Casting - Class.cast() anyone?

Question

Hi,
I try to cast an object to a class which I don't know excatly at compile time. I think, Class.cast() is made for that. However, it won't compile and I don't know why.
Here is some sample code for reproducing my problem:
        JComponent thing = new JButton();
        Class thingClass = Class.forName("javax.swing.JButton");
        thingClass.cast(thing).setText("blurb");this yields:
test.java:11: cannot find symbol
symbol  : method setText(java.lang.String)
location: class java.lang.Object
        thingClass.cast(thing).setText("blurb");so Class.cast() returns an object, but (at runtime) this is an instance of a specific class. What do I miss?

Answer 1

The hint to go for reflection was the right thing to do. So the sample code looks now like the following (there are some exceptions to catch):
        JComponent thing = new JButton();
        Class thingClass = Class.forName("javax.swing.JButton");;
        Method methodSetText = thingClass
                .getMethod("setText", new Class [] {String.class});
        methodSetText.invoke(thing, new Object[] {"blurb",});thanks.