Java class object from type variable

Question

Is there a way to get Class object from the type variable in Java generic class? Something like that:

public class Bar extends Foo<T> {
    public Class getParameterClass() {
        return T.class; // doesn't compile
    }
}

This type information is available at compile time and therefore should not be affected by type erasure, so, theoretically, there should be a way to accomplish this. Does it exist?

Answer 1

This works:

public static class Bar extends Foo<String> {
  public Class<?> getParameterClass() {
    return (Class<?>) (((ParameterizedType)Bar.class.getGenericSuperclass()).getActualTypeArguments()[0]);
  }
}

Answer 2

The code snippet is a bit confusing. Is T a type parameter or a class?

public static class Bar extends Foo<String> {
    public Class<?> getParameterClass() {
        return (Class<?>) (((ParameterizedType)Bar.class.getGenericSuperclass()).getActualTypeArguments()[0]);
    }
}

public static class Bar2<T> extends Foo<T> {
    public Class<?> getParameterClass() {
        return (Class<?>) (((ParameterizedType)Bar2.class.getGenericSuperclass()).getActualTypeArguments()[0]);
    }
}


public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println(new Bar().getParameterClass());
    System.out.println(new Bar2<Object>().getParameterClass());
}

Actually the second println will cause an exception.