Invoking setter method using java reflection

Question

I need to invoke the setter methods of a class using reflection, and the code is as below:

try {                 Method method = myObj.getClass().getMethod("set" + fieldName, new Class[] { value.getClass() });                   method.invoke(myObj, value);      } catch (Exception ex) {          ex.printStackTrace();      } 

The value is an ArrayList and the setter method is as below:

public void setNames(List<String> names){     this.names = names; } 

A java.lang.NoSuchMethodException is thrown when running this code, but when the setter method parameter type is changed to ArrayList from List it executes fine. Is there a way to keep the setter method parameter in super type and still use reflection without manually giving the type of the parameter when getting the method from the class?

Answer 1

You could use BeanUtils:

Step #1

Customer customer = new Customer(); 

Step #2

BeanUtils.setProperty(customer,"firstName","Paul Young"); 

You could iterate all class members using reflection and set values accordingly, assuming customer object has:

private String firstName; // Getter and Setter are defined