Is it possible to generically parameterize a method accepting EITHER ClassA OR InterfaceB ?
Does Not Compile Due to | Pseudocode
public <T extends Number | CharSequence> void orDoer(T someData){ // ... }
i.e. instead of writing multiple method signatures, I would like this one method to accept either a Number or CharSequence as an argument
Should Pass with a Number OR CharSequence argument
orDoer(new Integer(6));
int somePrimitive = 4;
orDoer(somePrimitive);
orDoer("a string of chars");
If you really want to do that, you'll need to wrap youur accepted classes inside a custom class of your own. In your example case, probably something like:
public class OrDoerElement {
private final Number numberValue;
private final CharSequence charSequenceValue;
private OrDoerElement(Number number, CharSequence charSequence) {
this.numberValue = number;
this.charSequenceValue = charSequence;
}
public static OrDoerElement fromCharSequence(CharSequence value) {
return new OrDoerElement(null, value);
}
public static OrDoerElement fromNumber(Number value) {
return new OrDoerElement(value, null);
}
}
And your orDoer
method becomes:
public void orDoer(OrDoerElement someData) { .... }
Then you can build one of those and use in your method using either:
orDoer(OrDoerElement.fromCharSequence("a string of chars"));
orDoer(OrDoerElement.fromNumber(new Integer(6)));
But honestly, that sounds a bit too complex and too much work just to be able to call a method with different parameter types. Are you sure you can't achieve the same using two methods, and a third method for the common logic?