Type of a generic class?

[Donkey Hottie]

From: Donkey Hottie <[email protected]>


I have this class called Global. It is trying to be a simplistic simulation of
global as in MUMPS/M language. It is a persistent variable, that is accessible
everywhere, and retains it's value over time. I store them in a database.

First problem I have is to translate the type to a lower level application API
call. I can not leave the cast or type conversion to compiler only.

For that I figured out that I may need a variable of Class<T>, I'm using the
variables isAssignableFrom(Class) to find out the correct API call. Could there
be a simpler way?

the final Class<T> as a member variable. Is that really needed? How could I use
some typeinfo (reflection API?) instead?

If I could use serialization and store the objects that way maybe into BLOBs
there would not be problems, but currently I can not do that.

I would like to get rid of that "klass" argument for the Global<T>. Any ideas?

Class is a simple version containg only the important parts.

public class Global<T extends Object> {
final String name ;
final Connection conn ;
final Class<T> klass;
public Global(String name, Connection conn, Class<T> klass)
{
this.name = name ;
this.conn = conn ;
this.klass = klass;
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public T get() throws Exception
{
T rc = null;
if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Boolean.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemBoolean(name, conn);
}
else if(klass.isAssignableFrom(Date.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemDate(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Long.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemLong(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Integer.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemInt(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(String.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemString(name, conn);
}
return rc ;
}
}

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[Lew]

To: Donkey Hottie
From: Lew <[email protected]>

I have this class called Global. It is trying to be a simplistic
simulation of global as in MUMPS/M language. It is a persistent
variable, that is accessible everywhere, and retains it's value over
time. I store them in a database.

First problem I have is to translate the type to a lower level
application API call. I can not leave the cast or type conversion to
compiler only.

For that I figured out that I may need a variable of Class<T>, I'm using
the variables isAssignableFrom(Class) to find out the correct API call.

Not good.

Could there be a simpler way?

the final Class<T> as a member variable. Is that really needed? How
Yes.

could I use some typeinfo (reflection API?) instead?

You mean a different reflection API. The 'Class' methods are part of
reflection.

If I could use serialization and store the objects that way maybe into
BLOBs there would not be problems, but currently I can not do that.

How would a more complex, I/O-based solution be better?

I would like to get rid of that "klass" argument for the Global<T>. Any
ideas?

Why do you want to get rid of it?

It's the right way to do what you want.

Class is a simple version containg only the important parts.

public class Global<T extends Object>
{
final String name ;
final Connection conn ;
final Class<T> klass;

public Global(String name, Connection conn, Class<T> klass)
{
this.name = name ;
this.conn = conn ;
this.klass = klass;
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")

DON'T DO THAT!

You don't need it. If you did, you should comment why the expression is type
safe despite the suppression.

And you should annotate the declaration of the variable, not the method.

public T get() throws Exception
{
T rc = null;

if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Boolean.class))

This is an antipattern.

{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemBoolean(name, conn);
}
else if(klass.isAssignableFrom(Date.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemDate(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Long.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemLong(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Integer.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemInt(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(String.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemString(name, conn);
}
return rc ;
}
}

You should override 'get()' in type-specific subtypes of your 'Global'.
If-chains
of reflection are a reliable indicator of a bad architecture. Use polymorphism
instead.

--
Lew

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[markspace]

To: Donkey Hottie
From: markspace <-@.>

First problem I have is to translate the type to a lower level
application API call. I can not leave the cast or type conversion to
compiler only.

I'm going to ignore other obvious problems and simply focus on the big picture
here. You idea how to accomplish this looks *TERRIBLE*. Why aren't you using
some kind of ORM? At least use a light-weight library for translating data
base entities into objects.

<http://commons.apache.org/dbutils/>

Also JPA will do some kinds of automatic instantiation for you:

<http://openjpa.apache.org/builds/1.0.4/apache-openjpa-1.0.4/docs/manual/jpa_ov
erview_mapping_inher.html>

I didn't check to see if those are the most recent docs (I don't use this sort
of feature). Google for "JPA table inheritance" and check through the results
carefully.

