Handle string array or string in multifield in workflow metadatamap

[aem_noob]

I am using the below code to fetch info from workitem

MetaDataMap inputMap = workItem.getMetaDataMap();

String[] customList = (String[]) inputMap.get("customList");

The "customList" is a textfield defined as multifield -

<customList
    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
    sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/multifield"
    <field
        jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
        sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/textfield"
        name="customList"/>
</customList>

this throws a class cast exception when only value is configured in the multifield.

java.lang.ClassCastException: class java.lang.String cannot be cast to class [Ljava.lang.String

this is because of the (String[]) casting. what will be the best way to correct it for both String and String[]?

[Saravanan_Dharmaraj · Accepted solution]

@aem_noob If its jcr:property you can check with isMultiple() method before reading. But in this case, you can use instanceof before reading 

if (x instanceof String) {
  ...
}

if (x instanceof String[]) {
  ...
}