How to cast field to specific class using reflection in java?

Question

I am using reflection to put all my class's member variables that are of type Card class into an ArrayList<Card> instance. How do I finish this last part (see commented line below)?

ArrayList<Card> cardList = new ArrayList<Card>();
Field[] fields = this.getClass().getDeclaredFields();

for (Field field : fields) {
   if (field.getType() == Card.class) {
      //how do I convert 'field' to a 'Card' object and add it to the 'cardList' here?

Answer 1

Field is just the description of the field, it is not the value contained in there.

You need to first get the value, and then you can cast it:

Card x =  (Card) field.get(this);

Also, you probably want to allow subclasses as well, so you should do

  //  if (field.getType() == Card.class) {

  if (Card.class.isAssignableFrom(field.getType()) {