Scala alternative to series of if statements that append to a list? - scala

Question

I have a Seq[String] in Scala, and if the Seq contains certain Strings, I append a relevant message to another list.
Is there a more 'scalaesque' way to do this, rather than a series of if statements appending to a list like I have below?
val result = new ListBuffer[Err]()
val malformedParamNames = // A Seq[String]
if (malformedParamNames.contains("$top")) result += IntegerMustBePositive("$top")
if (malformedParamNames.contains("$skip")) result += IntegerMustBePositive("$skip")
if (malformedParamNames.contains("modifiedDate")) result += FormatInvalid("modifiedDate", "yyyy-MM-dd")
...
result.toList

Answer 1

If you want to use some scala iterables sugar I would use
sealed trait Err
case class IntegerMustBePositive(msg: String) extends Err
case class FormatInvalid(msg: String, format: String) extends Err
val malformedParamNames = Seq[String]("$top", "aa", "$skip", "ccc", "ddd", "modifiedDate")
val result = malformedParamNames.map { v =>
v match {
case "$top" => Some(IntegerMustBePositive("$top"))
case "$skip" => Some(IntegerMustBePositive("$skip"))
case "modifiedDate" => Some(FormatInvalid("modifiedDate", "yyyy-MM-dd"))
case _ => None
}
}.flatten
result.toList
Be warn if you ask for scala-esque way of doing things there are many possibilities.
The map function combined with flatten can be simplified by using flatmap
sealed trait Err
case class IntegerMustBePositive(msg: String) extends Err
case class FormatInvalid(msg: String, format: String) extends Err
val malformedParamNames = Seq[String]("$top", "aa", "$skip", "ccc", "ddd", "modifiedDate")
val result = malformedParamNames.flatMap {
case "$top" => Some(IntegerMustBePositive("$top"))
case "$skip" => Some(IntegerMustBePositive("$skip"))
case "modifiedDate" => Some(FormatInvalid("modifiedDate", "yyyy-MM-dd"))
case _ => None
}
result

Answer 2

Most 'scalesque' version I can think of while keeping it readable would be:
val map = scala.collection.immutable.ListMap(
"$top" -> IntegerMustBePositive("$top"),
"$skip" -> IntegerMustBePositive("$skip"),
"modifiedDate" -> FormatInvalid("modifiedDate", "yyyy-MM-dd"))
val result = for {
(k,v) <- map
if malformedParamNames contains k
} yield v
//or
val result2 = map.filterKeys(malformedParamNames.contains).values.toList

Answer 3

Benoit's is probably the most scala-esque way of doing it, but depending on who's going to be reading the code later, you might want a different approach.
// Some type definitions omitted
val malformations = Seq[(String, Err)](
("$top", IntegerMustBePositive("$top")),
("$skip", IntegerMustBePositive("$skip")),
("modifiedDate", FormatInvalid("modifiedDate", "yyyy-MM-dd")
)
If you need a list and the order is siginificant:
val result = (malformations.foldLeft(List.empty[Err]) { (acc, pair) =>
if (malformedParamNames.contains(pair._1)) {
pair._2 ++: acc // prepend to list for faster performance
} else acc
}).reverse // and reverse since we were prepending
If the order isn't significant (although if the order's not significant, you might consider wanting a Set instead of a List):
val result = (malformations.foldLeft(Set.empty[Err]) { (acc, pair) =>
if (malformedParamNames.contains(pair._1)) {
acc ++ pair._2
} else acc
}).toList // omit the .toList if you're OK with just a Set
If the predicates in the repeated ifs are more complex/less uniform, then the type for malformations might need to change, as they would if the responses changed, but the basic pattern is very flexible.

Answer 4

In this solution we define a list of mappings that take your IF condition and THEN statement in pairs and we iterate over the inputted list and apply the changes where they match.
// IF THEN
case class Operation(matcher :String, action :String)
def processInput(input :List[String]) :List[String] = {
val operations = List(
Operation("$top", "integer must be positive"),
Operation("$skip", "skip value"),
Operation("$modify", "modify the date")
)
input.flatMap { in =>
operations.find(_.matcher == in).map { _.action }
}
}
println(processInput(List("$skip","$modify", "$skip")));
A breakdown
operations.find(_.matcher == in) // find an operation in our
// list matching the input we are
// checking. Returns Some or None
.map { _.action } // if some, replace input with action
// if none, do nothing
input.flatMap { in => // inputs are processed, converted
// to some(action) or none and the
// flatten removes the some/none
// returning just the strings.