Copy Page

You are not logged in. Any changes you make will be marked as anonymous. You may want to Log In if you already have an account. You can also Sign Up for a new account.

<p><table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="excerpt" data-macro-parameters="atlassian-macro-output-type=BLOCK|hidden=true" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2V4Y2VycHQ6aGlkZGVuPXRydWV8YXRsYXNzaWFuLW1hY3JvLW91dHB1dC10eXBlPUJMT0NLfQ&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="RICH_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><p>Overriding invokeMethod for static methods</p></td></tr></table></p>

<h1>ExpandoMetaClass - Runtime MetaClass Analysis</h1>

<p>At runtime it is often useful to know what other methods or properties exist at the time the method is executed. To this end ExpandoMetaClass provides the following methods as of this writing:</p>
<ul>
	<li>getMetaMethod</li>
	<li>hasMetaMethod</li>
	<li>getMetaProperty</li>
	<li>hasMetaProperty</li>
</ul>

<p>Why can't you just use reflection?  Well because Groovy is different, it has the methods that are &quot;real&quot; methods and methods that are available only at runtime. These are sometimes (but not always) represented as MetaMethods. The MetaMethods tell you what methods are available at runtime, thus your code can adapt.</p>

<p>This is of particular use when <a class="confluence-link" href="/display/GROOVY/ExpandoMetaClass+-+GroovyObject+Methods" data-linked-resource-id="79531" data-linked-resource-type="page" data-linked-resource-default-alias="ExpandoMetaClass - GroovyObject Methods" data-base-url="http://docs.codehaus.org">overriding invokeMethod, getProperty and/or setProperty</a> for example:</p>
<table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="code" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2NvZGV9&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="PLAIN_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><pre>
class Stuff {
   def invokeMe() { "foo" }
}

Stuff.metaClass.invokeMethod = { String name, args ->
   def metaMethod = Stuff.metaClass.getMetaMethod(name,args)
   def result
   if(metaMethod) result = metaMethod.invoke(delegate,args)
   else {
      result = "bar"
   }
   result
}

def stf = new Stuff()

assert "foo" == stf.invokeMe()
assert "bar" == stf.doStuff()
</pre></td></tr></table>
<p>Here we are using the getMetaMethod method to obtain a reference to a method that may or may not exist. If it doesn't exist the getMetaMethod method will return null and the code can adapt to this fact.</p>

<h3>Useful References</h3>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://groovy.codehaus.org/api/groovy/lang/MetaMethod.html">MetaMethod</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://groovy.codehaus.org/api/groovy/lang/MetaProperty.html">MetaProperty</a></li>
</ul>