As the title states, I am looking for a way to implement a final (method that cannot be overridden) in a kotlin interface.
So here is my code:
interface NewsItemState {
final fun delete(newsItem: NewsItem) {
validateCanDelete(newsItem)
deleteNewsItem(newsItem)
}
fun validateCanDelete(newsItem: NewsItem)
fun deleteNewsItem(newsItem: NewsItem)
}
And here is my use case:
I want the delete function to be final so that it cannot be
overridden in the implementations of the interface.
I want the
validateCanDelete and deleteNewsItem methods to be overridden in
the implementations of the interface.
Now, I know that this is not possible at the moment and that adding final to a method is not allowed in the interface. I also know that I can achieve this by replacing the interface with an abstract class.
However, I was wondering if there is a way of implementing the same functionality in an interface because my final method is not going to have any "state managing" logic.
While it's not possible to have final methods in interfaces, it's absolute OK to define extension methods for interface types.
interface NewsItemState {
fun validateCanDelete(newsItem: NewsItem)
fun deleteNewsItem(newsItem: NewsItem)
}
fun NewsItemState.delete(newsItem: NewsItem) {
validateCanDelete(newsItem)
deleteNewsItem(newsItem)
}
Related
Now
in kotlin we have a possibility to implement the interface like this:
interface AnimalStrategy {
fun eat(): Outcome
}
Want to have
Question: Is it possible to declare the interface in kotlin in shorter syntax?
interface AnimalStrategy = fun eat(): Outcome
I have a class with a function like so:
#Component
class UpdateService(
private val storeGateway: UpdateStoreGateway,
private val loadGateway: UpdateLoadGateway,
private val updateNotify: UpdateNotify,
) : UpdateStorage {
override fun delete(key: UpdateKey) {
if (loadGateway.loadByKey(key) != null)
storeGateway.delete(key)
updateNotify.deleted()
}
}
}
UpdateStoreGateway, UpdateLoadGateway and UpdateNotify are Interfaces. Since I'm new to Kotlin I can't quite grasp how the method override fun delete(key: UpdateKey) knows which implementation of the methods to take since there is no mention of the implementation class.
It's implementing all three!
An interface requires that all implementing clases must provide method(s) with the required signature(s). (That is: having the required name, and taking the required parameter type(s).) But there are no restrictions on where that method is defined: it could be in the implementing class, or inherited from a superclass. And similarly, there are no restrictions on a method implementing more than one interface, if the signature matches.
All that matters is that users of the class know they can call the method(s) specified in all implemented interfaces; they shouldn't know or care about the details.
If I have an interface, is there any easy way I can declare a function to make it a public member, but non-overridable? Meaning, it would be exclusively callable and could not be set or overridden by its descendants
interface IFoo {
fun ExecuteOnly(){
// Do Something
}
}
I read a book recently by CommonsWare where this situation was described.
and I quote it from there:
"... As a result, anything in an interface hierarchy is permanently open , until you start
implementing the interfaces in classes. If that is a problem — if you have some
function that you really want to mark as final — use abstract classes, not interfaces..."
You can define an extension function on the interface.
fun IFoo.executeOnly() {
}
It will still be possible for someone to define a member function with that name in a class implementing IFoo but the intention is quite clear. And anyway when using an object via a IFoo reference the IFoo extension will be chosen.
No, you cannot. That's not how Kotlin's interface is implemented.
You can use an abstract class instead
abstract class Foo {
fun executeOnly(){
// Do Something
}
}
Ofcourse You Can... Actually there is not much difference bw kotlin interfaces and abstract classes... simply add a body and a private modifier..
interface MyInterface {
fun triggerTakeMe(){
takeMe()
}
private fun takeMe(){
println("Taken")
}
}
class MyClass : MyInterface
fun main() {
val obj = MyClass()
obj.triggerTakeMe()
}
Let me summerize what I am trying to achieve. Basically I want a way to have a set of interfaces which server an an api that external plugins use to interact with the engine.
