How to pass Class variable of generic type in Java?

Question

I have a function that expects class

someMethod(Class<T> c){}

which for a normal class it's easy, you can just do

someMethod(MyObject.class)

But for some reason this wont work

 someMethod(MyObject<User>.class)

wont compile. Why?

Answer 1

There's no such thing. MyObject<User>.class would be exactly the same thing as MyObject.class. There is no separate Class object for different subtypes; Class is an API that only represents a "raw" type, not generic. It's just not what Class is for.

If you need one to make generics work, just cast it: e.g. (Class<MyObject<User>>) MyObject.class.

Answer 2

In simple words, it's your object which decided what would be the type of the object as you already declared that when object was created. There is not point in doing object<Type>.class as it's already determined during object creation. You can always typecast if required.