Class is a simple version containg only the important parts.

Honestly, while we all appreciate the attempt, you example is far from
complete. We can guess at a few things, but you should think much more
carefully at what the real problem is and design something to illustrate it.

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[Donkey Hottie]

To: markspace
From: Donkey Hottie <[email protected]>

03.08.2012 00:08, markspace kirjoitti:

I'm going to ignore other obvious problems and simply focus on the big
picture here. You idea how to accomplish this looks *TERRIBLE*. Why
aren't you using some kind of ORM? At least use a light-weight library
for translating data base entities into objects.

I am not trying to translate database tables to objects. I have an ORM for
that.

I am trying to convert a simple { String name, String value } pair in database
to a Global<T>(name) so that it will convert the Java simple datatypes to a
string and back. This is for system parameters, configuration parameters.

It is indeed kind of spooky and strange idea, after all what is so wrong about
simple

String value = SystemProperties.getString("ParamName") ;

It is OK, but I'm kind of toying with idea of strong typing of System
Parameters: A Date can not be stored as Long or Double etc..

The back end of the system parameters is simply

CREATE TABLE SystemParameters
(
name varchar(64) not null primary_key,
value varchar(512)
) ;

That's it. That is have the table is given to me. But I want to make the Java
code bit more pedantic on the types of the parameters it uses and maintains.

This idea just occurred to me when I stubled against MUMPS language when
learning InterSystems Ensemble. It is based on their Cacho NoSQL/SQL hybrid
database, and while being an ancient language, MUMPS/M has lots of interesting
features, including threading and database persistence in the old Programming
Language Core!

I just thought I might as well copy their Global variable idea and include it
in my toolbox of Java commons. It is not an ORM. I do not know about dbutils,
but JPA I am very familiar with. It maps Java Objects to Relational Database
records. There one attribute can have just one type. I want many types to my
value attribute, but only for Java code. Just to force the apps to store at
least correct type of values for properties, so that compiler stops my fellow
programmer if he is about to generate a runtime error later somewhere, for
example if he is trying to store 'NOW' for a value that is needed as Date.

Not a big deal, but this is my idea here.

<http://commons.apache.org/dbutils/>

Also JPA will do some kinds of automatic instantiation for you:

<http://openjpa.apache.org/builds/1.0.4/apache-openjpa-1.0.4/docs/manual/jpa_ overview_mapping_inher.html>


I didn't check to see if those are the most recent docs (I don't use
this sort of feature). Google for "JPA table inheritance" and check
through the results carefully.




Honestly, while we all appreciate the attempt, you example is far from
complete. We can guess at a few things, but you should think much more
carefully at what the real problem is and design something to illustrate
it.

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[Lew]

To: Donkey Hottie
From: Lew <[email protected]>

markspace kirjoitti:

I am trying to convert a simple { String name, String value } pair in

How about a Map<String, Global<?>>

Also, you should move that if-chain reflection out of your app and use
polymorphism instead.

database to a Global<T>(name) so that it will convert the Java simple
datatypes to a string and back. This is for system parameters,
configuration parameters.

String value = SystemProperties.getString("ParamName") ;

It is OK, but I'm kind of toying with idea of strong typing of System
Parameters: A Date can not be stored as Long or Double etc..

Using strings to look up types is not strong typing.

The back end of the system parameters is simply



CREATE TABLE SystemParameters
(
name varchar(64) not null primary_key,
value varchar(512)
) ;


That's it. That is have the table is given to me. But I want to make the
Java code bit more pedantic on the types of the parameters it uses and
maintains.

JPA does that for you, too.

Anyway, your use of reflection is anti-pedantic.

--
Lew

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[markspace]

To: Donkey Hottie
From: markspace <-@.>

It is indeed kind of spooky and strange idea, after all what is so wrong
about simple

String value = SystemProperties.getString("ParamName") ;

It is OK, but I'm kind of toying with idea of strong typing of System
Parameters: A Date can not be stored as Long or Double etc..

