Access to Class information from a static method

Question

There does not appear to be anyway to access the Class object from instead a static method.
e.g. How could I convert the following code so that it works ?
class test {
static void printClassName() {
System.out.println( getClass().getName() );

Answer 1

The idea was to have a static method that could be
used to make a lookup based on the classname. Being
able to access the class name would mean that I would
not have to reimplement for every subclass !!!!!Hmm.. what are you trying to look up? Some kind of class-specific constant information maybe?
In general your best bet is to define an abstract method in your parent class for return of the constant value, then define a specific method in each sub-class that overrides it, retrurning the appropriate value.
Then you're common processing just gets the value with that method.
Using some kind of lookup on the basis of class name is much clumsier, and more inclined to run time errors. Better to use the built in virtual methods table.
Another approach is to have the value as a parameter of the constructor of the parent class and use "super(value)" in the child classes to store
it.