Java Generics - Mixed Object Maps

Question

I'm still getting used to Java Generics however I'm currently in the process of updating an application written prior to generics to use the latest version of java.

Problem is the code was not written with type safety in mind!

We have a whole bunch of Maps that basically hold various object types including strings. For example:

Map map = new HashMap();
map.put("key1", "String1");
map.put("key2", new Date());
map.put("key3", new CutsomClass());

Now I'm still struggling with the best way to handle these without getting into refactoring a whole lot of code. Refactoring is not an option at this time.

Currently I can't see anything past Map<String, Object> although Map<String, ? super Object> works but I think its essentially the same thing ?

Answer 1

I'm still struggling with the best way to handle these without getting into refactoring a whole lot of code

So don't change them at all. The raw types - that is, the non-generic types - are still technically valid. It's not ideal and it will generate a compiler warning but the code will work (well, work as well as it ever did).

All classes extend Object so you can put any value you want into the following map:

Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<>();

You get an additional guarantee that the key is a string, so its somewhat better than using the raw type.

Basically though, you should really try to avoid using a map if you can't define the type of the key or the value.

Answer 2

As Michael suggested Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<>(); is a first step.
However, it assumes that you have only String as keys and you will probably need to cast objects you get from the map.

I think that a second step would be to split this map into multiple maps declaring a more specific type :

Map<String, Date> mapDates = new HashMap<>(); 
Map<String, String> mapStrings = new HashMap<>(); 
Map<String, CustomClass> mapCutsomClasses = new HashMap<>(); 

Answer 3

As of now, you can only replace the raw type Map with Map<String, Object>; but that type information is close to "useless". Unless you refactor your whole component to deal with different map objects, there isn't much you can do. Of course, you can get rid of the type warnings, but you still have to do instanceof checks each time you access a Map value.

On way out of this: assuming that number of "value" types is known and reasonably small, you could create a bunch of helper methods that go like:

public Map<String, Date> extractDates(Map<String, Object> allValues) {
...

This method could implement a "wrapper" around the allValues map that only provides those map entries that are actually Date objects.

Meaning: you keep your current map object, but you provide "more specialized" views on that map. That allows you to write new code exploiting the additional type information.

But of course, this doesn't come for free. It adds certain complexity, and defining the exact details of such "view maps" might turn out to be rather complicated.

Answer 4

There is little you can do to achieve the full static type checking available with Generics used properly. However, I don't believe you must abandon type checking completely and rely on run-time casting in this case. I think you can go one step towards that.

I assume this is a common map that the code uses for general storage, perhaps for persistence or properties etc. If this is the case then you can at least do something like this:

class AnyMap<K>  {
    final Map<K,Object> map;

    public AnyMap(Map<K, Object> map) {
        this.map = map;
    }

    public <V> Map<K,V> as(Class<V> theClass) {
        return (Map<K,V>) map;
    }
}

public void test() {
    AnyMap<String> commonMap = new AnyMap<>(Collections.EMPTY_MAP);

    // Use this one as a Date map.
    Map<String,Date> dateMap = commonMap.as(Date.class);
    // This one as a String map.
    Map<String,String> stringMap = commonMap.as(String.class);

}

This is a kind of Map holder that can then deliver the map as a proper generic object with the correct bounds. Hopefully you will find that certain modules will use the common map exclusively for Dates and others will use Strings. In areas such as these you can use Map<X,Y> as(...) to give you a properly statically-checked map for that module/section and use that exclusively in that code section.

Answer 5

Dont use raw types... see this to know why..

Now, you can break it out as following, so you can get it:

your map<K,V> has as keys Strings only, so K = string will be correct, on the other hand "String1", new Date() and new Custom Class seems to have nothing in common, but wait, all the classes in java are actually inheriting the Object class... that means you can do V=Object

now your map can be declared as Map<String, Object> and all this

map.put("key1", "String1");
map.put("key2", new Date());
map.put("key3", new CutsomClass());

will be ok

Answer 6

Conversion from non-generics (e.g. old Java) to generics can be a real PITA. The easiest way to do it is to replace each Map, Set, List with related generic, e.g.

Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<>();

but only if mapped objects are not generics too (or are generics just used for reading). E.g. if in your code had something like

Map hasmap = new HashMap();
hashmap.put("blah",123)
map.put("keyX",hashmap);

In such cases, when you find map getter, and you will have in original code a put, you will have lot of troubles:

Map hashmap = (HashMap)(map.get("keyX"));
Integer value = hashmap.get("blah");
hashmap.put("otherkey","mooo");

In this case, you can't have clear code: if you use question marks, you will face errors, like in

Map<?,?> hashmap = (HashMap<?,?>)(map.get("keyX"));
Integer value = (Integer)hashmap.get("blah"); // this works 
hashmap.put("otherkey","mooo"); // this crashes

so you have two alternatives: rewrite code (to avoid warnings), or force everything at Objects, and receive Unchecked Casts warnings.

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
Map<Object,Object> hashmap = (HashMap<Object,Object>)(map.get("keyX"));
Integer value = (Integer)hashmap.get("blah"); // this works 
hashmap.put("otherkey","mooo"); // this works too

Further details about question marks and generics can be found here: What is the difference between ? and Object in Java generics?

Answer 7

Looks like you want to quickly port the old code in and also you want to move the old code towards strict type safety without refactoring a large code base. Keep your old code by porting it in using this:

Map<String, Object> oldMapPorted = new HashMap<>();

New code written in this app can use a technique like this for strict type safety:

Map<String, Date> newMapDates = new HashMap<>(); 
Map<String, String> newMapStrings = new HashMap<>(); 
Map<String, CustomClass> newCutsomClasses = new HashMap<>();

A new class can be created for future edits and enhancements while the old code still has the same potential instability as usual.