many arguments in a method vs specific arguments - java

This question is more about the convention or approach to follow.
So, I have an scenario in which there are four input text fields on the view in two pairs, lets say they are:
first pair : FirstName and LastName
second pair : Department and designation
and there is only one search button. Here, if user starts enter into the first pair, the second pair got disabled/non-editable and vice-versa.
When user clicks on the search button, request goes to some controller/servlet/action,
Now, in my business logic, what should be the approach to write method(s) for this search.
write a single method for all four fields then check the value of the arguments, and decide what would be the query to perform.
write two methods with specified paired parameters only.

The less arguments the better (if your following the "Clean Code" school, as taught by Robert Martin for example).
In your case: isn't the best option to pass down some sort of Map? Keys could be the various search "categories"; and values would be the corresponding values. That way, there is always only one parameter; and your business logic is written right from the beginning to simply deal with all map entries?
That way, you can always add/remove categories, without changing the interface.
EDIT: as you are still asking about the "conceptional" 2 vs 4 parameter thing; for that I would suggest: do some research; you can start studying here!

Number one is the worst solution imho. I'd write a simple container for the four values and pass that container to one specific function. That way you can put validation logic in that container and have the function simply do its work.

Related

Flink State Across multiple Transformers

How can I access a state using the same-id across multiple transformers, for example the following stores an Order object via ValueState in OrderMapper class:
env.addSource(source1()).keyBy(Order::getId).flatMap(new OrderMapper()).addSink(sink1());
Now I would like to access the same Order object via a SubOrderMapper class:
env.addSource(source2()).keyBy(SubOrder::getOrderId).flatMap(new SubOrderMapper()).addSink(sink2());
Edit: Looks like it's not possible to have state maintained across multiple operators, is there a way to have one operator accept multiple inputs, lets say 5 sources?
Take a look at CoProcessFunction
To realize low-level operations on two inputs, applications can use
CoProcessFunction or KeyedCoProcessFunction. This function is bound to
two different inputs and gets individual calls to processElement1(...)
and processElement2(...) for records from the two different inputs.
Also side outputs might be useful for you. side output
Edit:
Union operator my be an option.
Union
You can create a custom EitherOfFive class that contains one of your five different stream values (I'm assuming they are all different). See Flink's Either class for the one of two case.
Each input stream would use a Map function that converts the input class type to an EitherOfFive type.
There would be a getKey() method that would figure out (based on which of the five values is actually set) what key to return. And then you can have a single KeyedProcessFunction that takes as input this EitherOfFive type.
If the output is always the same, then you're all set. Otherwise you'll want side outputs, one per type, that feed the five different sinks.

