kotlin data class constructors not getting picked up - kotlin

Question

I am creating a data class in kotlin as such
data class User(val name: String, val age: Int)
{
constructor(name: String, age: Int, size: String): this(name, age) {
}
}
In my main function, I can access the objects as such:
fun main(){
val x = User("foo", 5, "M")
println(x.name)
println(x.age)
println(x.size) // does not work
}
My problem is that I can't get access to size.
What I am trying to do is, create a data class where top level params are the common items that will be accessed, and in the constructors, have additional params that fit certain situations. The purpose is so that I can do something like
// something along the lines of
if (!haveSize()){
val person = User("foo", 5, "M")
} else {
val person = User("foo", 5)
}
}
Any ideas?

Answer 1

In Kotlin you do not need separate constructors for defining optional constructor params. You can define them all in a single constructor with default values or make them nullable, like this:
data class User(val name: String, val age: Int, val size: String = "M")
fun main(){
val x = User("foo", 5, "L")
val y = User("foo", 5)
println(x.size) // "L" from call site
println(y.size) // "M" from default param
}

Answer 2

You can not access size variable, because this is from secondary construct, but we have alternative variant.
data class User(var name: String, var age: Int) {
var size: String
init {
size = "size"
}
constructor(name: String, age: Int, size: String) : this(name, age) {
this.size = size
}
}

Answer 3

In short, you want to have one property that can be one of a limited number of options. This could be solved using generics, or sealed inheritance.
Generics
Here I've added an interface, MountDetails, with a generic parameter, T. There's a single property, val c, which is of type T.
data class User(
val mountOptions: MountOptions,
val mountDetails: MountDetails<*>,
)
data class MountOptions(
val a: String,
val b: String
)
interface MountDetails<T : Any> {
val c: T
}
data class MountOneDetails(override val c: Int) : MountDetails<Int>
data class MountTwoDetails(override val c: String) : MountDetails<String>
Because the implementations MountDetails (MountOneDetails and MountTwoDetails) specify the type of T to be Int or String, val c can always be accessed.
fun anotherCaller(user: User) {
println(user.mountOptions.a)
println(user.mountOptions.b)
println(user.mountDetails)
}
fun main() {
val mt = MountOptions("foo", "bar")
val mountOneDetails = MountOneDetails(111)
anotherCaller(User(mt, mountOneDetails))
val mountTwoDetails = MountTwoDetails("mount two")
anotherCaller(User(mt, mountTwoDetails))
}
Output:
foo
bar
MountOneDetails(c=111)
foo
bar
MountTwoDetails(c=mount two)
Generics have downsides though. If there are lots of generic parameters it's messy, and it can be difficult at runtime to determine the type of classes thanks to type-erasure.
Sealed inheritance
Since you only have a limited number of mount details, a much neater solution is sealed classes and interfaces.
data class User(val mountOptions: MountOptions)
sealed interface MountOptions {
val a: String
val b: String
}
data class MountOneOptions(
override val a: String,
override val b: String,
val integerData: Int,
) : MountOptions
data class MountTwoOptions(
override val a: String,
override val b: String,
val stringData: String,
) : MountOptions
The benefit here is that there's fewer classes, and the typings are more specific. It's also easy to add or remove an additional mount details, and any exhaustive when statements will cause a compiler error.
fun anotherCaller(user: User) {
println(user.mountOptions.a)
println(user.mountOptions.b)
// use an exhaustive when to determine the actual type
when (user.mountOptions) {
is MountOneOptions -> println(user.mountOptions.integerData)
is MountTwoOptions -> println(user.mountOptions.stringData)
// no need for an 'else' branch
}
}
fun main() {
val mountOne = MountOneOptions("foo", "bar", 111)
anotherCaller(User(mountOne))
val mountTwo = MountTwoOptions("foo", "bar", "mount two")
anotherCaller(User(mountTwo))
}
Output:
foo
bar
111
foo
bar
mount two

Answer 4

This is really the "default values" answer provided by Hubert Grzeskowiak adjusted to your example:
data class OneDetails(val c: Int)
data class TwoDetails(val c: String)
data class MountOptions(val a: String, val b: String)
data class User(
val mountOptions: MountOptions,
val detailsOne: OneDetails? = null,
val detailsTwo: TwoDetails? = null
)
fun main() {
fun anotherCaller(user: User) = println(user)
val mt = MountOptions("foo", "bar")
val one = OneDetails(1)
val two = TwoDetails("2")
val switch = "0"
when (switch) {
"0" -> anotherCaller(User(mt))
"1" -> anotherCaller(User(mt, detailsOne = one))
"2" -> anotherCaller(User(mt, detailsTwo = two))
"12" -> anotherCaller(User(mt, detailsOne = one, detailsTwo = two))
else -> throw IllegalArgumentException(switch)
}
}