Generic data type conversion method

Question

This question is in response to another question by opensas: building a generic initializer function in java

From his question it became clear that he needs to conve

Answer 1

Take a look at Variance, which allows you to set up a type conversion context with various converters registered and then move values into and out of a Variant type with type conversion handled by the context.

Variant aVariant = Variant.of("1.2345");
double aDouble = aVariant.doubleValue();

int anInt = Variant.of("12").intValue();
String aString = Variant.of(12.0).toString();
Date aDate = Variant.of("2012-04-06").as(Date.class);
String anIsoFormattedDate = Variant.of(aDate).in(isoDateFormattingContext).toString()

Converters are just Guava Functions from one type to another, and you can register your own, overriding existing conversions where desired.