code: public static Object stringToParam(String string, String typeString) throws IllegalArgumentException {
  		if (typeString.equals("boolean") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Boolean")) {
  			return Boolean.parseBoolean(string);
  		} else if (typeString.equals("char") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Character")) {
  			if (string.length() == 0) {
  				// not sure what to do here
  				return '\0';
  			} else {
  				return string.toCharArray()[0];
  			}
  		} else if (typeString.equals("byte") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Byte")) {
  			return Byte.parseByte(string);
  		} else if (typeString.equals("short") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Short")) {
  			return Short.parseShort(string);
  		} else if (typeString.equals("int") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Integer")) {
  			return Integer.parseInt(string);
  		} else if (typeString.equals("long") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Long")) {
  			return Long.parseLong(string);
  		} else if (typeString.equals("java.lang.String")) {
  			return string;
  		} else if (typeString.equals("float") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Float")) {
  			return Float.parseFloat(string);
  		} else if (typeString.equals("double") || typeString.equals("java.lang.Double")) {
  			return Double.parseDouble(string);
  		} else {
  			Constructor<?> constr = getConstructor(typeString);
  			try {
  				return constr.newInstance(new Object[] { string });
  			} catch (Exception e) {
  				throw new IllegalArgumentException(
  						"Could not get new instance using string constructor for type " + typeString);
  			}
  		}
  	}
docs: Convert a string to an object based on the type string.