java.lang.reflect
Interface ParameterizedType

All Superinterfaces:
Type

public interface ParameterizedType
extends Type

Represents a type which is parameterized over one or more other types. For example, List<Integer> is a parameterized type, with List parameterized over the type Integer.

Instances of this classes are created as needed, during reflection. On creating a parameterized type, p, the GenericTypeDeclaration corresponding to p is created and resolved. Each type argument of p is then created recursively; details of this process are availble in the documentation of TypeVariable. This creation process only happens once; repetition has no effect.

Implementors of this interface must implement an appropriate equals() method. This method should equate any two instances of the implementing class that have the same GenericTypeDeclaration and Type parameters.

Since:
1.5
See Also:
GenericDeclaration, TypeVariable

Method Summary
 Type[] getActualTypeArguments()
           Returns an array of Type objects, which gives the parameters of this type.
 Type getOwnerType()
          Returns the type of which this type is a member.
 Type getRawType()
          Returns a version of this type without parameters, which corresponds to the class or interface which declared the type.
 

Method Detail

getActualTypeArguments

Type[] getActualTypeArguments()

Returns an array of Type objects, which gives the parameters of this type.

Note: the returned array may be empty. This occurs if the supposed ParameterizedType is simply a normal type wrapped inside a parameterized type.

Returns:
an array of Types, representing the arguments of this type.
Throws:
TypeNotPresentException - if any of the types referred to by the parameters of this type do not actually exist.
MalformedParameterizedTypeException - if any of the types refer to a type which can not be instantiated.

getOwnerType

Type getOwnerType()
Returns the type of which this type is a member. For example, in Top<String>.Bottom<Integer>, Bottom<Integer> is a member of Top<String>, and so the latter is returned by this method. Calling this method on top-level types (such as Top<String>) returns null.

Returns:
the type which owns this type.
Throws:
TypeNotPresentException - if the owner type referred to by this type do not actually exist.
MalformedParameterizedTypeException - if the owner type referred to by this type can not be instantiated.

getRawType

Type getRawType()
Returns a version of this type without parameters, which corresponds to the class or interface which declared the type. For example, the raw type corresponding to List<Double> is List, which was declared by the List class.

Returns:
the raw variant of this type (i.e. the type without parameters).