Java loading user-specified classes at runtime
- by user349043
I'm working on robot simulation in Java (a Swing application). I have an abstract class "Robot" from which different types of Robots are derived, e.g.
public class StupidRobot extends Robot {
int m_stupidness;
int m_insanityLevel;
...
}
public class AngryRobot extends Robot {
float m_aggression;
...
}
As you can see, each Robot subclass has a different set of parameters.
What I would like to do is control the simulation setup in the initial UI. Choose the number and type of Robots, give it a name, fill in the parameters etc.
This is one of those times where being such a dinosaur programmer, and new to Java, I wonder if there is some higher level stuff/thinking that could help me here. So here is what I've got:
(1) User Interface
Scrolling list of Robot types on the left.
"Add " and "<< Remove" buttons in the middle.
Default-named scrolling list of Robots on the right.
"Set Parameters" button underneath.
(So if you wanted an AngryRobot, you'd select AngryRobot on the left list, click "Add" and "AngryRobot1" would show up on the right.)
When selecting a Robot on the right, click "Set Parameters..." button which would call yet another model dialog where you'd fill in the parameters. Different dialog called for each
Robot type.
(2) Data structures an implementation
As an end-product I think a HashMap would be most convenient. The keys would be Robot types and the accompanying object would be all of the parameters. The initializer could just retrieve each item one and a time and instantiate. Here's what the data structures would look like:
enum ROBOT_TYPE {STUPID, ANGRY, etc}
public class RobotInitializer {
public ROBOT_TYPE m_type;
public string m_name;
public int[] m_int_params;
public float[] m_float_params;
etc.
The initializer's constructor would create the appropriate length parameter arrays based on the type:
public RobotInitializer(ROBOT_TYPE type, int[] int_array, float[] float_array, etc){
switch (type){
case STUPID:
m_int_params = new int[STUPID_INT_PARAM_LENGTH];
System.arraycopy(int_array,0,m_int_params,0,STUPID_INT_PARAM_LENGTH);
etc.
Once all the RobotInitializers are instantiated, they are added to the HashMap.
Iterating through the HashMap, the simulation initializer takes items from the Hashmap and instantiates the appropriate Robots.
Is this reasonable? If not, how can it be improved?
Thanks
