How do I invoke a private static method using reflection (Java)?

java reflection invoke
snakile picture snakile · Jan 22, 2011 · Viewed 52.8k times · Source

I would like to invoke a private static method. I have its name. I've heard it can be done using Java reflection mechanism. How can I do it?

EDIT: One problem I encountered when trying to invoke the method is how to specify the type of its argument. My method receives one argument and its type is Map. Therefore I cannot do Map<User, String>.TYPE (In run time there's no such a thing as Map because of Java Type erasure). Is there another way to get the method?

Answer

Landei picture Landei · Jan 22, 2011

Let's say you want to call MyClass.myMethod(int x);

Method m = MyClass.class.getDeclaredMethod("myMethod", Integer.TYPE);
m.setAccessible(true); //if security settings allow this
Object o = m.invoke(null, 23); //use null if the method is static

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