To do something like this, I'd arrange some implementation for the parameter:

class Parameter {
public void processParam( String param ) {
double d = Double.parse( param ); // or whatever...
...
}
}

And then use a Map as Lew suggests or some other method of binding the
Parameter class to the string "ParamName".

(You could, for example use Class.forName():
Parameter proc = Class.forName(
"my.project.parameter."+"ParamName").newInstance();

or you could use annotations:

@Parameter("ParamName")
class Parameter {...

or any other crazy thing you like. It would probably be better than what you
have now.)

The back end of the system parameters is simply

CREATE TABLE SystemParameters
(
name varchar(64) not null primary_key,
value varchar(512)
) ;

I've written this table definition. In fact it was 23 odd years ago, as in
intern while still in college. I don't know if it's good or bad practice, but
it seems a common idea.

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[Donkey Hottie]

To: markspace
From: Donkey Hottie <[email protected]>

03.08.2012 06:08, markspace kirjoitti:

I've written this table definition. In fact it was 23 odd years ago, as
in intern while still in college. I don't know if it's good or bad
practice, but it seems a common idea.

Not much worse that a property file common in Java. But a database table allows
automatic parameters per a SaaS tenant.

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[Donkey Hottie]

To: Donkey Hottie
From: Donkey Hottie <[email protected]>

02.08.2012 22:04, Donkey Hottie kirjoitti:

I have this class called Global. It is trying to be a simplistic
simulation of global as in MUMPS/M language. It is a persistent
variable, that is accessible everywhere, and retains it's value over
time. I store them in a database.

Actually I renamed this to a SystemProperty, and will implement the Global<T
extends java.io.Serializable> later. It will act just like MUMPS Global and
does not need any clutterin oddities. Any serializable objects just serialized
to a BLOB.

I have a separate use case for that too.

public class Global<T extends java.io.Serializable> {

private static final Log LOG = LogFactoryUtil.getLog(Global.class);
final String name;
final Connection conn;

public Global(String name, Connection conn)
{
this.name = name;
this.conn = conn;
}

public T get() throws Exception
{
T rc = null;
LOG.info(String.format("Returning Global value %s=%s ",
this.name, String.valueOf(rc)));
throw new Exception("Not yet implemented!");
}

public void set(T value) throws Exception
{
LOG.info(String.format("Setting Global value %s=%s ",
this.name, String.valueOf(value)));
throw new Exception("Not yet implemented!");
}
}

First problem I have is to translate the type to a lower level
application API call. I can not leave the cast or type conversion to
compiler only.

For that I figured out that I may need a variable of Class<T>, I'm using
the variables isAssignableFrom(Class) to find out the correct API call.
Could there be a simpler way?

the final Class<T> as a member variable. Is that really needed? How
could I use some typeinfo (reflection API?) instead?

If I could use serialization and store the objects that way maybe into
BLOBs there would not be problems, but currently I can not do that.

I would like to get rid of that "klass" argument for the Global<T>. Any
ideas?

Class is a simple version containg only the important parts.

public class Global<T extends Object>
{
final String name ;
final Connection conn ;
final Class<T> klass;
public Global(String name, Connection conn, Class<T> klass)
{
this.name = name ;
this.conn = conn ;
this.klass = klass;
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public T get() throws Exception
{
T rc = null;
if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Boolean.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemBoolean(name, conn);
}
else if(klass.isAssignableFrom(Date.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemDate(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Long.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemLong(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(Integer.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemInt(name, conn);
}
else if (klass.isAssignableFrom(String.class))
{
rc = (T)SystemProperties.getSystemString(name, conn);
}
return rc ;
}
}

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Dada-1
* Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)
--- Synchronet 3.16a-Win32 NewsLink 1.98
Time Warp of the Future BBS - telnet://time.synchro.net:24