Here is how I currently have things setup.
class Engine : ApiEngine {
override fun start() {
println("Starting Engine")
}
override fun stop() {
println("Stopping Engine.")
}
}
interface ApiEngine {
fun start()
fun stop()
}
This is cumbersome and I have seen some other solutions using ASM and injecting the interface dynamically into the "Engine" class. I have seen something like this in another source but never could fully figure out how to do.
#Implements("ApiEngine")
class Engine {
#Export("start")
fun start() {
println("Starting Engine")
}
#Export("stop")
fun stop() {
println("Stopping Engine.")
}
}
interface ApiEngine {
#Import("start")
fun start()
#Import("stop")
fun stop()
}
My question is, in ByteBuddy, is it possible to effively make Engine implement ApiEngine so that it an instance of Engine() can be cast to ApiEngine for API usage?
This is very much possible. You can for example integrate Byte Buddy as a build tool where you generate interfaces upon discovery. Simply implement the Plugin interface and match types based on your annotation being present.
As a next step, you would need to instrument those types to implement an additional interface using the DynamicType.Builder DSL that Byte Buddy provides you. If your methods always match their signature, there is nothing more to be done since Byte Buddy automatically detects those overrides. If the method signatures can vary, you would need to implement the interface methods using MethodCall to implement a delegation to the actual implementation.
I've got an interface IMyInterface with a method
fun myMethod(thing: T){}
I also have a class
class MyClass : IMyInterface{}
What I want is that when I implement the members of the interface it automatically sets the type T to be MyClass. Is there a way of doing that?
So, instead of writing
interface IMyInterface <T>{
fun myMethod(thing: T){}
}
class MyClass: IMyInterface<MyClass>{
override fun myMethod(thing: MyClass){} // <<<-- the type is set because I explicitly set it above
}
I want to have something like this:
interface IMyInterface{
fun myMethod(thing: T){}
}
class MyClass: IMyInterface{
override fun myMethod(thing: MyClass){} // <<<-- the template type <T> of the interface is resolved by the compiler by checking what type I provided in method signature (
}
Or maybe getting a type of the class implementing an abstract class.
What you are wanting to do is not possible. You want the compiler to "Magically" figure out what the template parameter is... think about it; how would it know - there is a potentially infinite subset of IMyInterface. It is not implied in your interface that the template type <T> is even of type IMyInterface, so it could literally be any type...
Here is another angle on the problem that may make it clear why the compiler cannot do this:
// The same interface as your example, but with extra method
interface IMyInterface{
fun myMethod(thing: T){}
fun myOtherMethod(thing: T){}
}
// The same implementation as before, except the extra method is overridden with a different type than the first method
class MyClass: IMyInterface{
// the template type <T> of the interface is resolved by the compiler by
// checking what type I provided in method signature (this is what you want compiler to do)
override fun myMethod(thing: MyClass){}
// Uh oh! How does the copmpiler resolve this? We just figured out that <T> was my class.
// So this method won't compile... why not just tell entire class what <T> is
// rather than trying to make all method signatures match up so the compiler can "infer" the type???
override fun myOtherMethod(thing: MyOtherClass) {}
}
class MyOtherClass : IMyInterface {
override fun myMethod(thing: MyOtherClass) = this
override fun myOtherMethod(thing: MyOtherClass) = this
}
There is another problem which Thomas Cook's answer doesn't cover: even if this was possible, you run into major problems with subtyping in at least two ways.
Let's assume a keyword Self which means what you want and
interface IMyInterface{
fun myMethod(thing: Self): Unit
}
Problem 1: You have a val x: IMyInterface = ... What can you pass to x.myMethod? Certainly not any IMyInterface, that would defeat the purpose. But the only thing which is guaranteed to have the same concrete type as x is... x (assuming no Self-returning methods).
Problem 2: Add class MySubClass : MyClass. It must have override fun myMethod(thing: MySubClass), right? But it also has to inherit override fun myMethod(thing: MyClass) from MyClass.