In a companion object, I want to have a field recording all the instances instantiated from the companion class (it is abstract), can I do that?
Especially, I thought this would reference to any instances of the subclass, but it won't compile when I use it in a companion object.
You'd need to code it yourself, for instance (not thread safe):
abstract class C {
// executed by all subclasses during construction
C.registerInstance(this)
}
object C {
private val instances = ListBuffer[C]()
def registerInstance(c: C) {
instances += c
}
}
this in an object (doesn't matter if it's a companion object or not) refers to the object. E.g.
scala> object A { def foo = 1; def bar = this.foo }
defined module A
scala> A.bar
res0: Int = 1
Related
I have following two classes.
class A (name: String) {
}
object A {
}
According to definition of Singleton, we can have only one object of that type. However I am able to create two different objects of type A using following piece of code.
object B {
def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
val a = new A("Vinod")
println(a)
val b = new A("XYZ")
println(b)
}
}
can someone please explain me, where my understanding is not correct?
An object by itself is a singleton. It has its own class and no other instance of the same class exist at runtime.
However, the pattern you describe here is different: object A is not an instance of class A unless you make it so using object A extends A. You could make it the only instance of class A by making class A a sealed class, but this is unnecessary in almost all cases.
If you really want the singleton pattern, drop the class and use only object A, all of its members will be "static" in the sense of Java.
Note that the actual type of object A can be referred to as A.type, which by default is completely unrelated to type A if class A exists. Again, A.type could be a subtype of A if you explicitly make it so.
The companion object is not an instance of the companion class. They're not even the same type.
class A
object A {
var state = 0
def update() :Unit = state = state + 1
}
val abc :A = new A //instance of class A
val xyz :A.type = A //2nd reference to object A
// both reference the same singleton object
xyz.update() //res0: Unit = ()
A.state //res1: Int = 1
abc.state //Error: value state is not a member of A$A2521.this.A
the companion object can be thought of as the static space of a class. if you want to make A a singleton you can make it an object rather than a class
new A refers to class A (which is not a singleton), not to object A. You can easily check it: if you remove class A, the new A lines will no longer compile.
Also note that objects aren't necessarily singletons: they can be nested inside classes or traits, in this case there is one for each instance of the outer type.
I have something like the following code (I simplified it):
trait A {
val CONST_VALUE = 10
}
class B(someValue: Int, values: Array[Int]) extends A {
//some methods
}
object B {
def apply(someValue: Int) = B(someValue, Array.ofDim[Array[Byte]](someValue).map(block => Array.fill[Byte](A.CONST_VALUE)(0)))
}
Basically, I declared a constant CONST_VALUE in the trait A. I am trying to use it in the companion object B to instantiate the class B. However, I can't access A.CONST_VALUE from the companion object B.(I'm getting a compilation error).
So how could I do this?
You can't do this.
First of all, object B is the companion object to class B, not to trait A. Companions need to have the same name and be defined in the same compilation unit.
Secondly, CONST_VALUE is an instance field of trait A. It is a member of an instance of A, not a member of A.
Thirdly, when you say A.CONST_VALUE you are basically calling the method CONST_VALUE on A. But you can only call methods on objects/values. A is not an object, it is a type, types and values live in different worlds, you cannot mix the two.
And fourth, your CONSTANT_VALUE is misleadingly named: only final vals are constant value definitions, so your CONSTANT_VALUE is not actually a constant value.
Fifth, your apply method calls itself (B() is syntactic sugar for B.apply()), and thus needs a return type annotation.
Sixth, your apply method calls itself with two arguments, but it is defined with only one parameter.
Seventh, you create an Array[Array[Byte]], but it is not clear to me why you want to do that and what you need it for.
That's a whole truckload of problems (especially considering that there are only a handful of lines of code to begin with), which you need to fix one-by-one. Here's one possible partial solution, but it is not clear to me what it is exactly that you are trying to achieve.
trait A
object A {
final val CONST_VALUE = 10
}
class B(someValue: Int, values: Array[Int]) extends A {
//some methods
}
object B {
def apply(someValue: Int): B = new B(
someValue,
Array.ofDim[Array[Byte]](someValue).map(block => Array.fill[Byte](A.CONST_VALUE)(0)))
}
Declare val CONST_VALUE = 10 inside the companion object A instead of trait A. Also corrected the apply method definition in object B
trait A {
}
object A {
final val CONST_VALUE = 10
}
class B(someValue: Int, values: Array[Int]) extends A {
//some methods
}
object B {
def apply(someValue: Int) = new B(someValue, Array.ofDim[Int](someValue).flatMap(block => Array.fill[Int](A.CONST_VALUE)(0)))
}
I thought that I can access every method of the companion class from my companion object. But I can't?
class EFCriteriaType(tag:String) extends CriteriaType
{
// implemented method of CriteriaType
def getTag = this.tag
}
object EFCriteriaType
{
var TEXT: CriteriaType = new EFCriteriaType("text")
override def toString = getTag
}
Compiler error:
not found: value getTag
What I'm doing wrong?
