Alternative name for build method

[neilswingler]

It could be useful, especially when migrating legacy hand coded builders to Freebuilder, to be able to have the build() method have a different name.

e.g. by declaring the alternative name in the Builder

public Foo buildFoo() {
  return super.buildFoo();
}

[alicederyn]

Is it necessary to not have the build method present? Otherwise you could just declare the legacy method in addition:

public Foo buildFoo() {
  return build();
}

[neilswingler]

In my use case I want to overload the actual build() method to return a different type so I require the generated builder to not declare a build() method at all.

I have a mutable data object with getters/setters and a hand coded builder that I hope will eventually be migrated to an immutable Freebuilder implementation but as a stepping stone I want to at least be able to use FreeBuilder for the builder part.

[alicederyn]

Can you post a simplified example of what that API would look like?

There are two methods on builders with the same signature (no parameters, returns a Foo), build and buildPartial, and while I can't think of any others users might want to add, it would be API-breaking to stop emitting build if one were added — but depending on the exact pattern you're making, it may still be possible to reliably detect it without breaking other use cases.

[neilswingler]

Could this work? It would not be a breaking change because currently, overloading the build() method return type leads to a compiler error.

@Freebuilder
interface Foo {
    class Builder extends Foo_Builder {
        public Bar build() { ... }  // incompatible return type => don't emit a build()
        public Foo buildFoo() { // compatible return type, emit buildFoo instead
            return super.buildFoo();
        |
    }
}

[alicederyn]

I would prefer to find a non-obscured method name matching a specific pattern for selecting the build method — perhaps this:

1) If the build() method is protected or package-protected on the subclass, follow suit 2) If the build() method is private or signature-incompatible, instead generate a package-protected _buildImpl() method for the subclass to call 3) Optional for first implementation If that method is already present and incompatible, continue trying with _buildImpl2() etc. until a suitable candidate is found

This then cleanly extends to other methods in future, e.g. buildPartial() becomes _buildPartialImpl()

That would make your code look like:

@FreeBuilder
interface Foo {
    class Builder extends Foo_Builder {
        public Bar build() { ... }  // incompatible return type => FreeBuilder emits _buildImpl instead
        public Foo buildFoo() {
            return super._buildImpl();
        }
    }
}

I would be happy to accept a PR implementing this feature. If you are interested in doing this, let me know and I'll point you to the bits of the code you'd need to fit it into.

[neilswingler]

Thanks for giving it the consideration Alice. I'm off on holiday now but hopefully might have some time in September to try to make a pr.

On Fri, 31 Jul 2020, 11:28 Alice, notifications@github.com wrote:

I would prefer to find a non-obscured method name matching a specific pattern for selecting the build method — perhaps this:

1. If the build() method is protected or package-protected on the subclass, follow suit
2. If the build() method is private or signature-incompatible, instead generate a package-protected _buildImpl() method for the subclass to call
3. Optional for first implementation If that method is already present and incompatible, continue trying with _buildImpl2() etc. until a suitable candidate is found

This then cleanly extends to other methods in future, e.g. buildPartial() becomes _buildPartialImpl()

That would make your code look like:

@FreeBuilder interface Foo {

class Builder extends Foo_Builder {

    public Bar build() { ... }  // incompatible return type => FreeBuilder emits _buildImpl instead

    public Foo buildFoo() {

        return super._buildImpl();

    }

}

}

I would be happy to accept a PR implementing this feature. If you are interested in doing this, let me know and I'll point you to the bits of the code you'd need to fit it into.

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[alicederyn]

Gmail doesn't notify me of forum messages, so if you do pick it up, feel free reach out to me directly by email for a quicker response. Meanwhile, enjoy your holiday!

[alicederyn]

Hopefully FreeBuilder v2.7.0 will solve this issue for you. Please do raise another issue if it does not!

[neilswingler]

Thanks a lot. I tried it out already.