Reflection and enum types: help needed

Question

Hello, I just released a new version of my OpenSource project (http://sourceforge.net/projects/jdbcmanager).
The application needs JRE 1.5 just only for printing tables (JTable.getPrintable(...) method).
I have had a lot of complains from users due to requiring 1.5
So I'm trying to make it compatible with 1.4.2 and also provide JTable printing functionality to 1.5 users.
I can check if JRE in use is 1.5 and then invoke getPrintable(...) method via reflection, but I do not find a way to pass its first argument (an enum) via reflection, because in 1.4.x enum type does not exist, and without solving this the compiler reports a compilation error.
Here is the code I'm using:String sJavaVer = System.getProperty( "java.version" );
       if( sJavaVer.charAt( 0 ) == '1' && sJavaVer.charAt( 2 ) < '5' )
           MessageFormat mfHeader = new MessageFormat( sHeader );
           MessageFormat mfFooter = new MessageFormat( sFooter );
           Printable     p        = getPrintable( PrintMode.FIT_WIDTH, mfHeader, mfFooter );
           PrintShop     ps       = new PrintShop( p );
           if( bPreview )
               ps.showPreview( "Preview: "+ sHeader, getPreferredScrollableViewportSize() );
           else
               ps.print( bPageDialog );
       else
           App.showMessage( "Warning", "You need JRE 1.5.0 or above to be able to print tables." );
       }Obviously this can't compile under 1.4.x
Every suggestion is more than welcome.

Answer 1

I haven't worked with 1.5 enums, but my best guess is that you'd have to get instances of the enums via reflection as well.
As an incidental suggestion: rather than doing a text search on the "java.version" property, you should simply try to retrieve the "getPrintable" method via reflection. The "if" condition then checks to see if you got anything back.