Create objects of distinct classes dinamically

Question

I need to create a method that return and object of the class that indicated in a parameter.
I'm not sure if this topic is related to factory pattern.
I've a class: Parent
I've some classes: Child1, Child2, ... ChildN that extends class Parent.
And I want something like this:
public object CreateChild(String typeofclass)
{ // string typeofclass can contains "child1", "child2" ...
typeofclass c;
(typeofclass) c = new typeofclass();
return c:
I don't want to make something like:
public object CreateClild(Strint typeofclass)
{ if typeofclass.equals ("Clild1");
c = new Clild1();
if typeofclass.equals ("Clild2");
c = new Clild2();
if typeofclass.equals ("ClildN");
c = new ClildN();
return c:
Thanks in advance.
Julio Pe�uela Gil
Barcelona University

Answer 1

public Parent createChild (String typeOfClass) throws Exception
  Class c = Class.forName(typeOfClass);
  return (Parent)c.newInstance();
}have a look at [url http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/api/java/lang/Class.html]java.lang.Class and the [url http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/api/java/lang/reflect/package-summary.html]java.lang.reflect package in the API