How to create a generic method in Java?

Question

I have the following method:

public static void update(String name) {
    CustomTextType obj = findByName(name);
    ...
}

I'd like to make it a general use method so that I don't need to write new code for every new custom type. I could do this, which would require instantiating the object before calling update():

public static void update(String name, Object obj) {
    obj = findByName(name);
    ...
}

Out of curiosity, I'm wondering if there is a way to do this using Java Generics:

// note: this is an example and does not work
public static void update(String name, <T> type) {
    type var = findByName(name);
    ...
}

Is there a way to accomplish this in Java?

Answer 1

public static <T> void update(String name, T type) {
    //logic dealing with `T`.
}

Note that T will be reifiable in this case. Either Foo<T>(which itself includes Class<T> that can be obtained from instanceOfT.getClass()) or T itself has been passed in.