Java: Check if a given method name exist in compile time

Question

I'm developing a utility class to handle Actions from Java Swing components; I would like to know if there is a way of checking if a given method name (that will be accessed by reflections) exists in compile time, and show a compiler error if not?

--update

Ok, looks like I was not clear, lets talk about the details:

I have a class called TomAction that I use to simplify simple actions declarations in my project. Instead of write something like:

class MyClass {

    public MyClass() {
    Icon icon = null; // putting null to simplify the example
    JButton btn = new JButton(new AbstractAction("Click to go!", icon) {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ev) {
        try {
            go();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            String msg = "Fail to execute 'go' task.";
            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, msg, "Fail", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
        }
        }
    });
    }

    private void go() {
    // do task
    }

}

..I just write:

class MyClass {

    public MyClass() {
    String msg = "Fail to execute 'go' task.";
    Icon icon = null; // putting null to simplify the example
    TomAction act = new TomAction("go", this, "Click to go!", msg, icon);
    JButton btn = new JButton(act);
    }

    private void go() {
    // do task
    }

}

..and the program have the same behaviour.

The problem is that if I type a wrong method name as argument to TomAction, I will see it just in runtime. I would like to see it in compile time. Got it? :)

By the way, this class is working very fine, I just want to do this enhancement.

--update

studing the Annotations approach

Answer 1

Sounds as if you'd like to set up a contract that a specific method must be implemented.

In Java you usually do this via an interface:

public interface Frobnicator {
  public void frobnicate();
}

Then in your other code, you simply expect to get an object of that type, this way the compiler will verify that the method exists:

public void frobnicateorize(Frobnicator forb) {
  frob.frobnicate();
}

This way you can even avoid using reflection to call the method.

Edit regarding the update: No, you can't have that kind of code be statically checked by the Java compiler. You might have to write your own tool to do that checking for you.

Answer 2

No. There is no way to do that.