Package com.google.gson.reflect

Class TypeToken<T>

java.lang.Object
com.google.gson.reflect.TypeToken<T>
public class TypeToken<T> extends Object
Represents a generic type T. Java doesn't yet provide a way to represent generic types, so this class does. Forces clients to create a subclass of this class which enables retrieval the type information even at runtime.

For example, to create a type literal for List<String>, you can create an empty anonymous class:

TypeToken<List<String>> list = new TypeToken<List<String>>() {};

Capturing a type variable as type argument of an anonymous TypeToken subclass is not allowed, for example TypeToken<List<T>>. Due to type erasure the runtime type of a type variable is not available to Gson and therefore it cannot provide the functionality one might expect. This would give a false sense of type-safety at compile time and could lead to an unexpected ClassCastException at runtime.

If the type arguments of the parameterized type are only available at runtime, for example when you want to create a List<E> based on a Class<E> representing the element type, the method getParameterized(Type, Type...) can be used.

  • Method Summary

    Modifier and Type
    Method
    Description
    final boolean
    equals(Object o)
     
    static <T> TypeToken<T>
    get(Class<T> type)
    Gets type literal for the given Class instance.
    static TypeToken<?>
    get(Type type)
    Gets type literal for the given Type instance.
    static TypeToken<?>
    getArray(Type componentType)
    Gets type literal for the array type whose elements are all instances of componentType.
    static TypeToken<?>
    getParameterized(Type rawType, Type... typeArguments)
    Gets a type literal for the parameterized type represented by applying typeArguments to rawType.
    final Class<? super T>
    getRawType()
    Returns the raw (non-generic) type for this type.
    final Type
    getType()
    Gets underlying Type instance.
    final int
    hashCode()
     
    boolean
    isAssignableFrom(TypeToken<?> token)
    Deprecated.
    this implementation may be inconsistent with javac for types with wildcards.
    boolean
    isAssignableFrom(Class<?> cls)
    Deprecated.
    this implementation may be inconsistent with javac for types with wildcards.
    boolean
    isAssignableFrom(Type from)
    Deprecated.
    this implementation may be inconsistent with javac for types with wildcards.
    final String
    toString()
     

    Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

    getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

  • Method Details

    • getRawType

      public final Class<? super T> getRawType()
      Returns the raw (non-generic) type for this type.

    • getType

      public final Type getType()
      Gets underlying Type instance.

    • isAssignableFrom

      @Deprecated public boolean isAssignableFrom(Class<?> cls)
      Deprecated.
      this implementation may be inconsistent with javac for types with wildcards.
      Check if this type is assignable from the given class object.

    • isAssignableFrom

      @Deprecated public boolean isAssignableFrom(Type from)
      Deprecated.
      this implementation may be inconsistent with javac for types with wildcards.
      Check if this type is assignable from the given Type.

    • isAssignableFrom

      @Deprecated public boolean isAssignableFrom(TypeToken<?> token)
      Deprecated.
      this implementation may be inconsistent with javac for types with wildcards.
      Check if this type is assignable from the given type token.

    • hashCode

      public final int hashCode()
      Overrides:
      hashCode in class Object

    • equals

      public final boolean equals(Object o)
      Overrides:
      equals in class Object

    • toString

      public final String toString()
      Overrides:
      toString in class Object

    • get

      public static TypeToken<?> get(Type type)
      Gets type literal for the given Type instance.

    • get

      public static <T> TypeToken<T> get(Class<T> type)
      Gets type literal for the given Class instance.

    • getParameterized

      public static TypeToken<?> getParameterized(Type rawType, Type... typeArguments)
      Gets a type literal for the parameterized type represented by applying typeArguments to rawType. This is mainly intended for situations where the type arguments are not available at compile time. The following example shows how a type token for Map<K, V> can be created: 
      
 Class<K> keyClass = ...;
 Class<V> valueClass = ...;
 TypeToken<?> mapTypeToken = TypeToken.getParameterized(Map.class, keyClass, valueClass);
      As seen here the result is a TypeToken<?>; this method cannot provide any type-safety, and care must be taken to pass in the correct number of type arguments.

      If rawType is a non-generic class and no type arguments are provided, this method simply delegates to get(Class) and creates a TypeToken(Class).

      Throws:
      IllegalArgumentException - If rawType is not of type Class, or if the type arguments are invalid for the raw type

    • getArray

      public static TypeToken<?> getArray(Type componentType)
      Gets type literal for the array type whose elements are all instances of componentType.