Let's say I have this (assume the name variable is "receiver"):

if (!(receiver instanceof com.HTMLReceiver)) {
    throw new com.IllegalArgumentException(
        name + " is not an instance of com.HTMLReceiver.");
}

I'd like to factor this code out into a common method so I could call it like this:

Helper.checkInstance(receiver, "com.HTMLReceiver");

But I don't know of a way to convert the com.HTMLReceiver from a string to its actual type so I can use instanceof on it.

Is there a way?