You are trying to call the method getTag in object EFCriteriaType. There is no such method in that object. You could do something like:
object EFCriteriaType extends EFCriteriaType("text") {
override def toString = getTag
}
Thus making the companion object a kind of template.
You can access members not normally accessible in a class from a companion object, but you still need to have an instance of the class to access them. E.g:
class Foo {
private def secret = "secret"
def visible = "visible"
}
object Foo {
def printSecret(f:Foo) = println(f.secret) // This compiles
}
object Bar {
def printSecret(f:Foo) = println(f.secret) // This does not compile
}
Here the private method secret is accessible from Foo's companion object. Bar will not compile since secret is inaccessible.
I'm not quite sure what you're trying to do here, but you need to call getTag on an instance of the class:
override def toString(x:EFCriteriaType) = x.getTag
Just to detail Matthew answer, which is the right one:
A companion object is a singleton but a class is not. a singleton. The companion
object can access the methods of the class in the sense that a private
member of the class C can be called in its companion object C.
To call a member of a given class, you need an instance of that class (even if you are not doing that from a companion object)
follow this example, please:
import scala.math._
case class Circle(radius: Double) {
import Circle._
def area: Double = calculateArea(radius)
}
object Circle {
private def calculateArea(radius: Double): Double = Pi * pow(radius, 2.0)
}
val circle1 = Circle(5.0)
circle1.area
I'm working on an automatic mapping framework built on top of Dozer. I won't go into specifics as it's not relevant to the question but in general it's supposed to allow easy transformation from class A to class B. I'd like to register the projections from a class's companion object.
Below is a (simplified) example of how I want this to work, and a Specs test that assures that the projection is being registered properly.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work. From what I can gather, this is because nothing initializes the A companion object. And indeed, if I call any method on the A object (like the commented-out hashCode call, the projection is being registered correctly.
My question is - how can I cause the A object to be initialized automatically, as soon as the JVM starts? I don't mind extending a Trait or something, if necessary.
Thanks.
class A {
var data: String = _
}
class B {
var data: String = _
}
object A {
projekt[A].to[B]
}
"dozer projektor" should {
"transform a simple bean" in {
// A.hashCode
val a = new A
a.data = "text"
val b = a.-->[B]
b.data must_== a.data
}
}
Short answer: You can't. Scala objects are lazy, and are not initialized until first reference. You could reference the object, but then you need a way of ensuring the executing code gets executed, reducing the problem back to the original problem.
In ended up doing this:
trait ProjektionAware with DelayedInit
{
private val initCode = new ListBuffer[() => Unit]
override def delayedInit(body: => Unit)
{
initCode += (() => body)
}
def registerProjektions()
{
for (proc <- initCode) proc()
}
}
object A extends ProjektionAware {
projekt[A].to[B]
}
Now I can use a classpath scanning library to initialize all instances of ProjektionAware on application bootstrap. Not ideal, but works for me.
You can force the instantiation of A to involve the companion object by using an apply() method or some other sort of factory method defined in the object instead of directly using the new A() constructor.
This does not cause the object to be initialized when the JVM starts, which I think as noted in another answer can't generally be done.
As Dave Griffith and Don Roby already noted, it cannot be done at JVM startup in general. However maybe this initialization could wait until first use of your framework?
If so, and if you don't mind resorting to fragile reflection tricks, in your --> method you could obtain reference to the companion object and get it initialize itself.
You can start at Getting object instance by string name in scala.
We could use this sort of a way to ensure that companion object gets initialized first and then the class gets instantiated.
object B {
val i = 0
def apply(): B = new B()
}
class B {
// some method that uses i from Object B
def show = println(B.i)
}
// b first references Object B which calls apply()
// then class B is instantiated
val b = B()
In Scala, if I create an object and companion class, identifiers declared with the protected modifier can be accessed from the class if the object is imported:
object Foo {
protected val X = 42
}
class Foo {
import Foo._
def getX(): Int = X
}
However, the protected identifier cannot be accessed from a subclass of the class Foo:
class Bar extends Foo {
import Foo._
def getX(): Int = X * 2
}
I get a compile-time error in Bar.
Other then (implied) public, is there any access modifier I can place on X so that it can be accessed from subclasses of its companion, but not from other classes, including other classes in the same package?
That's because only the class Foo is companion to the object Foo.
Here, the difference between private and protected meaningless, since the object Foo is a singleton, which means there isn't any other object that has the same class as object Foo (Foo.type).
Access restriction in Scala is package-based, so the short answer is no. You could make a forwarder on the base class, though, unless you need it to be available without an instance.
In your place, however, I'd go back to the design board.
In such cases, I would suggest using a package private modifier, like below:
object Foo {
private[your_package] val X = 42
}
The value will still be visible to everybody else in the package.
To achieve the same thing, One solution to this problem can be:
class Bar extends Foo {
import Foo._
override def getX(): Int = super.getX * 2
}