Hi,
I have a little problem with Java (being a C++ programmer).
I have 2 related classes:
public class Patient() {
...
}
public class PatientPersistent extends Patient {
...
public void foo() {
System.out.println(super.getClass().toString());
}
}
This will output:
class org.example.smartgwt.server.model.PatientPersistent
Is there a way to get the parent class type? i.e.
class org.example.smartgwt.server.model.Patient.
This will allow me to generalize some methods which I need to implement in each child which is awful.
Thanks!
UPDATE
I'm using Dozer to convert my domain Hibernate object to a Serializable version. I don't want the client to know of this, so the client only sees the Patient class. On the server side I perform conversions.
public class DataObject<Type> {
private static final Class<Object> DstType = Type;
public Object convert(Object srcData, final BeanFactory factory) {
Mapper mapper = (Mapper)factory.getBean("dozerMapper");
return (Object)mapper.map(srcData, DstType);
}
}
public class Patient() implements Serializable {
public Set foo;
}
public class PatientPersistent extends Patient {
public org.hibernate.collection.PersistentSet foo;
DataObject<Patient> converter = new DataObject<Patient>;
public Patient convertToSerializable(final BeanFactory factory) {
return (Patient)converter.convert(this, factory);
}
}
public class main() {
// This object is not serializable so I cannot send it to the client
PatientPersistent serializableBar = new PatientPersistent();
// Using Dozer to copy the data PatientPersistent -> Patient
// This will load the Dozer spring bean and copy as mapped
Patient copiedSerializableData = serializableBar.convertToPersistent(bar, factory);
}
I know this code does not work, but it's just to make my point. I would like to be able to convert the object to it's serializable form so that I can send it back to the client. That's why I would like to give the parent's type. Calling the mapper will always be the same thing, a source object and a Dest.class.
Maybe I'm just too confused with java.
Thanks