aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/website/features/Builder.html
blob: 22708c8d6b5be7c3b4c1f2b63e316d11de832948 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html><head>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
	<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../logi/reset.css" />
	<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="features.css" />
	<link rel="shortcut icon" href="../favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
	<meta name="description" content="Spice up your java" />
	<title>@Builder</title>
</head><body><div id="pepper">
	<div class="minimumHeight"></div>
	<div class="meat">
		<div class="header"><a href="../index.html">Project Lombok</a></div>
		<h1>@Builder</h1>
		<div class="byline">... and Bob's your uncle: No-hassle fancy-pants APIs for object creation!</div>
		<div class="since">
			<h3>Since</h3>
			<p>
				<code>@Builder</code> was introduced as experimental feature in lombok v0.12.0.
			</p><p>
				<code>@Builder</code> gained <code>@Singular</code> support and was promoted to the main <code>lombok</code> package since lombok v1.16.0.
			</p><p>
				<code>@Builder</code> with <code>@Singular</code> adds a clear method since lombok v1.16.8.
		</div>
		<div class="overview">
			<h3>Overview</h3>
			<p>
			The <code>@Builder</code> annotation produces complex builder APIs for your classes.
			</p><p>
			<code>@Builder</code> lets you automatically produce the code required to have your class be instantiable with code such as:<br />
			<code>Person.builder().name("Adam Savage").city("San Francisco").job("Mythbusters").job("Unchained Reaction").build();</code>
			</p><p>
			<code>@Builder</code> can be placed on a class, or on a constructor, or on a method. While the "on a class" and "on a constructor"
			mode are the most common use-case, <code>@Builder</code> is most easily explained with the "method" use-case.
			</p><p>
			A method annotated with <code>@Builder</code> (from now on called the <em>target</em>)  causes the following 7 things to be generated:<ul>
			<li>An inner class named <code><em>Foo</em>Builder</code>, with the same type arguments as the method (called the <em>builder</em>).</li>
			<li>In the <em>builder</em>: One private non-static non-final field for each parameter of the <em>target</em>.</li>
			<li>In the <em>builder</em>: A package private no-args empty constructor.</li>
			<li>In the <em>builder</em>: A 'setter'-like method for each parameter of the <em>target</em>: It has the same type as that parameter and the same name.
				It returns the builder itself, so that the setter calls can be chained, as in the above example.</li>
			<li>In the <em>builder</em>: A <code>build()</code> method which calls the method, passing in each field. It returns the same type that the
				<em>target</em> returns.</li>
			<li>In the <em>builder</em>: A sensible <code>toString()</code> implementation.</li>
			<li>In the class containing the <em>target</em>: A static <code>builder()</code> method, which creates a new instance of the <em>builder</em>.</li>
			</ul>
			Each listed generated element will be silently skipped if that element already exists (disregarding parameter counts and looking only at names). This
			includes the <em>builder</em> itself: If that class already exists, lombok will simply start injecting fields and methods inside this already existing
			class, unless of course the fields / methods to be injected already exist. You may not put any other method (or constructor) generating lombok annotation
			on a builder class though; for example, you can not put <code>@EqualsAndHashCode</code> on the builder class.
			</p><p>
			<code>@Builder</code> can generate so-called 'singular' methods for collection parameters/fields. These take 1 element instead of an entire list, and add the
			element to the list. For example: <code>Person.builder().job("Mythbusters").job("Unchained Reaction").build();</code> would result in the <code>List&lt;String&gt; jobs</code>
			field to have 2 strings in it. To get this behaviour, the field/parameter needs to be annotated with <code>@Singular</code>. The feature has <a href="#singular">its own documentation</a>.
			</p><p>
			Now that the "method" mode is clear, putting a <code>@Builder</code> annotation on a constructor functions similarly; effectively,
			constructors are just static methods that have a special syntax to invoke them: Their 'return type' is the class they construct, and their
			type parameters are the same as the type parameters of the class itself.
			</p><p>
			Finally, applying <code>@Builder</code> to a class is as if you added <code>@AllArgsConstructor(access = AccessLevel.PACKAGE)</code> to the class and applied the
			<code>@Builder</code> annotation to this all-args-constructor. This only works if you haven't written any explicit constructors yourself. If you do have an
			explicit constructor, put the <code>@Builder</code> annotation on the constructor instead of on the class.
