Re: finding method efficiently

[Robert Schuster]

Thanks for all the replies.
I have rewritten the code that searches the methods using 
isAssignableFrom() (and feeling much better about it now).

Archie Cobbs wrote:

> For an almost-example, look at Classpath's java.lang.Class.internalGetMethod().
>  
Unfortunately it works exactly like Class.getMethod() which means 
finding put(Object, Object) is
not possible when having something else.

> So it would be nice if we could write this algorithm once and for all
> and make it public somewhere :-)
>  
This may be a nice idea at first but for the XMLDecoder one special 
requirement spoils it. The XML
data knows no primitives but wraps them always in their respective 
class. When testing whether a given argument
type T can be assigned to a method's parameter type P I have to do 
something like this:

 if (P.isAssignableFrom(T)) -> good one, check next parameter
 else if(T.isPrimitiveWrapperClass() && 
P.isAssignableFrom(getPrimitiveTypeFor(T)) --> good one, check next 
parameter
 else -> bail out, method signature is unsuitable

This is what it makes IMHO incompatible with a general solution. :-(

cu
Robert