Groovy way to dynamically invoke a static method - groovy

Question

I know in Groovy you can invoke a method on a class/object using a string. For example:
Foo."get"(1)
/* or */
String meth = "get"
Foo."$meth"(1)
Is there a way to do this with the class? I have the name of the class as a string and would like to be able to dynamically invoke that class. For example, looking to do something like:
String clazz = "Foo"
"$clazz".get(1)
I think I'm missing something really obvious, just am not able to figure it out.

Answer 1

As suggested by Guillaume Laforge on Groovy ML,
("Foo" as Class).get(i)
would give the same result.
I've tested with this code:
def name = "java.lang.Integer"
def s = ("$name" as Class).parseInt("10")
println s

Answer 2

Try this:
def cl = Class.forName("org.package.Foo")
cl.get(1)
A little bit longer but should work.
If you want to create "switch"-like code for static methods, I suggest to instantiate the classes (even if they have only static methods) and save the instances in a map. You can then use
map[name].get(1)
to select one of them.
[EDIT] "$name" is a GString and as such a valid statement. "$name".foo() means "call the method foo() of the class GString.
[EDIT2] When using a web container (like Grails), you have to specify the classloader. There are two options:
Class.forName("com.acme.MyClass", true, Thread.currentThread().contextClassLoader)
or
Class.forName("com.acme.MyClass", true, getClass().classLoader)
The first option will work only in a web context, the second approach also works for unit tests. It depends on the fact that you can usually use the same classloader as the class which invokes forName().
If you have problems, then use the first option and set the contextClassLoader in your unit test:
def orig = Thread.currentThread().contextClassLoader
try {
Thread.currentThread().contextClassLoader = getClass().classLoader
... test ...
} finally {
Thread.currentThread().contextClassLoader = orig
}

Answer 3

An augmentation to Chanwit's answer illustrating creation of an instance:
def dateClass = 'java.util.Date' as Class
def date = dateClass.newInstance()
println date

Answer 4

Here's another way
import org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.ApplicationHolder as AH
def target = application.domainClasses.find{it.name == 'ClassName'}
target.clazz.invokeMethod("Method",args)
With this you don't need to specify the package name. Be careful though if you have the same class name in two different packages.

Answer 5

Melix on Groovy ML pointed me in the "right" direction on dynamic class method invokation awhile back, quite useful:
// define in script (not object) scope
def loader = this.getClass().getClassLoader()
// place this in some MetaUtils class, invoked on app startup
String.metaClass.toClass = {
def classPath = getPath(delegate) // your method logic to determine 'path.to.class'
Class.forName(classPath, true, this.loader)
}
// then, anywhere in your app
"Foo".toClass().bar()
You could create another string metaClass method to create instances as well, refactoring as appropriate:
String.metaClass.toObject = {
def classPath = getPath(delegate)
Class.forName(classPath, true, this.loader).newInstance()
}
Groovy is pure fun ;--)

Answer 6

I'm running version 1.8.8 groovy... and the simple example works.
Import my.Foo
def myFx="myMethodToCall"
def myArg = 12
Foo."$myFx"(myArg)
Calls Foo.myMethodToCall(12) as expected and desired. I don't know if this has always been the case though.