			</p><p>
			If using <code>@Builder</code> to generate builders to produce instances of your own class (this is always the case unless adding <code>@Builder</code> to a static method that doesn't return your own type), you can use <code>@Builder(toBuilder = true)</code> to also generate an instance method in your class called <code>toBuilder()</code>; it creates a new builder that starts out with all the values of this instance. You can put the <code>@Builder.ObtainVia</code> annotation on the parameters (in case of a constructor or static method) or fields (in case of <code>@Builder</code> on a type) to indicate alternative means by which the value for that field/parameter is obtained from the instance. For example, you can specify a method to be invoked: <code>@Builder.ObtainVia(method = "calculateFoo")</code>.
			</p><p>
			The name of the builder class is <code><em>Foobar</em>Builder</code>, where <em>Foobar</em> is the simplified, title-cased form of the return type of the 
			<em>target</em> - that is, the name of your type for <code>@Builder</code> on constructors and types, and the name of the return type for <code>@Builder</code>
			on methods. For example, if <code>@Builder</code> is applied to a class named <code>com.yoyodyne.FancyList&lt;T&gt;</code>, then the builder name will be
			<code>FancyListBuilder&lt;T&gt;</code>. If <code>@Builder</code> is applied to a method that returns <code>void</code>, the builder will be named
			<code>VoidBuilder</code>.
			</p><p>
			The configurable aspects of builder are:<ul>
			<li>The <em>builder's class name</em> (default: return type + 'Builder')</li>
			<li>The <em>build()</em> method's name (default: <code>"build"</code>)</li>
			<li>The <em>builder()</em> method's name (default: <code>"builder"</code>)</li>
			<li>If you want <code>toBuilder()</code> (default: no)</li>
			</ul>
			Example usage where all options are changed from their defaults:<br />
			<code>@Builder(builderClassName = "HelloWorldBuilder", buildMethodName = "execute", builderMethodName = "helloWorld", toBuilder = true)</code><br />
			</p>
		</div>
		<div class="overview">
			<h3><a name="singular">@Singular</a></h3>
			<p>
				By annotating one of the parameters (if annotating a method or constructor with <code>@Builder</code>) or fields (if annotating a class with <code>@Builder</code>) with the
				<code>@Singular</code> annotation, lombok will treat that builder node as a collection, and it generates 2 'adder' methods instead of a 'setter' method. One which adds a single element to the collection, and one
				which adds all elements of another collection to the collection. No setter to just set the collection (replacing whatever was already added) will be generated. A 'clear' method is also generated. These 'singular' builders
				are very complicated in order to guarantee the following properties:
				<ul>
				<li>When invoking <code>build()</code>, the produced collection will be immutable.</li>
				<li>Calling one of the 'adder' methods, or the 'clear' method, after invoking <code>build()</code> does not modify any already generated objects, and, if <code>build()</code> is later called again, another collection with all the elements added since the creation of the builder is generated.</li>
				<li>The produced collection will be compacted to the smallest feasible format while remaining efficient.</li>
				</ul>
			</p><p>
				<code>@Singular</code> can only be applied to collection types known to lombok. Currently, the supported types are:
				<ul>
					<li><a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/package-summary.html"><code>java.util</code></a>:<ul>
						<li><code>Iterable</code>, <code>Collection</code>, and <code>List</code> (backed by a compacted unmodifiable <code>ArrayList</code> in the general case).</li>
						<li><code>Set</code>, <code>SortedSet</code>, and <code>NavigableSet</code> (backed by a smartly sized unmodifiable <code>HashSet</code> or <code>TreeSet</code> in the general case).</li>
						<li><code>Map</code>, <code>SortedMap</code>, and <code>NavigableMap</code> (backed by a smartly sized unmodifiable <code>HashMap</code> or <code>TreeMap</code> in the general case).</li>
					</ul></li>
					<li><a href="https://github.com/google/guava">Guava</a>'s <code>com.google.common.collect</code>:<ul>
						<li><code>ImmutableCollection</code> and <code>ImmutableList</code> (backed by the builder feature of <code>ImmutableList</code>).</li>
						<li><code>ImmutableSet</code> and <code>ImmutableSortedSet</code> (backed by the builder feature of those types).</li>
						<li><code>ImmutableMap</code>, <code>ImmutableBiMap</code>, and <code>ImmutableSortedMap</code> (backed by the builder feature of those types).</li>
						<li><code>ImmutableTable</code> (backed by the builder feature of <code>ImmutableTable</code>).</li>
					</ul></li>
				</ul>
			</p><p>
				If your identifiers are written in common english, lombok assumes that the name of any collection with <code>@Singular</code> on it is an english plural and will attempt to automatically
				singularize that name. If this is possible, the add-one method will use this name. For example, if your collection is called <code>statuses</code>, then the add-one method will automatically
				be called <code>status</code>. You can also specify the singular form of your identifier explictly by passing the singular form as argument to the annotation like so: <code>@Singular("axis") List&lt;Line&gt; axes;</code>.<br />
				If lombok cannot singularize your identifier, or it is ambiguous, lombok will generate an error and force you to explicitly specify the singular name.
