How invoke methods in order within the class?

Question

I want to invoke all the methods of a class (except the constructor) in the order in which they appear within the class. I have been able to do this using the following code:
Method [] methodArray = this.getClass().getDeclaredMethods();
for (int i = 1; i < methodArray.length; i++)
methodArray.invoke(this, null);
However, according to the javadoc for class Class, getDeclaredMethod, the elements of the Method array "are not in any particular order." So although the elements of the array happened to be in the order I wanted them when I ran the code, it seems that I will not be able to consistently RELY on the Method array to be set up in this way.
My question is, in view of what I see when I execute the code, is it possible that the javadoc is overly-cautious, and that the Method objects in fact WILL ALWAYS be placed in the array in the order in which they appear in the class, in spite of the javadoc disclaimer?
Maybe there's a better way to do what I'm trying to do. The reason I want the methods to execute in this order is that each method is a test case for a component I am testing, and I want the test cases to run in the order coded, using the Method array, without having to embed a number within each method name so that the array can be sorted into the desired order. In addition, I don't want to have to add a new method call to my class whenever I add a test case to it. Is this asking too much?

Answer 1

The reason the Javadocs are full of disclaimers like this is to highlight the fact that there is no specific contract for a certain behaviour. Because Java is cross-platform, results must be predictable, at all times. So if the spec doesn't require a certain order to be enforced, the docs highlight this. Maybe no implementation takes advantage of this, maybe some do, the fact is as you rightly pointed out, you can't rely on it. So it looks like you are back to hard-coding some state that will let you sort the method order.
Of course, if you are just settingup a test rig to automagically test the code you write, you can take a chance and rely on your implementation on your machine. But don't tell anyone I told you this.