Case Classes with optional fields in Scala - scala

Question

For example, I have this case class:
case class Student (firstName : String, lastName : String)
If I use this case class, is it possible that supplying data to the fields inside the case class are optional? For example, I'll do this:
val student = new Student(firstName = "Foo")
Thanks!

Answer 1

If you just want to miss the second parameter without a default information, I suggest you to use an Option.
case class Student(firstName: String, lastName: Option[String] = None)
Now you might create instances this way:
Student("Foo")
Student("Foo", None) // equal to the one above
Student("Foo", Some("Bar")) // neccesary to add a lastName
To make it usable as you wanted it, I will add an implicit:
object Student {
implicit def string2Option(s: String) = Some(s)
}
Now you are able to call it those ways:
import Student._
Student("Foo")
Student("Foo", None)
Student("Foo", Some("Bar"))
Student("Foo", "Bar")

Answer 2

You were close:
case class Student (firstName : String = "John", lastName : String = "Doe")
val student = Student(firstName = "Foo")
Another possibility is partially applied function:
case class Student (firstName : String, lastName : String)
val someJohn = Student("John", _: String)
//someJohn: String => Student = <function1>
val johnDoe = someJohn("Doe")
//johnDoe: Student = Student(John,Doe)
And to be complete, you can create some default object and then change some field:
val johnDeere = johnDoe.copy(lastName="Deere")
//johnDeer: Student = Student(John,Deere)

Answer 3

I would see two ways this is normally done.
1. default parameters
case class Student (firstName : String, lastName : String = "")
Student("jeypijeypi") # Student(jeypijeypi,)
2. alternative constructors
case class Student (firstName : String, lastName : String)
object Student {
def apply(firstName: String) = new Student(firstName,"")
}
Student("jeypijeypi") # Student(jeypijeypi,)
Which one is better depends slightly on the circumstances. The latter gives you more freedom: you can make any parameter(s) optional, or even change their order (not recommended). Default parameters need always to be at the end of the parameter list, I think. You can also combine these two ways.
Note: within the alternative constructors you need new to point the compiler to the actual constructor. Normally new is not used with case classes.