Ignore null values in BeanUtils.copyProperties

Question

I am using the Apache Commons BeanUtils for copying some properties from a Source Bean to a Destination Bean. In this, I do NOT want to set null values in my destination bean which are coming from the source bean.

Like for example:

Person sourcePerson = new Person();
sourcePerson.setHomePhone("123");
sourcePerson.setOfficePhone(null);

Person destPerson = new Person();
destPerson.setOfficePhone("456");

BeanUtils.copyProperties(destPerson, sourcePerson);
System.out.println(destPerson.getOffcePhone());

//Here destPerson officePhone gets set to null

How do I avoid this? I tried even putting the below statement: BeanUtilsBean.getInstance().getConvertUtils().register(false, false, 0);

which doesn't seem to help.

Any way we can exclude nulls in Apache Commons BeanUtils?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17417345/beanutils-copyproperties-api-to-ignore-null-and-specific-propertie — StanislavL, May 05 '17 at 08:12
You can use PropertyUtils which will not try to convert the property...Otherwise you need to register the ConvertUtils.register for a default value... — VelNaga, May 05 '17 at 08:18
I don't want any default value, I simply dont want to override existing values with null. I still didnt get how PropertyUtils excludes nulls. — Ram Gaddam, May 05 '17 at 09:10
@StanislavL ignoreProperties option doesn't solve this problem, and neither did ConvertUtils, as stated in the question. — Ram Gaddam, May 05 '17 at 09:12

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 05 '17 at 09:28

Apache Commons BeanUtils do not support this situation. So you should do this by your self:

public class BeanUtils {

    public static void copyPropertiesIgnoreNull(Object source, Object dest) {
        final BeanWrapper src = new BeanWrapperImpl(source);
        java.beans.PropertyDescriptor[] pds = src.getPropertyDescriptors();
        for(java.beans.PropertyDescriptor pd : pds) {
            if(!src.isReadableProperty(pd.getName()) || pd.getWriteMethod() == null){
                continue;
            }
            Object srcValue = src.getPropertyValue(pd.getName());
            if (srcValue == null) {
                continue;
            }
            BeanUtils.copyProperties(dest, pd.getName(), srcValue);
        }
    }
}

Which package/version are you using to get this to work? `BeanUtils.copyProperties(dest, pd.getName(), srcValue);` — JustOneMoreQuestion, Jun 05 '17 at 08:36

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 12 '17 at 11:37

1

BeanUtils does not work when properties are nested such as contact.businessName.firstname where firstName is the string and others are user defined class.

edited Jul 12 '17 at 11:37

Eric Aya

69,473
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answered Jul 12 '17 at 10:10

Ash

2,095
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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 28 '20 at 19:21

Extend BeanUtilsBean

public class NullAwareBeanUtilsBean extends BeanUtilsBean{
  @Override
  public void copyProperty(Object dest, String name, Object value)
      throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException {
    if(value==null)return;
    super.copyProperty(dest, name, value);
  }
}

BeanUtilsBean notNull = new NullAwareBeanUtilsBean();
notNull.copyProperties(target, source);

That should do it.

Ignore null values in BeanUtils.copyProperties

3 Answers3