Scala Reflection Conundrum: Can you explain these weird results? - scala

Question

I wrote some Scala code, using reflection, that returns all vals in an object that are of a certain type. Below are three versions of this code. One of them works but is ugly. Two attempts to improve it don't work, in very different ways. Can you explain why?
First, the code:
import scala.reflect.runtime._
import scala.util.Try
trait ScopeBase[T] {
// this version tries to generalize the type. The only difference
// from the working version is [T] instead of [String]
def enumerateBase[S: universe.TypeTag]: Seq[T] = {
val mirror = currentMirror.reflect(this)
universe.typeOf[S].decls.map {
decl => Try(mirror.reflectField(decl.asMethod).get.asInstanceOf[T])
}.filter(_.isSuccess).map(_.get).filter(_ != null).toSeq
}
}
trait ScopeString extends ScopeBase[String] {
// This version works but requires passing the val type
// (String, in this example) explicitly. I don't want to
// duplicate the code for different val types.
def enumerate[S: universe.TypeTag]: Seq[String] = {
val mirror = currentMirror.reflect(this)
universe.typeOf[S].decls.map {
decl => Try(mirror.reflectField(decl.asMethod).get.asInstanceOf[String])
}.filter(_.isSuccess).map(_.get).filter(_ != null).toSeq
}
// This version tries to avoid passing the object's type
// as the [S] type parameter. After all, the method is called
// on the object itself; so why pass the type?
def enumerateThis: Seq[String] = {
val mirror = currentMirror.reflect(this)
universe.typeOf[this.type].decls.map {
decl => Try(mirror.reflectField(decl.asMethod).get.asInstanceOf[String])
}.filter(_.isSuccess).map(_.get).filter(_ != null).toSeq
}
}
// The working example
object Test1 extends ScopeString {
val IntField: Int = 13
val StringField: String = "test"
lazy val fields = enumerate[Test1.type]
}
// This shows how the attempt to generalize the type doesn't work
object Test2 extends ScopeString {
val IntField: Int = 13
val StringField: String = "test"
lazy val fields = enumerateBase[Test2.type]
}
// This shows how the attempt to drop the object's type doesn't work
object Test3 extends ScopeString {
val IntField: Int = 13
val StringField: String = "test"
lazy val fields = enumerateThis
}
val test1 = Test1.fields // List(test)
val test2 = Test2.fields // List(13, test)
val test3 = Test3.fields // List()
The "enumerate" method does work. However, as you can see from the Test1 example, it requires passing the object's own type (Test1.type) as a parameter, which should not have been necessary. The "enumerateThis" method tries to avoid that but fails, producing an empty list. The "enumerateBase" method attempts to generalize the "enumerate" code by passing the val type as a parameter. But it fails, too, producing the list of all vals, not just those of a certain type.
Any idea what's going on?

Answer 1

Your problem in your generic implementation is the loss of the type information of T. Also, don't use exceptions as your primary method of control logic (it's very slow!). Here's a working version of your base.
abstract class ScopeBase[T : universe.TypeTag, S <: ScopeBase[T, S] : universe.TypeTag : scala.reflect.ClassTag] {
self: S =>
def enumerateBase: Seq[T] = {
val mirror = currentMirror.reflect(this)
universe.typeOf[S].baseClasses.map(_.asType.toType).flatMap(
_.decls
.filter(_.typeSignature.resultType <:< universe.typeOf[T])
.filter(_.isMethod)
.map(_.asMethod)
.filter(_.isAccessor)
.map(decl => mirror.reflectMethod(decl).apply().asInstanceOf[T])
.filter(_ != null)
).toSeq
}
}
trait Inherit {
val StringField2: String = "test2"
}
class Test1 extends ScopeBase[String, Test1] with Inherit {
val IntField: Int = 13
val StringField: String = "test"
lazy val fields = enumerateBase
}
object Test extends App {
println(new Test1().fields)
}

Answer 2

Instead of getting the type from universe.typeOf you can use the runtime class currentMirror.classSymbol(getClass).toType, below is an example that works:
def enumerateThis: Seq[String] = {
val mirror = currentMirror.reflect(this)
currentMirror.classSymbol(getClass).toType.decls.map {
decl => Try(mirror.reflectField(decl.asMethod).get.asInstanceOf[String])
}.filter(_.isSuccess).map(_.get).filter(_ != null).toSeq
}
//prints List(test)

Answer 3

With everyone's help, here's the final version that works:
import scala.reflect.runtime.{currentMirror, universe}
abstract class ScopeBase[T: universe.TypeTag] {
lazy val enumerate: Seq[T] = {
val mirror = currentMirror.reflect(this)
currentMirror.classSymbol(getClass).baseClasses.map(_.asType.toType).flatMap {
_.decls
.filter(_.typeSignature.resultType <:< universe.typeOf[T])
.filter(_.isMethod)
.map(_.asMethod)
.filterNot(_.isConstructor)
.filter(_.paramLists.size == 0)
.map(decl => mirror.reflectField(decl.asMethod).get.asInstanceOf[T])
.filter(_ != null).toSeq
}
}
}
trait FieldScope extends ScopeBase[Field[_]]
trait DbFieldScope extends ScopeBase[DbField[_, _]] {
// etc....
}
As you see from the last few lines, my use cases are limited to scope objects for specific field types. This is why I want to parameterize the scope container. If I wanted to enumerate the fields of multiple types in a single scope container, then I would have parameterized the enumerate method.