Determining Class of an Object in Java

0 votes
Consider the following scenario:

Class B and class C extend class A. Now, we have an object of type B or C.

How can we determine the type of instance for the Object?
May 31, 2018 in Java by developer_1
• 3,320 points
1,641 views

2 answers to this question.

0 votes

There are many functions defined in Java Standard Library Packages through which you can determine the Instance type of an Object. Below mentioned is a summarized list of such functions:

// Method #1
if (obj instanceof C)
    ;

// Method #2
if (C.class.isInstance(obj))
    ;

// Method #3
if (C.class.isAssignableFrom(obj.getClass()))
    ;

// Method #4
try {
    C c = (C) obj;
    // No exception: obj is of type C or IT MIGHT BE NULL!
} catch (ClassCastException e) {
}

// Method #5
try {
    C c = C.class.cast(obj);
    // No exception: obj is of type C or IT MIGHT BE NULL!
} catch (ClassCastException e) {
}

Differences in null handling

There is a difference in null handling though:

  • In the first 2 methods expressions evaluate to false if obj is null (null is not instance of anything).
  • The 3rd method would throw a NullPointerException obviously.
  • The 4th and 5th methods on the contrary accept null because null can be cast to any type!

To remember: null is not an instance of any type but it can be cast to any type.

Notes

  • Class.getName() should not be used to perform an "is-instance-of" test becase if the object is not of type C but a subclass of it, it may have a completely different name and package (therefore class names will obviously not match) but it is still of type C.
  • For the same inheritance reason Class.isAssignableFrom() is not symmetric:
    obj.getClass().isAssignableFrom(C.class) would return false if the type of obj is a subclass of C.
answered May 31, 2018 by Rishabh
• 3,620 points
0 votes

You can use:

Object instance = new SomeClass();
instance.getClass().getName(); //will return the name (as String) (== "SomeClass")
instance.getClass(); //will return the SomeClass' Class object

HTH. But I think most of the time it is no good practice to use that for control flow or something similar...

answered Nov 26, 2018 by Sushmita
• 6,910 points

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