Avoid repetition of same logic - kotlin

Question

I have the following data classes:
sealed class ExampleDto
object Type1ExampleDto : ExampleDto()
object Type2ExampleDto : ExampleDto()
data class Type3ExampleDto(val name: Int, val age: Int) : ExampleDto()
data class Type4ExampleDto(val name: Int, val age: Int) : ExampleDto()
data class Type5ExampleDto(val email: String) : ExampleDto()
data class Type6ExampleDto(val name: Int, val age: Int, val email: String) : ExampleDto()
In particular, Type3ExampleDto, Type4ExampleDto and Type6ExampleDto share some common fields but it's important for my business logic to distinguish between types (i.e. even if Type3ExampleDto and Type4ExampleDto are identical, I have to know if I'm in the type3 or type4 case).
In one of my method I have the following call:
when (type) {
is Type3ExampleDto -> myMethod(type.vote, type.text)
is Type4ExampleDto -> myMethod(type.vote, type.text)
is Type6ExampleDto -> myMethod(type.vote, type.text)
else -> null
}
I find very ugly that I'm doing the same operation in all 3 cases and repeating the same line...
It makes sense to made Type3ExampleDto, Type4ExampleDto and Type6ExampleDto an implementation of some kind of interface just because only in this point I'm doing this kind of ugly repetition?
If all three dtos implement the following interface
interface MyInterface{
fun getVote() : Int
fun getText() : String
}
I can write:
if (type is MyInterface) {
myMethod(type.getVote(), type.getText())
}
So, it's acceptable to create this interface just to solve this isolated repetition?
Thanks

Answer 1

Note you can do it much more cleanly like this:
interface NameAndAgeDto {
val name: Int
val age: Int
}
data class Type3ExampleDto(override val name: Int, override val age: Int) : ExampleDto(), NameAndAgeDto
if (type is NameAndAgeDto) {
myMethod(type.name, type.age)
}
Whether it's "acceptable" is opinion. Looks fine to me.

Answer 2

You may change your model to have your logic based on behaviour instead of inheritance.
This way of modelling is based on principles of (but ain't exactly) Strategy Design Pattern.
interface HasName {
val name: String
}
interface HasAge {
val age: Int
}
interface HasEmail {
val email: String
}
object Type1
object Type2
data class Type3(
override val name: String,
override val age: Int
) : HasName, HasAge
data class Type4(
override val name: String,
override val age: Int
) : HasName, HasAge
data class Type5(
override val email: String
) : HasEmail
data class Type6(
override val name: String,
override val age: Int,
override val email: String
) : HasName, HasAge, HasEmail
// Then you can pass any object to it.
fun main(obj: Any) {
// Koltin type-casts it nicely to both interfaces.
if (obj is HasName && obj is HasAge) {
myMethod(text = obj.name, vote = obj.age)
}
}
fun myMethod(vote: Int, text: String) {
}
If you still want all the types to belong to some parent type, you can use marker interface (without any methods).
interface DTO
interface HasName {
val name: String
}
interface HasAge {
val age: Int
}
interface HasEmail {
val email: String
}
object Type1 : DTO
object Type2 : DTO
data class Type3(
override val name: String,
override val age: Int
) : HasName, HasAge, DTO
data class Type4(
override val name: String,
override val age: Int
) : HasName, HasAge, DTO
data class Type5(
override val email: String
) : HasEmail, DTO
data class Type6(
override val name: String,
override val age: Int,
override val email: String
) : HasName, HasAge, HasEmail, DTO
// Here, it is DTO instead of Any
fun main(obj: DTO) {
if (obj is HasName && obj is HasAge) {
myMethod(text = obj.name, vote = obj.age)
}
}
And use sealed class instead of marker interface if you need classes as enum.
In that case, when over sealed class is exhaustive with all options without null ->.