Overriding equals() & hashCode() in sub classes ... considering super fields

Question

Is there a specific rule on how Overriding equals() & hashCode() in sub classes considering super fields ?? knowing that there is many parameters : super fields are private/public , with/without getter ...

For instance, Netbeans generated equals() & hashCode() will not consider the super fields ... and

    new HomoSapiens("M", "80", "1.80", "Cammeron", "VeryHot").equals(
    new HomoSapiens("F", "50", "1.50", "Cammeron", "VeryHot"))

will return true :(

public class Hominidae {

    public String  gender;
    public String  weight;
    public String  height;

    public Hominidae(String gender, String weight, String height) {
        this.gender = gender;
        this.weight = weight;
        this.height = height;
    }
    ... 
}

public class HomoSapiens extends Hominidae {
    public String name;
    public String faceBookNickname;

    public HomoSapiens(String gender, String weight, String height, 
                       String name, String facebookId) {
        super(gender, weight, height);
        this.name = name;
        this.faceBookNickname = facebookId;
    }
    ...  
}

If you want to see the Netbeans generated equals() & hashCode() :

public class Hominidae {

    ...

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if (obj == null) {
            return false;
        }
        if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) {
            return false;
        }
        final Hominidae other = (Hominidae) obj;
        if ((this.gender == null) ? (other.gender != null) : !this.gender.equals(other.gender)) {
            return false;
        }
        if ((this.weight == null) ? (other.weight != null) : !this.weight.equals(other.weight)) {
            return false;
        }
        if ((this.height == null) ? (other.height != null) : !this.height.equals(other.height)) {
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        int hash = 5;
        hash = 37 * hash + (this.gender != null ? this.gender.hashCode() : 0);
        hash = 37 * hash + (this.weight != null ? this.weight.hashCode() : 0);
        hash = 37 * hash + (this.height != null ? this.height.hashCode() : 0);
        return hash;
    }

}


public class HomoSapiens extends Hominidae {

    ...

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if (obj == null) {
            return false;
        }
        if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) {
            return false;
        }
        final HomoSapiens other = (HomoSapiens) obj;
        if ((this.name == null) ? (other.name != null) : !this.name.equals(other.name)) {
            return false;
        }
        if ((this.faceBookNickname == null) ? (other.faceBookNickname != null) : !this.faceBookNickname.equals(other.faceBookNickname)) {
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        int hash = 7;
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.name != null ? this.name.hashCode() : 0);
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.faceBookNickname != null ? this.faceBookNickname.hashCode() : 0);
        return hash;
    }
}

Answer 1

Children should not examine the private members of their parents

But obviously, all significant fields should be taken into account for equality and hashing.

Fortunately, you you can easily satisfy both rules.

Assuming you're not stuck using the NetBeans-generated equals and hashcode, you can modify Hominidae's equals method to use instanceof comparison rather than class equality, and then use it straightforwardly. Something like this:

    @Override  
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {  
        if (obj == null) { return false; }  
        if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) { return false; }  
        if (! super.equals(obj)) return false;
        else {
           // compare subclass fields
        }

Of course, hashcode is easy:

    @Override     
    public int hashCode() {     
        int hash = super.hashCode();
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.name != null ? this.name.hashCode() : 0);     
        hash = 89 * hash + (this.faceBookNickname != null ? this.faceBookNickname.hashCode() : 0);     
        return hash;     
    }     

Seriously, though: what's up with NetBeans not taking superclass fields into account by calling the superclass methods?

Answer 2

I prefer to use EqualsBuilder (and HashcodeBuilder) from the commons-lang package to make my equals() and hashcode() methods a lot easier to read.

Example:

public boolean equals(Object obj) {
 if (obj == null) { return false; }
 if (obj == this) { return true; }
 if (obj.getClass() != getClass()) {
   return false;
 }
 MyClass rhs = (MyClass) obj;
 return new EqualsBuilder()
             .appendSuper(super.equals(obj))
             .append(field1, rhs.field1)
             .append(field2, rhs.field2)
             .append(field3, rhs.field3)
             .isEquals();
}

Answer 3

Generally speaking implementing equals across subclasses is hard to keep symmetric and transitive.

Consider a superclass that checks for field x and y, and subclass checks for x, y and z.

So a Subclass == Superclass == Subclass where z is different between the first instance of Subclass and the second, violating the transitive part of the contract.

This why the typical implementation of equals will check for getClass() != obj.getClass() instead of doing an instanceof. In the above example, if SubClass or Superclass does an instanceof check it would break symmetry.

So the upshot is that a subclass can certainly take into account super.equals() but should also do its own getClass() check to avoid the above issues and then check for equals on its own fields in addition. It would be a strange duck of a class that changed its own equals behavior based on specific fields of the superclass rather than just if the superclass returns equals.

Answer 4

The rules are:

• It is reflexive: for any non-null reference value x, x.equals(x) should return true.
• It is symmetric: for any non-null reference values x and y, x.equals(y) should return true if and only if y.equals(x) returns true.
• It is transitive: for any non-null reference values x, y, and z, if x.equals(y) returns true and y.equals(z) returns true, then x.equals(z) should return true.
• It is consistent: for any non-null reference values x and y, multiple invocations of x.equals(y) consistently return true or consistently return false, provided no information used in equals comparisons on the objects is modified.
• For any non-null reference value x, x.equals(null) should return false.
• Is generally necessary to override the hashCode method whenever this method is overridden, so as to maintain the general contract for the hashCode method, which states that equal objects must have equal hash codes

from Object.equals().

