Assignment #1: Reflection

A class is said to have a property prop of type SomeType if it has a pair of public non-static methods with the following signatures (there might also be throws lists):

public void setProp( SomeType x );
public SomeType getProp( );

if SomeType is not boolean, or as follows for boolean properties:

public void setProp( boolean x );
public boolean isProp( );

For example, class java.awt.Component has several properties:

PROPERTY NAME     TYPE
background        java.awt.Color
enabled           boolean
location          java.awt.Point

The derived class java.awt.Container has all those properties plus also:

PROPERTY NAME     TYPE
font              java.awt.Font
layout            java.awt.LayoutManager

The Method to Implement

Implement a class with the public static method shown below. You may add private helpers as you see fit.

package cop4338;

public class Utilities
{
public static java.util.Map getProperties( Class cl ) throws ClassNotFoundException
{ ... }
}

The getProperties method returns a Map that stores the properties (as defined above) of Class cl. In the map that is returned, the keys are Strings (each of which represents a property name) and the values are Class objects (each of which represents the corresponding property type). Under no circumstances may it produce any output at all, and you will receive a huge deduction if you violate this requirement.

What to Submit

Sumbit VIA PRINTOUTS AND NOT FLOPPIES your complete source code, and the results of testing your method on the following classes: String, java.awt.Rectangle, java.util.Date, and java.util.ArrayList. You will need to write an additional method that iterates through the Map that is returned by getProperties and outputs the properties in a style similar to the example above. Additionally, you should write a class that you will pass as a parameter to getProperties to show that getProperties correctly:

Ignores static methods
Ignores non-public methods
Ignores setXX if getXX has a different type
Ignores setXX if its return type is not void
Ignores getXX if its parameter list is not empty
Ignores methods that do not have the correct lower-case upper-case conventions

You will receive a huge deduction if you violate the submission requirements.

Note About Grading Style

I expect well-documented, properly indented code, consistently formatted and spaced code, with proper naming of methods and variables. Here are examples of deductions I will make.