Type mismatch generics with classOf Scala - scala

Question

I have a method that should dynamically cast a field member into a certain type depending on a configuration flag format.
This flag format, accepts one of the following type values:
object Types {
val Str = "string"
val IntNum1 = "int"
val IntNum2 = "integer"
val DoubleNum = "double"
val LongNum = "long"
}
One option would be to use reflection. Another option would be to use pattern matching (the method I'm trying to do this with)
Here's the method for String types:
private def getValClassIfStr(format: String): Class[String] = {
format.toLowerCase match {
case Types.Str => classOf[String]
case _ => null
}
}
And Here's the method for Numerical types, extending from AnyVal, that fails to compile:
private def getValueClass[T <: AnyVal](format: String): Try[Class[T]] = {
format.toLowerCase match {
case Types.IntNum1 || Types.IntNum2 => Success(classOf[Int])
case Types.DoubleNum => Success(classOf[Double])
case Types.LongNum => Success(classOf[Long])
case _ => Failure(new Exception)
}
}
The second method doesn't compile because of a:
Type mismatch: required Try[Class[T]] found Try[Class[Int]]
Which I don't understand, given T <: AnyVal.
Any idea? and if that's a bad approach, what would a "clean" alternative be?

Answer 1

I think the reason why this doesn't work becomes clearer once you replace Class[T] in the return value with Class[AnyVal]:
type mismatch;
found : Class[Int](classOf[scala.Int])
required: Class[AnyVal]
Note: Int <: AnyVal, but Java-defined class Class is invariant in type T.
You may wish to investigate a wildcard type such as `_ <: AnyVal`. (SLS 3.2.10)
In other words, any call to getValueClass[T] would always have to be populated with T = AnyVal by the compiler, since format is only evaluated at runtime. This, however, is not possible since Class[T] is invariant, so you can't return a Class[Int] and a Class[Double] as a Class[AnyVal], since for invariant containers there's no subtyping relationship.
To demonstrate:
var x: Class[AnyVal] = _
x = classOf[Int]
// Boom