannosorusRex") :

/**
 * Casts an object to the class or interface represented
 * by this Class object.
 *
 * @param obj the object to be cast
 * @return the object after casting, or null if obj is null
 *
 * @throws ClassCastException if the object is not
 * null and is not assignable to the type T.
 *
 * @since 1.5
 */
public T cast(Object obj) {
if (obj != null && !isInstance(obj))
    throw new ClassCastException();
return (T) obj;
}