Java compiler removes information about generics, therefore when you use reflection you get no information about the declared type, other than Enum. This process is called type erasure.
How about passing the type down, via the constructor, like this:
public class MultipleSorting<T extends Enum<?>> {
private Class<T> criteriaType;
MultipleSorting(Class<T> criteriaType) {
this.criteriaType = criteriaType;
}
public Class<T> getCriteriaClass() {
return criteriaType;
}
}
public abstract class MultiSortPageableController<T extends MultiSortPageableController<?, ?>, U extends Enum<?>> {
private MultipleSorting<U> multipleSorting;
public MultiSortPageableController(Class<U> criteriaType) {
super();
multipleSorting = new MultipleSorting<U>(criteriaType);
}
}
public abstract class AbstractArticleSearchController<T extends AbstractArticleSearchController<T>> extends MultiSortPageableController<T, ArticleSortField> {
public AbstractArticleSearchController() {
super(ArticleSortField.class);
}
}