Adam,
Thank you for your kind words.
The PropertyPointer used to work just like you are suggesting, but then
somebody complained and I changed it to always pass a legitimate index.
So now it is a backward compatibility issue.
Question: can't you determine whether you need to create the collection
by simply checking if it exists? With Castor it would not make sense
to create a collection and leave it empty anyway, right?
Your GenericFactory is quite impressive. BTW, check out our new
sandbox "clazz" project. It standardizes the introspection of those
"add" methods, plural property names and does many other fun things. If
clazz ever climbs out of the sandbox, we will integrate it with jxpath
and provide a customization of Castor. So the application of jxpath to
Castor will become more natural.
Best regards,
- Dmitri
--- Adam J Chesney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am new to JXPath but it looks great, thanks for all your hard work.
> I have just been playing around with it a little as I would like to
> use it in a new project that I am working on. I wanted to implement a
> generic Factory to create objects and I ran into a small snag. I just
> wanted to run this by you. My GenericFactory (attached) is a bit
> rough around the edges but it automatically creates properties using
> reflection to find the appropriate set method on the parent object,
> and then instantiates an instance of the appropriate class (parameter
> type). This works fine for straight beans but using the same method
> for sequences causes a problem because atm it is not possible to
> determine whether or not the target property is a sequence or not. If
> you can determine that you are creating a sequence then it is
> possible (in some circumstances) to determine the type of the objects
> to be added to the newly created sequence, and to add them during the
> construction of the sequence property. This won't work for generic
> Collections, but it will work for custom sequences that implement
> List, which is what I am using (Castor based beans).
>
> By changing line 178 in
>
> org.apache.commons.jxpath.ri.model.beans.PropertyPointer.java
>
> from
>
> int inx = (index == WHOLE_COLLECTION ? 0 : index);
>
> to
>
> int inx = (index == WHOLE_COLLECTION ? -1 : index);
>
> I am now able to determine whether or not the target property for
> construction is a sequence and is accessed using an index and I can
> therefore, in the factory, create the required number of objects.
> Previously, it was impossible to tell the difference between /myList
> and /myList[1] because the index passed to the Factory in both cases
> is 0.
>
> So I can now execute calls like:
>
> context.createPathAndSetValue("/myList[2]/name", "harry");
>
> Even though myList is null to start with, the GenericFactory can
> determine that myList is a sequence and it can create 2 objects to
> add into it after creating and sequence and assigning it to the root
> context.
>
> Anyway, I don't think this change should negatively effect anyone and
> so I thought that maybe you could add it to the main tree. If it's
> not possible, then no problem, I can maintain my own version. I guess
> a change like this could potentially cause problems if the Factory
> coding was a bit "lazy".
>
> Anyway, once agin, thanks for this kewl tool.
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Adam Chesney.
>
>
> =====================================================
>
> Tel: (+44) 117 908 1254 (Direct)
> Mobile (+44) 7780 962 961
> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> This communication is intended solely for the addressee and is
> confidential.
> If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,
> distribution
> or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is
> prohibited
> and may be unlawful.
>
> Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free of
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> in any
> way from receipt or use thereof.
> > package test;
>
> import org.apache.commons.jxpath.*;
> import java.lang.reflect.*;
>
> /**
> * <p>Title: </p>
> * <p>Description: </p>
> * <p>Copyright: Copyright (c) 2003</p>
> * <p>Company: </p>
> * @author Adam J Chesney
> * @version 1.0
> */
>
> public class GenericFactory extends AbstractFactory
> {
>
> public boolean createObject(JXPathContext context, Pointer pointer,
> Object parent, String name, int index)
> {
> try
> {
> // grab the parents class
> Class parent_cls = parent.getClass();
>
> // grab the list of methods for the parent class
> Method[] methods = parent_cls.getMethods();
>
> // iterate backwards through the methods until we find the
> first
> // 'set' or 'add' method which matches the name property and
> that has just
> // one parameter
> for (int i = methods.length-1; i > -1; i--)
> {
> String mName = methods[i].getName();
> if ( mName.startsWith("set") || mName.startsWith("add") )
> {
> if ( mName.substring(3).equals( name.substring(0,1).toUpperCase()
> + name.substring(1) ) )
> {
> if ( methods[i].getParameterTypes().length == 1 )
> {
> // we found a matching method, so we grab the class of the
> parameter
> Class target_cls = methods[i].getParameterTypes()[0];
>
> // create new one (must have a null constructor)
> Object obj = target_cls.newInstance();
>
> // invoke the add or set method with the new property on the
> parent
> methods[i].invoke( parent, new Object[]{obj} );
>
> // if the index is 0 or greater then this must be a sequence
> if ( index > -1 )
> {
> // grab the methods of the property
> Method[] meth = target_cls.getMethods();
>
> // again iterate backwards through the methods looking for the
> first
> // add method with one parameter
> // note: we iterate backwards becuase we are more likely to
> encounter
> // a specialized bean method sooner
> for (int j = meth.length-1; j >-1; j--)
> {
> String mn = meth[j].getName();
> if (mn.startsWith("add") && meth[j].getParameterTypes().length ==
> 1 )
> {
> // found an add method, so we grab the parameter type
> Class new_cls = meth[j].getParameterTypes()[0];
> for (int k = 0; k <= index; k++)
> {
> // and we add enough new objects to the collection to satisfy
> the index
> meth[j].invoke( obj, new Object[]{new_cls.newInstance()} );
> }
> break;
> }
> }
> }
>
> return true;
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> catch (Exception e1)
> {
> e1.printStackTrace();
> }
> return false;
> }
> }
> >
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