No implicits found for parameter ev: Any <:< (T_, U_) - scala

Question

I'm trying to create a map based on conditions. Here's the general workflow in pseudocode:
def createMyMap(input: String): Map[String, String] = {
val stringArray = input.split(",")
stringArray.map(element => {
if (condition) {
newKey -> newVal
}
}).toMap
}
and I see two compile errors:
No implicits found for parameter ev: Any <:< (T_, U_) in the toMap call
For the method createMyMap
Type mismatch.
Required: scala.Predef.Map [String, String]
Found: scala.collection.immutable.Map[Nothing, Nothing]
This makes sense since the compiler doesn't know how to create the map if the condition isn't fulfilled. For example, if I add this in the method:
if (condition) {
newKey -> new Val
} else {
null
}
then it'll compile. I'm just not too sure how to approach the else - how do I avoid this kind of problem? I'm running into this because I only want to create a map entry if a condition is fulfilled.

Answer 1

It's not clear how newKey and newVal are derived, but here is the template code using collect
def createMyMap(input: String): Map[String, String] =
input.split(",").collect {
case s if <condition> =>
newKey -> newVal
}.to(Map)
e.g.
def createMyMap(input: String): Map[String, String] =
input.split(",").collect {
case s if s.contains('.') =>
s -> "data"
}.to(Map)

Answer 2

You have a few good options that I'll summarize from the comments:
filter + map + toMap
// stringArray: Traversable[String]
// condition: String => Boolean
// transform: String => (String, String)
val result: Map[String, String] = stringArray
.filter(condition)
.map(transform)
.toMap
map + flatten + toMap
val result: Map[String, String] = stringArray
.map { k =>
if (condition(k)) Some(transform(k))
else None
}
.flatten
.toMap
flatMap + toMap
val result: Map[String, String] = stringArray
.flatMap { k =>
if (condition(k)) Some(transform(k))
else None
}
.toMap
collect + toMap
val result: Map[String, String] = stringArray
.collect {
case k if condition(s) => transform(k)
}
.toMap
See documentation.
In short, methods 3 and 4 are especially clean (although all are good IMO). However, the one that is semantically the most readable IMO is 4, which uses collect (with option 1 being a close second).