CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javadynamicreflection
Josh Sobel
Josh Sobel

Reputation: 1328

Creating fields dynamically java

i was wondering if their is any way to dynamically create a static field for a class during run-time using reflection or a related API. If needed i can use the java native interface to accomplish this task if someone could tell me the appropriate steps. I don't want to use any data structures such as a hash-map, as i am doing this completely for fun. Please don't suggest using maps as i am not using this for any real program this is a completely theoretical situation. Thanks.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3383

Answers (2)

Blake Hair
Blake Hair

Reputation: 151

Java doesn't support metaprogramming or runtime programming in a way that is particularly nice or effective.

You could use a decorator pattern. You could pass the object that you want to add a static field to into a wrapper object. This wrapper would have the static field and the calls to the wrapper object would relate to the wrapped object.

If you could provide more details about the functionality you're looking for I could try to provide a better solution. You might be better off looking into another language that does support runtime programming if you absolutely need it to be done in that way.

Upvotes: 0

Thilo
Thilo

Reputation: 262814

You could do this during class load time using bytecode manipulation.

This is a very complex solution though, so I'd consider other options.

It also does not help too much to have a new field that is not known at compile-time, because you cannot compile anything against it. If you are going to use reflection to access it, you might as well use a Map in the first place.

Upvotes: 5

Related Questions