Accessing properties of enclosing class - singleton

How do I access the properties of an enclosing class? I am working with singletons in Kotlin.
private object IndeterminateAnimationListener : Animation.AnimationListener {
override fun onAnimationStart(animation: Animation?) {}
override fun onAnimationEnd(animation: Animation?) {
// How do I access the properties of the enclosing
// from here?
}
override fun onAnimationRepeat(animation: Animation?) {}
}
PS: I can use inner classes, how do I do the same with singletons?

A singleton can not be inner, because there is only one instance of it, and instances of inner classes keep references to instances of outer (enclosing) classes. Therefore, singleton objects can not hold references to enclosing classes, and can not access their properties.
As a workaround, use anonymous objects, which are not singletons:
class A(val foo: Int) {
val listener = object : AnimationListenerAdapter {
override fun onAnimationEnd(animation: Animation?) {
println(foo) // access to outer
}
}
}

Related

Override generic method in abstract class with concrete type in subclass

I have an main class in Kotlin which defines one concrete and one abstract generic method as follows:
abstract class MainClass {
abstract fun <TParent, TChild> getChildren(parent: TParent): Array<TChild>?
fun <TParent, TChild> processChildren(parent: TParent) {
val children = getChildren<TParent, TChild>(parent)
// ... do something with children
}
}
As you can see the method is about a parent object of type TParent containing child objects of type TChild. The parent class and how to get the children from it should be defined by subclasses, which should provide the concrete types.
I did the following:
class MyClass : MainClass{
override fun getChildren(parent: MyParent): Array<MyChild>? {
//... some logic getting the children from a parent object
}
}
But that does not work because it won't compile ('getChildren' overrides nothing).
How can I define a generic abstract method and implement it with concrete types in a subclass? Note that it is important to me that the generic types are defined on method-level, not on class level!
You cannot do this. Due to the type erasure the methods signatures will not fit.
What you actually can do is to make this abstract method protected and overload it with some specific types
// protected abstract fun <TParent, TChild> getChildren...
class MyClass: MainClass() {
override fun <TParent, TChild> getChildren(parent: TParent): ArrayList<MyChild>? {
// Some dummy implementation
println(parent!!::class.java.canonicalName)
return null
}
fun getChildren(parent: MyParent): ArrayList<MyChild>? {
return getChildren<MyParent, MyChild>(parent)
}
fun getChildren(parent: MyParent2): ArrayList<MyChild2>? {
return getChildren<MyParent2, MyChild2>(parent)
}
}
But not really sure what is the sense of doing this especially if generic types are not bounded
Looks like you don't want the method in one class to process different types of parameters.
In this scenario, make the class generic:
abstract <TParent, TChild> class MainClass {
abstract fun getChildren(parent: TParent): Array<TChild>?
fun processChildren(parent: TParent) {
val children = getChildren<TParent, TChild>(parent)
// ... do something with children
}
}
class MyClass : MainClass<MyParent, MyChild>() {
override fun getChildren(parent: MyParent): Array<MyChild>? {
//... some logic getting the children from a parent object
}
}

How to access class constructor parameters in a companion object

I would like to access the arguments passed to the class constructor in a companion object :
class Home(private val activity: String) {
companion object {
fun doSomething() {
println(activity)
}
}
}
fun main() {
Home("Hello World").doSomething()
However, an error is raised when I run this code saying that activity is unresolved reference
A companion object is basically the equivalent of a Java static nested class (and that's how it's implemented under the hood), which means an instance of the static nested class could exist even with no instance of the outer class.
Example:
class Outer(private val activity: String) {
companion object {
fun doSomething() {
println("Hello, world!")
}
}
}
fun main() {
Outer.doSomething() // no new Outer instance here
}
If you want a non-static nested class (aka inner class) you can then reference properties of the outer class from within the inner class. That's because instances of the inner class are tied to instances of the outer class.
Example:
class Outer(private val activity: String) {
inner class Inner {
fun doSomething() {
println(activity)
}
}
}
fun main() {
Outer("Hello, world!").Inner().doSomething()
}
For more info, you can also have a look at Java documentation about nested (aka static) and inner (aka non-static) classes here: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/nested.html

Allow function calls only in special context

I'm trying to write a class that only allows certain methods to be called in a lambda of one function.
Basically, I want to achieve similar behaviour to how you can only call suspend functions in a suspend context.
Right now the closest I can get is this.
class MyClass {
fun runCommands(block: CommandContext.() -> Unit) {
// do prep work
block.invoke(commandContext)
// do cleanup work
}
val commandContext = CommandContext()
inner class CommandContext {
fun commandFunc() {} // only callable from the lambda
}
}
The issues I'm having with this is I can't make CommandContext private so you could always make your own instance and run the command externally. It is also unnecessary for it to be instantiatable but I can't make an "inner object."
Any ideas on how to do this cleaner?
Outer scope should know that there is a commandFunc() method in CommandContext class (and that this class actually exists). That's why it can't be private. But you can encapsulate its implementation, effectively making it private, keeping public only its interface:
interface CommandContext {
fun commandFunc()
}
class MyClass {
fun runCommands(block: CommandContext.() -> Unit) {
// do prep work
block.invoke(CommandContextImpl)
// do cleanup work
}
private object CommandContextImpl : CommandContext {
override fun commandFunc() {} //actual implementation
}
}
//Usage:
fun main() {
MyClass().runCommands { commandFunc() }
}