			</p><p>
				The snippet below does not show what lombok generates for a <code>@Singular</code> field/parameter because it is rather complicated.
				You can view a snippet <a href="Singular-snippet.html">here</a>.
			</p>
		</div>
		<div class="snippets">
			<div class="pre">
				<h3>With Lombok</h3>
				<div class="snippet">@HTML_PRE@</div>
			</div>
			<div class="sep"></div>
			<div class="post">
				<h3>Vanilla Java</h3>
				<div class="snippet">@HTML_POST@</div>
			</div>
		</div>
		<div style="clear: left;"></div>
		<div class="overview confKeys">
			<h3>Supported configuration keys:</h3>
			<dl>
			<dt><code>lombok.builder.flagUsage</code> = [<code>warning</code> | <code>error</code>] (default: not set)</dt>
			<dd>Lombok will flag any usage of <code>@Builder</code> as a warning or error if configured.</dd>
			<dt><code>lombok.singular.useGuava</code> = [<code>true</code> | <code>false</code>] (default: false)</dt>
			<dd>If <code>true</code>, lombok will use guava's <code>ImmutableXxx</code> builders and types to implement <code>java.util</code> collection interfaces, instead of creating
			implementations based on <code>Collections.unmodifiableXxx</code>. You must ensure that guava is actually available on the classpath and buildpath if you use this setting.
			Guava is used automatically if your field/parameter has one of the guava <code>ImmutableXxx</code> types.
			<dt><code>lombok.singular.auto</code> = [<code>true</code> | <code>false</code>] (default: true)</dt>
			<dd>If <code>true</code> (which is the default), lombok automatically tries to singularize your identifier name by assuming that it is a common english plural.
			If <code>false</code>, you must always explicitly specify the singular name, and lombok will generate an error if you don't (useful if you write your code in a language other than english).
			</dl>
		</div>
		<div class="overview">
			<h3>Small print</h3><div class="smallprint">
				<p>
				@Singular support for <code>java.util.NavigableMap/Set</code> only works if you are compiling with JDK1.8 or higher.
				</p><p>
				You cannot manually provide some or all parts of a <code>@Singular</code> node; the code lombok generates is too complex for this. If you want to
				manually control (part of) the builder code associated with some field or parameter, don't use <code>@Singular</code> and add everything you need manually.
				</p><p>
				The sorted collections (java.util: <code>SortedSet</code>, <code>NavigableSet</code>, <code>SortedMap</code>, <code>NavigableMap</code> and guava: <code>ImmutableSortedSet</code>, <code>ImmutableSortedMap</code>) require that the type argument of the collection has natural order (implements <code>java.util.Comparable</code>). There is no way to pass an explicit <code>Comparator</code> to use in the builder.
				</p><p>
				An <code>ArrayList</code> is used to store added elements as call methods of a <code>@Singular</code> marked field, if the target collection is from the <code>java.util</code> package, <em>even if the collection is a set or map</em>. Because lombok ensures that generated collections are compacted, a new backing instance of a set or map must be constructed anyway, and storing the data as an <code>ArrayList</code> during the build process is more efficient that storing it as a map or set. This behaviour is not externally visible, an an implementation detail of the current implementation of the <code>java.util</code> recipes for <code>@Singular @Builder</code>.
				</p><p>
				With <code>toBuilder = true</code> applied to static methods, any type parameter on the annotated static method must show up in the returntype.
				</p>
			</div>
		</div>
		<div class="footer">
			<a href="index.html">Back to features</a> | <a href="Value.html">Previous feature (@Value)</a> | <a href="SneakyThrows.html">Next feature (@SneakyThrows)</a><br />
			<a href="../credits.html" class="creditsLink">credits</a> | <span class="copyright">Copyright &copy; 2009-2016 The Project Lombok Authors, licensed under the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php">MIT license</a>.</span>
		</div>
		<div style="clear: both;"></div>
	</div>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
	var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
	document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
	try {
		var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-9884254-1");
		pageTracker._trackPageview();
	} catch(err) {}
</script>
</body></html>