class - Dynamically create classes in Java

Question

I would like to create a class in Java based on the fields defined in my XML config file:

For example: if the XML file contains (the syntax has been maligned for posting):

<property name="agent_host"></property>
<property name="subsystem"></property>

then internally it will create a class Event such as Event(String agentHost, String subSystem) that the client can instantiate. Note: the client always knows that this class will be called "Event" but does not know how many "mandatory parameters" it needs to pass.

On the other hand if I have a XML file with:

<property name="agent_host"></property>

then it will create Event(String eventHost) that the client can use for instantiation.

Answer 1

Yes, you could use reflection, but what comes to my mind is working with a class that you could add property. Imagine a class that has one encapsulated HashMap using a String as a key (for the attribute name) and the value of the attribute so you could read the XML file and for evey property add the attribute to the class like. For this line:

<property name="subsystem" type="String">value123</property>


GenericClass c = new GenericClass();
c.addAttribute("subsystem", new String("value123"));
//and you could implement a get and set methods like this:
public String getAttributeValue(String attributeName)
{
   return internalHashMap.get(attributeName).toString();
}

Using this you could also implement a setAttributeValue will be quite simple I think