J2ME in a Nutshell

Name

Class

Synopsis

This class contains information representing a Java class or interface. Only one instance of this object exists for each class loaded within the Java virtual machine, no matter how many instances of that class are created. The Class object for a class can be obtained by using the getClass() method of any instance of that class, or by calling the static Class forName() method and supplying the fully-qualified class name. For example, the expression Class.forName("java.lang.Class") would return a Class object for Class itself.

A Class object can be used to discover various attributes of a class. The getName() method returns the fully-qualified name of the class (e.g., java.lang.Class). The isArray() method returns true if the class represents an array, such as the one returned by the expression new Object[0].getClass(). The isInterface() returns true if the Class object to which it is applied represents an interface.

The isAssignableFrom() and isInstance() methods can be used to determine the relationship between one class or interface and another. The isInstance() method returns true if the object passed as its argument is of the same class as the Class object, or an instance of a subclass. If the Class object represents an interface, then the object passed as the argument to isInstance() must implement that interface or one of its subinterfaces.

The isAssignableFrom() method also takes a Class object as its argument and returns true if that object could be ...