Type of a generic class?

[Donkey Hottie]

From: "Donkey Hottie" <donkey.hottie@1:261/38.remove-5qr-this>

From: "Donkey Hottie" <donkey.hottie@1:261/38.remove-yy0-this>

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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[markspace]

To: Donkey Hottie
From: "markspace" <markspace@1:261/38.remove-5qr-this>

To: Donkey Hottie
From: "markspace" <markspace@1:261/38.remove-yy0-this>

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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[Lew]

To: Donkey Hottie
From: "Lew" <lew@1:261/38.remove-5qr-this>

To: Donkey Hottie
From: "Lew" <lew@1:261/38.remove-yy0-this>

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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