CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javakotlinidioms
Héctor Valls
Héctor Valls

Reputation: 26084

Idiomatic Kotlin when checking null

In Java, I would do something like this:

class Person {

    private Record record;

    public String name() {
      record().get("name");
    }

    private Record record() {
      if (record == null) {
        refetch();
      }
      return record;
    }

    private void refetch() {
      record = service.doSomething()
    }

}

In Kotlin, I have this equivalent code:

class Person(private var record: Record?) {

    fun name() : String {
      record().get("name");
    }

    private fun record() : Record {
      record ?: refetch()
      return record!!;
    }

    private fun refetch() {
      record = service.doSomething()
    }

}

As you see, I'm using !! operator, and I don't really like. Is there another more idiomatic way to do this?

If I simply follow the Java way (if (record == null)), I get this error:

Smart cast to "Record" is impossible, because "record" is a mutable property that could have been changed by this time

Upvotes: 2

Views: 214

Answers (2)

Waxhaw
Waxhaw

Reputation: 839

You're Java code didn't compile so I mocked up an example.

    class Record {
        String name;
        String address;

        Record(String name, String address) {
            this.name = name;
            this.address = address;
        }

        String getName() {
            return name;
        }
    }

    class Person {

        private Record record;

        public String name() {
            return record().getName();
        }

        private Record record() {
            if (record == null) {
                refetch();
            }
            return record;
        }

        private void refetch() {
            record = new Record("Joe Smith", "101 Broadway, NYC, NY");
        }

    }

Kotlin forces you to DECLARE if a value is nullable by using the '?' char when you define it. So it needs to look like this:

        internal class Record(var name: String, var address: String)

    internal class Person {

        private var record: Record? = null

        fun name(): String {
            return record()!!.name
        }

        private fun record(): Record? {
            if (record == null) {
                refetch()
            }
        return record
        }

        private fun refetch() {
            record = Record("Joe Smith", "101 Broadway, NYC, NY")
        }

    }

Upvotes: 0

JB Nizet
JB Nizet

Reputation: 692231

In idiomatic Kotlin, you would use a lazy delegated property:

class Person(private val service: Service) {

    private val record by lazy { service.doSomething() }

    fun name() = record.get("name");
}

Upvotes: 3

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