get a getter method from field name to avoid if-else

I have this code, which obviously doesn't look nice - it seems all the if-else can somehow be avoided.
if(sortBy.equals("firstName"))
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getFirstName));
else if(sortBy.equals("lastName"))
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getLastName));
else if(sortBy.equals("age"))
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getAge));
else if(sortBy.equals("city"))
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getCity));
else if(sortBy.equals("state"))
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getState));
else if(sortBy.equals("zipCode"))
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getZipCode));
the function takes sortBy, which is the name of one of the attributes of a Person, and applies a sorting to a personList based on that field. How can I avoid the if-else and write a better looking, possibily one line code?
Currently I have found that I can use a HashMap to create a mapping between a field name and a corresponding comparator.
map.put("age", Comparator.comparing(Person::getAge));
map.put("firstName", Comparator.comparing(Person::getFirstName))
...
And use personList.sort(map.get(sortBy)).
But still felt like it can further be improved without an extra step, to the point where it follows the open-closed principle, and adding a new field to Person would not need us to modify the code. I'm looking for something like
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getterOfField(sortBy)))
UPDATE-1
For now, I decided to stick with using a Map<String, Function<Person, Comparable<?>> and I do not like to consider reflection based solutions. But still searching if I can find a similar way as this one where sort is a parameter.
UPDATE-2
I think a one-liner is not a good solution, cuz you wouldn't get a compile time error if one of the fields does not implement Comparator.
In general java doesn't want you to work with it this way1; it is not a structurally typed language, and unlike e.g. javascript or python, objects aren't "hashmaps of strings to thingies".
Also, your request more fundamentally doesn't add up: You can't just go from "field name" to "sort on that": What if the field's type isn't inherently sortable (is not a subtype of Comparator<Self>?)
What if there is a column in whatever view we're talking about / config file that is 'generated'? Imagine you have a field LocalDate birthDate; but you have a column 'birth month'2. You can sort on birth month, no problem. However, given that it's a 'generated value' (not backed directly by a field, instead, derived from a calculation based on field(s)), you can't just sort on this. You can't even sort on the backing field (as that would sort by birth year first, not what you want), nor does 'backing field' make sense; what if the virtual column is based on multiple fields?
It is certainly possible that currently you aren't imagining either virtual columns or fields whose type isn't self-sortable and that therefore you want to deposit a rule that for this class, you close the door on these two notions until a pretty major refactor, but it goes to show perhaps why "java does not work that way" is in fact somewhat 'good' (closely meshes with real life concerns), and why your example isn't as boilerplatey as you may have initially thought: No, it is not, in fact, inevitable. Specifically, you seem to want:
There is an exact 1-to-1 match between 'column sort keys' and field names.
The strategy to deliver on the request to sort on a given column sort key is always the same: Take the column sort key. Find the field (it has the same name); now find its getter. Create a comparator based on comparing get calls; this getter returns a type that has a natural sorting order guaranteed.
Which are 2 non-obvious preconditions that seem to have gotten a bit lost. At any rate, a statement like:
if(sortBy.equals("firstName"))
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(Person::getFirstName));
encodes these 2 non-obvious properties, and trivially, therefore means it is also possible to add virtual columns as well as sort keys that work differently (for example, sorts on birth month, or, sorts on some explicit comparator you write for this purpose. Or even sorts case insensitively; strings by default do not do that, you'd have to sort by String.CASE_INSENSITIVE_COMPARATOR instead.
It strikes me as a rather badly written app if a change request comes in with: "Hey, could you make the sort option that sorts on patient name be case insensitive?" and you go: "Hooo boy that'll be a personweek+ of refactoring work!", no?
But, if you insist, you have 2 broad options:
Reflection
Reflection lets you write code that programatically gets a list of field names, method names, and can also be used to programatically call them. You can fetch a list of method names and filter out everything except:
instance methods
with no arguments
whose name starts with get
And do a simple-ish get-prefix-to-sort-key conversion (basically, .substring(3) to lop off the get, then lowercase the first character, though note that the rules for getter to field name get contradictory if the first 'word' of the field is a single letter, such as getXAxis, where half of the beanspec documents say the field name is definitely XAxis, as xAxis would have become getxAxis, and the other half say it is ambiguous and could mean the field name is XAxis or xAxis).
It looks something like this:
// intentionally raw type!
Map comparators = new HashMap();
for (Method m : Person.class.getMethods()) {
if (Modifiers.isStatic(m.getModifiers()) continue;
if (m.getParameterCount() != 0) continue;
String n = m.getName();
if (!n.startsWith("get") || n.length() < 4) continue;
n = Character.toLowerCase(n.charAt(3)) + n.substring(4);
comparators.put(n, (a, b) -> {
Object aa = m.invoke(a);
Object bb = m.invoke(b);
return ((Comparable) aa).compareTo(bb);
});
}
MyClass.COMPARATORS = (Map<String, Comparator<?>>) Collections.unmodifiableMap(comparators);
Note how this causes a boatload of errors because you just chucked type checking out the window - there is no actual way to ensure that any given getter type actually is an appropriate Comparable. The warnings are correct and you have to ignore them, no fixing that, if you go by this route.
You also get a ton of checked exceptions issues that you'll have to deal with by catching them and rethrowing something appropriate; possibly RuntimeException or similar if you want to disregard the need to deal with them by callers (some RuntimeException is appropriate if you consider any attempt to add a field of a type that isn't naturally comparable 'a bug').
Annotation Processors
This is a lot more complicated: You can stick annotations on a method, and then have an annotation processor that sees these and generates a source file that does what you want. This is more flexible and more 'compile time checked', in that you can e.g. check that things are of an appropriate type, or add support for mentioning a class in the annotation that is an implementation of Comparable<T>, T being compatible with the type of the field you so annotate. You can also annotate methods themselves (e.g. a public Month getBirthMonth() method). I suggest you search the web for an annotation processor tutorial, it'd be a bit much to stuff an example in an SO answer. Expect to spend a few days learning and writing it, it won't be trivial.
[1] This is a largely objective statement. Falsifiable elements: There are no field-based 'lambda accessors'; no foo::fieldName support. Java does not support structural typing and there is no way to refer to things in the language by name alone, only by fully qualified name (you can let the compiler infer things, but the compiler always translates what you write to a fully "named" (package name, type name that the thing you are referring to is in, and finally the name of the method or field) and then sticks that in the class file).
[2] At least in the Netherlands it is somewhat common to split patient populations up by birth month (as a convenient way to split a population into 12 roughly equally sized, mostly arbitrary chunks) e.g. for inviting them in for a checkup or a flu shot or whatnot.
Assuming that the sortBy values and the corresponding getters are known at compile, this would be a good place to use a string switch statement:
Function<Person.String> getter = null;
switch (sortBy) {
case "firstName":
getter = Person::getFirstName; break;
case "lastName":
getter = Person::getLastName; break;
...
}
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(getter));
If you use a recent version of Java (Java 12 and later) you could use a switch expression rather than a switch statement.
Function<Person.String> getter;
getter = switch (sortBy) {
case "firstName" -> Person::getFirstName;
case "lastName" -> Person::getLastName;
...
default -> null;
}
personList.sort(Comparator.comparing(getter));
Note: you should do a better job (than my dodgy code) of dealing with the case where the sortBy value is not recognized.
As keshlam suggested, I think using the reflection API is the best fitting answer to your question, but keep in mind that using it in production code is generally discouraged.
Note: if you add a new Person-attribute which isn't itself Comparable, you'll have to resort to a custom Comparator anyway. With that in mind, you might want to keep the Map<String, Comparator<?>> solution you already have.

