Using reflection to set an object property

Instead of trying to call a setter, you could also just directly set the value to the property using reflection. For example:

public static boolean set(Object object, String fieldName, Object fieldValue) {
    Class<?> clazz = object.getClass();
    while (clazz != null) {
        try {
            Field field = clazz.getDeclaredField(fieldName);
            field.setAccessible(true);
            field.set(object, fieldValue);
            return true;
        } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
            clazz = clazz.getSuperclass();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
        }
    }
    return false;
}

Call:

Class<?> clazz = Class.forName(className);
Object instance = clazz.newInstance();
set(instance, "salary", 15);
set(instance, "firstname", "John");

FYI, here is the equivalent generic getter:

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public static <V> V get(Object object, String fieldName) {
    Class<?> clazz = object.getClass();
    while (clazz != null) {
        try {
            Field field = clazz.getDeclaredField(fieldName);
            field.setAccessible(true);
            return (V) field.get(object);
        } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
            clazz = clazz.getSuperclass();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
        }
    }
    return null;
}

Call:

Class<?> clazz = Class.forName(className);
Object instance = clazz.newInstance();
int salary = get(instance, "salary");
String firstname = get(instance, "firstname");