How to Override method in static context?

Question

Request is an Abstract class with an abstract onFinish method.

Request.authenticate is a static method that instantiates a new Request object. Why is the system not letting me force override onFininsh with this syntax???

Request sqr = Request.authenticate(act, outerBundle) {
    @Override
    public void onFinish(String resp){System.out.println("HEY");}
};

Because it doesn't make any sense. You can't declare a method inside another one, and `@Override` can only be placed above a method declaration... — Etienne de Martel, Jun 07 '11 at 20:27
What would this syntax even mean? You're sort of trying to create an anonymous class instance, but not really. — Oliver Charlesworth, Jun 07 '11 at 20:27
I'm really confused as to what that code should actually mean... — Ivan, Jun 07 '11 at 20:28
Because it looks like invalid syntax for Java - what's the compiler's error message. — planetjones, Jun 07 '11 at 20:28
But authenticate returns a Request instance. so how can I override a method of an already existing instance? I guess I could pass an onFinishListener object in....that is probably the most elegant solution — hunterp, Jun 07 '11 at 20:29
possible duplicate of [Question regarding overriding and overloading static methods](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2475259/question-regarding-overriding-and-overloading-static-methods) — ataylor, Jun 07 '11 at 20:34

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 07 '11 at 20:38

You cannot override a method of an already existing instance. The best you could do is to extend Request. This is off the top of my head but something like this should work, assuming you can control the type of Request that is returned:

public class MyRequest extends Request
{
  private MyFinish _finish;
  public MyRequest(MyFinish finish)
  {
    _finish=finish;
  }

  public void setFinish(MyFinish finish)
  {
     _finish=finish;
  }

  @Override
  public void onFinish(String resp)
  {
    _finish.doFinish(resp);    
  }
}

public interface MyFinish
{
  public void doFinish(String resp);
}

You would then plug in your custom finishing classes that implement MyFinish.

How to Override method in static context?

1 Answers1