Is there any way to store reified types to a variable?

# getting-started

[Rohan Maity]

Is there any way to store reified types to a variable?

[Youssef Shoaib [MOD]]

Not directly, but you can store their class:

var myGlobalVariable: KClass<*>? = null 
// In your reified function 
myGlobalVariable = T::class

I believe there's also typeOf<T>() which gives you a KType instead but I can't remember if that's the right syntax for it or not

[Rohan Maity]

Actually I wanted to use these variables like this in android fragment dsl

fragment<MyVariable>()

Actual usage

fragment<HomeFragment>

But this variable thing does not work here

[ribesg]

Nah generics are not a thing at runtime

[Youssef Shoaib [MOD]]

Well, with a KClass instance you can access its constructors and therefore invoke its no-args constructor.

[Youssef Shoaib [MOD]]

@ribesg Reified generics are absolutely real at runtime though. It's because the function is inline so the compiler replaces the function with its body and with the Reified type substituted in.

[Rohan Maity]

Ok I have to create object in the end?

[Rohan Maity]

So does the reified type as mentioned in the above example work by creating objects?

[ribesg]

No. What you want to do is not possible.

[ribesg]

@Youssef Shoaib [MOD] you just explained how generics aren’t there anymore at runtime in the case of reified type

[ribesg]

To clarify, Rohan wants to do this in a reified function:

val U = _somethingWithT_
someGenericFunction<U>()

And that is entirely impossible as the first instance of ‘U’ here represents a variable, something that exists at runtime, while the second instance of ‘U’ represents something that doesn’t exists at runtime. It’s like two different universes that don’t meet, nothing can be in both

[Rohan Maity]

ok understood why it is not possible