Separating objects in a collection structure from its original class

Question

This is an example of my code and will better illustrate what i'm trying to do. The problem is in the List class.
public interface ItemInterface {
  public java.util.HashMap map ;
  public void setMap(String in) ;
public abstract class AbstractItem implements ItemInterface {
  java.util.HashMap map ;
  public AbstractItem() {
    map = new java.util.HashMap();
  public void setMap(String in) {
  public java.util.HashMap getMap() {
    return map ;
public class GeneralItem extends AbstractItem {
  public void setMap(String in) {
public class List {
public void process() {
  AbstractItem item ;
  if (condition) {
    item = new GeneralItem() ;
  else if (condition) {
    item = new GeneralItem2() ; // etc, etc
  ArrayList list = new ArrayList() ;
  while (condition) {
    item.setMap(someString) ;
    list.add(item) ;
   /* here i want to reinstantiate item, but i do not want to go through the
      conditions again to determine the correct class */
}So let me try to explain the problem i'm experiencing.
With the code as is, when item changes, all prior items that were added to the list change with it. If I had the conditions in the while loop i would be able to just call new ClassThatWillBeDetermined();I'm am trying to find a way around this so that I don't need to constantly determine the class in every step of the loop.
I am familar with PHP and I understand that in PHP it is possible to do the following:
function myFunction() {
  return 5 + 2 ;
var myfunc = myFunction ;
echo myfunc() ;Is that possible to do in Java?

Answer 1

I'm afraid no one would understand your code and the description of the problem.
Post a small demo code that is generally compilable, runnable and could reproduce the 'problem'.
And restate your requirement more clearly, please.