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In the previous lesson we saw how we can use an Upper Bounded Wildcard Type when we have a scenario where we only want a method to work on a particular class or subtypes thereof. In this lesson we investigate the scenario where we only want a method to work on a particular class or supertypes thereof? In both of these situations we can use a bounded wildcard type to only allow certain types to use an identifier.

The table below lists the bounded wildcard types we can use with examples.

Lets look at a code example of using the lower bounded wildcard type.

Ok, lets start by creating and building some simple classes:

package com.server2client;

public class A { 
    {
        System.out.println("A Object initializer"); 
    }
}

package com.server2client;

public class B extends A { 
    {
        System.out.println("B Object initializer"); 
    }
}

package com.server2client;

public class C extends B {    
    {
        System.out.println("C Object initializer"); 
    }
}

package com.server2client;

public class D { // Nothing to do  with other classes    
    {
        System.out.println("D Object initializer"); 
    }
}

Build the classes in the usual way.

Now we need to write a simple generic class that will take any type and have a method within in that will eventually only work on the B class and superclasses of it; first we will let the method work with any type:

package com.server2client;

/*
  Simple generic class that accepts any object
*/
public class LowerBoundedWildcardType<T> {

    // Generic object declaration
    private final T genericObj;

    // Pass reference to object of type T to our constructor
    public LowerBoundedWildcardType(T genericObj) {
        this.genericObj = genericObj;
    }

    // Output object type of LowerBoundedWildcardType to console 
    public void showObjectType(LowerBoundedWildcardType<T> obj) {
        System.out.println("Object type of LowerBoundedWildcardType is " + genericObj.getClass().getName());
    }
}

Building the LowerBoundedWildcardType class produces the following output:

Now we need to write a test class to show how we can pass various objects to our BoundedWildcardType class:

package com.server2client;

/*
  Test our LowerBoundedWildcardType class that accepts any object
*/
public class TestLowerBoundedWildcardType {

    public static void main(String[] args) { 

        // Create some objects
        A a = new A(); 
        B b = new B(); 
        C c = new C(); 
        D d = new D();  
    
        // Test the LowerBoundedWildcardType using A, B, C and D objects
        LowerBoundedWildcardType<A> genAObj = new LowerBoundedWildcardType<>(a);
        genAObj.showObjectType(genAObj);

        LowerBoundedWildcardType<B> genBObj = new LowerBoundedWildcardType<>(b);
        genBObj.showObjectType(genBObj);
 
        LowerBoundedWildcardType<C> genCObj = new LowerBoundedWildcardType<>(c);
        genCObj.showObjectType(genCObj);
 
        LowerBoundedWildcardType<D> genDObj = new LowerBoundedWildcardType<>(d);
        genDObj.showObjectType(genDObj);
    }
}

Running the TestLowerBoundedWildcardType class produces the following output:

Well nothing new here, all the classes run as expected. Now we want to change the LowerBoundedWildcardType class so that only objects of type B or superclasses thereof can use the showObjectType(LowerBoundedWildcardType<T> obj) method and for this we need a lower bounded wildcard type.

Change the signature to showObjectType(LowerBoundedWildcardType<? super B> obj) as shown below and rebuild the LowerBoundedWildcardType class.

package com.server2client;

/*
  Simple generic class that accepts any object
*/
public class LowerBoundedWildcardType<T> {

    // Generic object declaration
    private final T genericObj;

    // Pass reference to object of type T to our constructor
    public LowerBoundedWildcardType(T genericObj) {
        this.genericObj = genericObj;
    }

    // Output object type of LowerBoundedWildcardType to console 
    public void showObjectType(LowerBoundedWildcardType<? super B> obj) { // Changed to lower bounded wild card type
        System.out.println("Object type of LowerBoundedWildcardType is " + genericObj.getClass().getName());
    }
}

Rebuilding the TestLowerBoundedWildcardType class after the amendments produces the following output:

As you can see from the screenshot above the compiler won't allow us to call the showObjectType(LowerBoundedWildcardType<? super B> obj) method with an object of class C or D because the method now has a lower bounded wildcard type that only allows the B class and its superclasses.

Remove the creation and call for the genCObj and genDObj in the TestLowerBoundedWildcardType class for the C and D types as shown below and rebuild the TestLowerBoundedWildcardType class.

package com.server2client;

/*
  Test our LowerBoundedWildcardType class that accepts any object
*/
public class TestLowerBoundedWildcardType {

    public static void main(String[] args) { 

        // Create some objects
        A a = new A(); 
        B b = new B(); 
    
        // Test the LowerBoundedWildcardType using A, and B objects
        LowerBoundedWildcardType<A> genAObj = new LowerBoundedWildcardType<>(a);
        genAObj.showObjectType(genAObj);

        LowerBoundedWildcardType<B> genBObj = new LowerBoundedWildcardType<>(b);
        genBObj.showObjectType(genBObj);
    }
}

Rerunning the TestLowerBoundedWildcardType class after the amendments produces the following output:

Related Quiz

Generics Quiz 8 - Lower Bounded Wildcard Type Quiz

Lesson 8 Complete

In this lesson we looked at the generic lower bounded wild card type and how to use it.

What's Next?

In the next lesson we look at generic methods.

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• Generic Methods     >>