Can not understand the sequence of method and constructor

According to sequence diagram I should create firstly method "regisreItem(Item item)" with argument "item" as an object. I see my problem that the constructor for "items" is called after the method "regisreItem(Item item)" so that I have nothing to insert into "regisreItem(Item item)" method according sequence diagramm. Or not ?
Sequence diagram
Class diagram
Here is a part of sequence diagram i am interested in
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eJolWNoN32IubP3iaaXPc_cLM5Es08hK
Here is all my sort of code.
Please provide me some sort of code ho is it possible to implement.
And clarify the beginning of sequence diagram.
Since the operation registerItem expects an item as parameter, the Auctioneer object needs to create it, before calling the operation. That means the Auctioneer has to send a create message, not the Auction (using new Item() as a parameter is not possible in a sequence diagram - and it doesn’t change the creator anyway). i1 and i2 are attributes of the interaction. They can be used as parameters of registerItem.
addBid also expects a bidder. Again the attributes Max and Moritzof the interaction should be used here.
In a real program these interaction attributes would be temporary variables of the Auction::addBid operation or of the Auctioneer. The Auctioneer is probably not supposed to have variables, therefore the registerItem Operation should probably only have generic data types such as stringas parameters.
The Auction is supposed to send messages to i1 and i2, however, since these are attributes of the interaction, the Auction object does not know them. It’s Ok to omit this detail, but it would be better to show how the Auction finds the relevant Item, for example with a findItemByName Operation called on itself.
A better alternative is, to let the Auction send the messages to its own attribute allItems. Then two lifelines would represent the same attribute, but with different objects. A selector could be used to distinguish between the two objects in the slot defined by this attribute (allItems[0], allItems[1], this is optional). The same is applicable to allBids instead of b300EUR and the like.
You can get around the issue of the Item constructor being called after registerItem by using:
registerItem(new Item(...));
and passing in the attributes of Item i1 and i2. That will create the new Item and then it can be added to the auction Item list.
I'm assuming the start of the sequence diagram is the auctioneer creating or opening an already created auction and then adding a list of items that will be used in the auction by repeatedly calling registerItem(new Item(...)); which can then have bids added to them by Max and Moritz via the Auction object

