How to write specific method

[Alek Zander]

Hi, I have 3 classes:

abstract class Animal{}
class Dog extends Animal{}
class Mouse extends Animal{}

How to write method that can as a parameter get Dog and Maouse without Animal?

I tried:

public <T extends Animal> void doSomething(T param) {}

but as a param instead of Dog and Mouse I can also set Animal.

Thanks
alekzander

[Jelle Klap]

Animal is the only shared type in both type hierarchies, aside from Object, so in the current hierarchy setup it's you're only reasonable option if you want a single method that accepts both types. You could make the Animal class abstract to prevent an instances of Animal being created and passed instead of instance of a sub-type of Animal. Though that wouldn't restrict the method from accepting sub-types other then Dog and Mouse. Maybe it's an option to introduce an interface that both Dog and Mouse implement and base the method on that type instead?

[Campbell Ritchie]

And welcome to the Ranch

[Alek Zander]

Welcome!!

I forgot to write that my Animal class is abstract and instead of this i can set an abstract class as a param to my method.

[Matthew Brown]

The other alternative is to use method overloading, so you actually have two separate methods. You can then have them delegate to a common private method to avoid code duplication. For example:

public void doSomething(Dog dog) {
    privateDoSomething(dog);
}
public void doSomething(Mouse mouse) {
    privateDoSomething(mouse);
}
private void privateDoSomething(Animal animal) {   
// or maybe private <T extends Animal> void privateDoSomething(T animal)
    ...do something...
} 

The best solution is likely to depend on why you want to be able to pass a Dog or a Mouse but not an Animal.

(Edit: posted before I saw your followup. If you can just pass the abstract Animal, that's simpler and better)