Access "this" from Java anonymous class

java this anonymous-class
Bob picture Bob · Jul 5, 2009 · Viewed 38.1k times · Source

Given the following code:

public interface Selectable {
  public void select();
}

public class Container implements Selectable {
  public void select() {
  ...
  }
  public void createAnonymousClass() {
    Selectable s = new Selectable() {
      public void select() {
        //see comment below.
      }
    };
  }
}

I want to access Container.select() from within my anonymous class' select() method. However, this.select() would again call the anonymous class' select() method.

My suggestion would be:

Introduce a field into Container, e.g.

private Container self = this;

Now I can access Container.select() by calling self.select() from within the anonymous class.

Is this a reasonable way? Or are there any better ways?

Answer

Mykola Golubyev picture Mykola Golubyev · Jul 5, 2009 
Container.this.select();

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