Get static variable from class stored in Class variable

Question

Is there any way this can be done:

Class cls = MyClass.class;
int variable = cls.staticVariable;

Class MyClass {
    public static int staticVariable = 5;
}

Class cls will always contain a class that has the variable staticVariable, but it won't always be the same class. Hope you understand.

Answer 1

Here is a short working example demonstrating the concept via reflection.

public class ReflectionStatic {

    public static int staticVariable = 5;

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IllegalArgumentException, SecurityException, IllegalAccessException, NoSuchFieldException {
        Class<ReflectionStatic> clazz = ReflectionStatic.class;
        int value = clazz.getField("staticVariable").getInt(null);
        System.out.println(value);
    }
}

Answer 2

Yes, but only via the reflection API.

Field f = cls.getField("staticVariable");
int variable = f.getInt(null);

There will be a lot of exceptions for you to catch here.