Returning reference to a singleton class instance within its functions

In the following code I would like to set a reference to the class instance so that static functions can return a reference to it:
open class TestRunner {
init {
instance = this
}
companion object {
private lateinit var instance: TestRunner
fun addTestSetups(vararg testSetups: () -> TestSetup): TestRunner {
for (setup in testSetups) {
testsSetups.add(setup)
}
return instance
}
}
}
But setting instance = this is not allowed. How can I return an instance of the class from a function while keeping the class as a singleton?
If I get you right, you want something like this:
abstract class TestRunner {
companion object : TestRunner()
}
This seems to work. Instead of keeping a variable that holds a reference to the class, simply referencing the name of the class is sufficient. However, to return an instance of the class from functions, the return type must be Companion:
open class TestRunner {
companion object {
fun addTestSetups(vararg testSetups: () -> TestSetup): Companion {
for (setup in testSetups) {
testsSetups.add(setup)
}
return TestRunner
}
}
}
This is not a true singleton because you can still create a new instance if you did this:
val testRunner = TestRunner()
However, if you never create an instance but only refer to the functions statically, it does behave like a singleton and the state of any private variables inside the companion object will still be maintained.
Update:
I came across this code on the Android developer site that shows an example of a class that is setup as a singleton:
class StockLiveData(symbol: String) : LiveData<BigDecimal>() {
private val stockManager: StockManager = StockManager(symbol)
private val listener = { price: BigDecimal ->
value = price
}
override fun onActive() {
stockManager.requestPriceUpdates(listener)
}
override fun onInactive() {
stockManager.removeUpdates(listener)
}
companion object {
private lateinit var sInstance: StockLiveData
#MainThread
fun get(symbol: String): StockLiveData {
sInstance = if (::sInstance.isInitialized) sInstance else StockLiveData(symbol)
return sInstance
}
}
}
But it should be pointed out that this example requires functions that need to return an instance to first check if the instance variable is set and if not, create a new instance. I'm not sure what the point of that is since to call the function you already have an instance. So why bother create a new instance? Doesn't seem to make any sense.
object in Kotlin is the singleton, not the class its defined within. A companion object has the extra convenience of allowing you to call it by the name of that outer class. But it otherwise shares no hierarchy with it.
To make your class subclassable, you can't define the functions in the companion object. But you can make the class abstract so it can't be instantiated unless subclassed. Then make your companion object extend the abstract class so it will have all those functions available.
abstract class TestRunner{
open fun addTestSetups(vararg testSetups: () -> TestSetup): TestRunner{
//...
return this
}
companion object: TestRunner()
}
Usage:
TestRunner.addTestSetups(someTestSetup)
Note that your singleton is not an instance of TestRunner. It is a singleton instance of a subclass of TestRunner. But since you define no extra functions and override nothing, it behaves exactly like a TestRunner.
If you want a subclass:
abstract class ExtendedTestRunner: TestRunner() {
fun someOtherFunction() {}
companion object: ExtendedTestRunner()
}
The companions are not being subclassed, but their abstract parents can be.

Kotlin static methods and variables

I want to be able to save a class instance to a public static variable but I can't figure out how to do this in Kotlin.
class Foo {
public static Foo instance;
public Foo() {
instance = this;
}
}
Update: since this answer is getting a decent amount of upvotes, I really wanted to say that you shouldn't do the below, but instead just use object Foo { ... }, like Roman rightly points out in the comment.
Previous answer:
The closest thing to Java's static fields is a companion object. You can find the documentation reference for them here: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/object-declarations.html#companion-objects
Your code in Kotlin would look something like this:
class Foo {
companion object {
lateinit var instance: Foo
}
init {
instance = this
}
}
If you want your fields/methods to be exposed as static to Java callers, you can apply the #JvmStatic annotation:
class Foo {
companion object {
#JvmStatic lateinit var instance: Foo
}
init {
instance = this
}
}
It looks that you want to define a singleton object. It is supported in Kotlin as a first-class concept:
object Foo {
...
}
All the boilerplate code with static field and constructor is taken care by the Kotlin automatically. You don't have to write any of that.
From the Kotlin code you can refer to the instance of this object simply as Foo. From the Java code you can referer to the instance of this object as Foo.INSTANCE, because the Kotlin compiler automatically creates the corresponding static field named INSTANCE.
first you create a simple class then after create a block followed by companion object keyword
for example:
class Test{
companion object{
fun getValue(): String{
return "Test String"
}
}
}
you can call this class function using class name dot function name
for example:
// here you will get the function value
Test.getValue()
You can create a companion object for the class, and if you want the field to be static you can use the annotation #JvmStatic. Companion object have access to private members of the class it is companion for.
See below an example:
class User {
private lateinit var name: String
override fun toString() = name
companion object {
#JvmStatic
val instance by lazy {
User().apply { name = "jtonic" }
}
}
}
class CompanionTest {
#Test
fun `test companion object`() {
User.instance.toString() shouldBe "jtonic"
}
}