4 Key Value HashMap? Array? Best Approach?

I've got loads of the following to implement.
validateParameter(field_name, field_type, field_validationMessage, visibleBoolean);
Instead of having 50-60 of these in a row, is there some form of nested hashmap/4d array I can use to build it up and loop through them?
Whats the best approach for doing something like that?
Thanks!
EDIT: Was 4 items.
What you could do is create a new Class that holds three values. (The type, the boolean, and name, or the fourth value (you didn't list it)). Then, when creating the HashMap, all you have to do is call the method to get your three values. It may seem like more work, but all you would have to do is create a simple loop to go through all of the values you need. Since I don't know exactly what it is that you're trying to do, all I can do is provide an example of what I'm trying to do. Hope it applies to your problem.
Anyways, creating the Class to hold the three(or four) values you need.
For example,
Class Fields{
String field_name;
Integer field_type;
Boolean validationMessageVisible;
Fields(String name, Integer type, Boolean mv) {
// this.field_name = name;
this.field_type = type;
this.validationMessageVisible = mv;
}
Then put them in a HashMap somewhat like this:
HashMap map = new HashMap<String, Triple>();
map.put(LOCAL STRING FOR NAME OF FIELD, new Field(new Integer(YOUR INTEGER),new Boolean(YOUR BOOLEAN)));
NOTE: This is only going to work as long as these three or four values can all be stored together. For example if you need all of the values to be stored separately for whatever reason it may be, then this won't work. Only if they can be grouped together without it affecting the function of the program, that this will work.
This was a quick brainstorm. Not sure if it will work, but think along these lines and I believe it should work out for you.
You may have to make a few edits, but this should get you in the right direction
P.S. Sorry for it being so wordy, just tried to get as many details out as possible.
The other answer is close but you don't need a key in this case.
Just define a class to contain your three fields. Create a List or array of that class. Loop over the list or array calling the method for each combination.
The approach I'd use is to create a POJO (or some POJOs) to store the values as attributes and validate attribute by attribute.
Since many times you're going to have the same validation per attribute type (e.g. dates and numbers can be validated by range, strings can be validated to ensure they´re not null or empty, etc), you could just iterate on these attributes using reflection (or even better, using annotations).
If you need to validate on the POJO level, you can still reuse these attribute-level validators via composition, while you add more specific validations are you´re going up in the abstraction level (going up means basic attributes -> pojos -> pojos that contain other pojos -> etc).
Passing several basic types as parameters of the same method is not good because the parameters themselves don't tell much and you can easily exchange two parameters of the same type by accident in the method call.

New classes created by users?

Consider this situation: I've got an aquarium simulator where I have 5 different types of fishes. Different types means different attributes (speed, colour, hunger, etc). What if I want the user of my simulator to be able to create a new type of fish and give it its values for its attributes?
How is that implemented by the programmer? Do I need some kind of "event handling" that will add a specific bunch of lines of code in my "Fish" class? Is that even a valid thought?
(In case it's essential, the language is Java. And to avoid any misunderstandings and prevent comments like "is this uni work?", yes it is. But I am not looking for THE answer, I am curious about the concept.)
EDIT: Yeah, my bad that I didn't mention the interaction way: a GUI.
So, imagine a tab called "Add New Species" that has a field for every attribute of the fishes (type, speed, colour, etc). So, the user fills in the fields with the appropriate values and when he clicks on "add" the constructor is called. At least that's how I imagine it. :)
I would just use a map:
class Fish
{
Map<String,String> attributes = new HashMap<String,String>();
setBusterFish()
{
attributes.put("speed", "5");
attributes.put("colour", "red");
attributes.put("hunger", "10");
attributes.put("name", "buster");
}
}
Java is an OO language, and it deals in classes and objects. The tempting, naive solution would be to have your program deal with "classes" of fish like it deals with classes of anything, i.e. to create some Java code and let the compiler and loader introduce it into the runtime.
This approach can be made to work, with some awkwardness. Essentially your "dynamic Java classes" coding would probably end up much bigger and complicated than your assignment actually intends.
You only really need to do this if you are actually going to have different attributes (not just different values of those attributes) for your different fish; and even then there are simpler solutions.
For what's being asked, I think you really only need one Fish class. When the user defines a new one, what he's really defining are the attribute values.
If you really want new and dynamic attributes, then you could go a long way using e.g. a HashMap to store name/value pairs. You could let the user add "legs" / "4" and then print out that new attribute as-is; but you couldn't make the fish walk on those legs because you'd be missing coding to work with the new attribute.
Have a look at the type object pattern. Also google for it I just gave one of the first references I found...
You may also look the Reflection pattern...
Let the user define attribute values of an instance of, say, a FishSpecies class, and give the FishSpecies a method createFish that creates a fish of that species (i.e. having those attribute values). Keeping track of all FishSpecies objects in a list grants you the opportunity to manage FishSpecies objects, and create Fish objects of given species.
If I understand your question correctly, then I believe that complicating things more than this is a mistake.

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