Copy all values from fields in one class to another through reflection

I have a class which is basically a copy of another class.

public class A {
  int a;
  String b;
}

public class CopyA {
  int a;
  String b;
}

What I am doing is putting values from class A into CopyA before sending CopyA through a webservice call. Now I would like to create a reflection-method that basically copies all fields that are identical (by name and type) from class A to class CopyA.

How can I do this?

This is what I have so far, but it doesn't quite work. I think the problem here is that I am trying to set a field on the field I am looping through.

private <T extends Object, Y extends Object> void copyFields(T from, Y too) {

    Class<? extends Object> fromClass = from.getClass();
    Field[] fromFields = fromClass.getDeclaredFields();

    Class<? extends Object> tooClass = too.getClass();
    Field[] tooFields = tooClass.getDeclaredFields();

    if (fromFields != null && tooFields != null) {
        for (Field tooF : tooFields) {
            logger.debug("toofield name #0 and type #1", tooF.getName(), tooF.getType().toString());
            try {
                // Check if that fields exists in the other method
                Field fromF = fromClass.getDeclaredField(tooF.getName());
                if (fromF.getType().equals(tooF.getType())) {
                    tooF.set(tooF, fromF);
                }
            } catch (SecurityException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }

        }
    }

I am sure there must be someone that has already done this somehow

Solution 1:

If you don't mind using a third party library, BeanUtils from Apache Commons will handle this quite easily, using copyProperties(Object, Object).

Solution 2:

Why don't you use gson library https://github.com/google/gson

you just convert the Class A to json string. Then convert jsonString to you subClass (CopyA) .using below code:

Gson gson= new Gson();
String tmp = gson.toJson(a);
CopyA myObject = gson.fromJson(tmp,CopyA.class);

Solution 3:

BeanUtils will only copy public fields and is a bit slow. Instead go with getter and setter methods.

public Object loadData (RideHotelsService object_a) throws Exception{

        Method[] gettersAndSetters = object_a.getClass().getMethods();

        for (int i = 0; i < gettersAndSetters.length; i++) {
                String methodName = gettersAndSetters[i].getName();
                try{
                  if(methodName.startsWith("get")){
                     this.getClass().getMethod(methodName.replaceFirst("get", "set") , gettersAndSetters[i].getReturnType() ).invoke(this, gettersAndSetters[i].invoke(object_a, null));
                        }else if(methodName.startsWith("is") ){
                            this.getClass().getMethod(methodName.replaceFirst("is", "set") ,  gettersAndSetters[i].getReturnType()  ).invoke(this, gettersAndSetters[i].invoke(object_a, null));
                        }

                }catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
                    // TODO: handle exception
                }catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                    // TODO: handle exception
                }

        }

        return null;
    }

Solution 4:

Here is a working and tested solution. You can control the depth of the mapping in the class hierarchy.

public class FieldMapper {

    public static void copy(Object from, Object to) throws Exception {
        FieldMapper.copy(from, to, Object.class);
    }

    public static void copy(Object from, Object to, Class depth) throws Exception {
        Class fromClass = from.getClass();
        Class toClass = to.getClass();
        List<Field> fromFields = collectFields(fromClass, depth);
        List<Field> toFields = collectFields(toClass, depth);
        Field target;
        for (Field source : fromFields) {
            if ((target = findAndRemove(source, toFields)) != null) {
                target.set(to, source.get(from));
            }
        }
    }

    private static List<Field> collectFields(Class c, Class depth) {
        List<Field> accessibleFields = new ArrayList<>();
        do {
            int modifiers;
            for (Field field : c.getDeclaredFields()) {
                modifiers = field.getModifiers();
                if (!Modifier.isStatic(modifiers) && Modifier.isPublic(modifiers)) {
                    accessibleFields.add(field);
                }
            }
            c = c.getSuperclass();
        } while (c != null && c != depth);
        return accessibleFields;
    }

    private static Field findAndRemove(Field field, List<Field> fields) {
        Field actual;
        for (Iterator<Field> i = fields.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
            actual = i.next();
            if (field.getName().equals(actual.getName())
                && field.getType().equals(actual.getType())) {
                i.remove();
                return actual;
            }
        }
        return null;
    }
}

Solution 5:

My solution:

public static <T > void copyAllFields(T to, T from) {
        Class<T> clazz = (Class<T>) from.getClass();
        // OR:
        // Class<T> clazz = (Class<T>) to.getClass();
        List<Field> fields = getAllModelFields(clazz);

        if (fields != null) {
            for (Field field : fields) {
                try {
                    field.setAccessible(true);
                    field.set(to,field.get(from));
                } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        }
    }

public static List<Field> getAllModelFields(Class aClass) {
    List<Field> fields = new ArrayList<>();
    do {
        Collections.addAll(fields, aClass.getDeclaredFields());
        aClass = aClass.getSuperclass();
    } while (aClass != null);
    return fields;
}