Abstract constant in java

Question

I would like to create a constant not implemented in super class in order to force subclasses to implement it. The best solution that I've found (on this topic) is to create an abstract method that will return the constant value. I assume that it is impossible to do something like:

abstract final static String Name;

But I still have hope because Java uses something like this in Serializable interface with the serialVersionUID. Did someone know how did they do this? Is it possible to reproduce it in my own class?

Answer 1

Such constant cannot be static because static fields are shared among all instances of the class, including instances of all subclasses. Here is how to implement this as non-static constant:

public abstract class Foo {
  public final String name; // Particular value to be defined in subclass

  protected Foo (String name) {
    this.name = name;
  }
}

public class Bar extends Foo {
  public Bar () {
    super ("Zoo"); // Here we define particular value for the constant
  }
}

BTW, serialVersionUID is not a part of Serializable interface.