So, use the fields needed to fulfill the rules.

Answer 5

Well, HomoSapiens#hashcode will be enough with CPerkins's answer.

@Override     
public int hashCode() {     
    int hash = super.hashCode();
    hash = 89 * hash + Objects.hash(name);     
    hash = 89 * hash + Objects.hash(faceBookNickname);     
    return hash;     
}

If you want those parent's fields(gender, weight, height) in action, one way is creating an actual instance of parent type and use it. Thank God, it's not an abstract class.

@Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
    if (obj == null) {
        return false;
    }
    if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) {
        return false;
    }
    final HomoSapiens other = (HomoSapiens) obj;
    if (!super.equals(new Hominidae(
        other.gender, other.weight, other.height))) {
         return false;
    }
    if (!Objects.equals(name, other.name)) return false;
    if (!Objects.equals(faceBookNickname, other.faceBookNickname))
        return false;
    return true;
}

I'm adding a way to (I think) solve this. The key point is adding a method loosely checks the equality.

public class Parent {

    public Parent(final String name) {
        super(); this.name = name;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return hash = 53 * 7 + Objects.hashCode(name);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(final Object obj) {
        return equalsAs(obj) && getClass() == obj.getClass();
    }

    protected boolean equalsAs(final Object obj) {
        if (this == obj) return true;
        if (obj == null) return false;
        if (!getClass().isAssignableFrom(obj.getClass())) return false;
        final Parent other = (Parent) obj;
        if (!Objects.equals(name, other.name)) return false;
        return true;
    }

    private final String name;
}

And here comes the Child.

public class Child extends Parent {

    public Child(final String name, final int age) {
        super(name); this.age = age;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return hash = 31 * super.hashCode() + age;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(final Object obj) {
        return super.equals(obj);
    }

    @Override
    protected boolean equalsAs(final Object obj) {
        if (!super.equalsAs(obj)) return false;
        if (!getClass().isAssignableFrom(obj.getClass())) return false;
        final Child other = (Child) obj;
        if (age != other.age) return false;
        return true;
    }

    private final int age;
}

Testing...

@Test(invocationCount = 128)
public void assertReflective() {
    final String name = current().nextBoolean() ? "null" : null;
    final int age = current().nextInt();
    final Child x = new Child(name, age);
    assertTrue(x.equals(x));
    assertEquals(x.hashCode(), x.hashCode());
}

@Test(invocationCount = 128)
public void assertSymmetric() {
    final String name = current().nextBoolean() ? "null" : null;
    final int age = current().nextInt();
    final Child x = new Child(name, age);
    final Child y = new Child(name, age);
    assertTrue(x.equals(y));
    assertEquals(x.hashCode(), y.hashCode());
    assertTrue(y.equals(x));
    assertEquals(y.hashCode(), x.hashCode());
}

@Test(invocationCount = 128)
public void assertTransitive() {
    final String name = current().nextBoolean() ? "null" : null;
    final int age = current().nextInt();
    final Child x = new Child(name, age);
    final Child y = new Child(name, age);
    final Child z = new Child(name, age);
    assertTrue(x.equals(y));
    assertEquals(x.hashCode(), y.hashCode());
    assertTrue(y.equals(z));
    assertEquals(y.hashCode(), z.hashCode());
    assertTrue(x.equals(z));
    assertEquals(x.hashCode(), z.hashCode());
}

Answer 6

Regarding the accepted @CPerkins answer, I don't think the given equals() code will work reliably, due to the likelihood that the super.equals() method will also check for class equality. A subclass & superclass will not have equal classes.

Answer 7

It's worth noting that the IDE auto generation maybe has taken into consideration super class，just provided that the equals() and hashCode() of super class exists yet. That is, should auto generate these two functions of super first, and then auto generate of the child. I got below right example under Intellj Idea:

@Override
public boolean equals(Object o) {
    if (this == o) return true;
    if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
    if (!super.equals(o)) return false;

    TActivityWrapper that = (TActivityWrapper) o;

    return data != null ? data.equals(that.data) : that.data == null;
}

@Override
public int hashCode() {
    int result = super.hashCode();
    result = 31 * result + (data != null ? data.hashCode() : 0);
    return result;
}

The problem happens just when you don't auto generate super's in first. Please check above under Netbeans.

Answer 8

Because inheritance breaks encapsulation, subclasses that implement equals() and hashCode() must, necessarily, account for the peculiarities of their superclasses. I've had success encoding calls to the parent class's equals() and hashCode() methods from the subclass's methods.

Answer 9

It sounds like your parent (super) class doesn't override equals. If this is the case then you need to compare the fields from the parent class when you override this method in the sub-class. I agree that using the commons EqualsBuiler is the way to go but you do need to be careful that you don't break the symmetry/transative portions of the equals contract.

If your sub-class adds attributes to the parent class and the parent class isn't abstract and overrides equals you're going to get in to trouble. In this scenario you should really look at object composition instead of inheritance.

I'd strongly recommend the section in Effective Java by Joshua Block on this. It's comprehensive and really well explained.

Answer 10

I believe they now have a method that just does this for you :

EqualsBuilder.reflectionEquals(this, o);

HashCodeBuilder.reflectionHashCode(this);