Java downcasting and is-A has-A relationship
- by msharma
HI,
I have a down casting question, I am a bit rusty in this area.
I have 2 clasess like this:
class A{ int i; String j ; //Getters and setters}
class B extends A{ String k; //getter and setter}
I have a method like this, in a Utility helper class:
public static A converts(C c){}
Where C are objects that are retireved from the database and then converted.
The problem is I want to call the above method by passing in a 'C' and getting back B.
So I tried this:
B bClasss = (B) Utility.converts(c);
So even though the above method returns A I tried to downcast it to B, but I get a runtime ClassCastException.
Is there really no way around this? DO I have to write a separate converts() method which returns a B class type?
If I declare my class B like:
class B { String k; A a;} // So instead of extending A it has-a A, getter and setters also
then I can call my existing method like this:
b.setA(Utility.converts(c) );
This way I can reuse the existing method, even though the extends relationship makes more sense. What should I do? Any help much appreciated. Thanks.
