In this tutorial, we will discuss what is Constructor reference in Java 8 and demonstrate examples on how reference a constructor with multiple arguments.
1. What is constructor reference in java 8?
As you know constructors are kind of special methods, method reference will also applicable to constructors. Constructor References in Java 8 can be created using the Class Name and the keyword new with the following syntax.
Syntax:
<Class Name>::new
Example :
String::new; Integer::new; ArrayList::new; UserDetail::new;
2. Example with no arguments
The constructor reference for all the following lambdas are Student::new and type of the constructor invocation will be decided based on the target type. To understand it better, we will see a use case whose goal is to return a Student instance but the String and int type will be supplied as method argument(s). These use cases are not better programming standards but to understand how Constructor reference work.
@FunctionalInterface
interface MyFunctionalInterface1 {
Student getStudent();
}
class Student {
private String name;
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
Following example shows you create Supplier function with constructor reference.
public class ConstructorReferenceDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyFunctionalInterface1 mf = Student::new;
Supplier<Student> s1 = Student::new;// Supplier Example
Supplier<Student> s2 = () -> new Student();// equals to above line
System.out.println(mf.getStudent());//Student class toString() call
System.out.println(s1.get());//Student class toString() call
}
}
3. Example with one argument
@FunctionalInterface
interface MyFunctionalInterface1 {
Student getStudent(String name);
}
class Student {
private String name;
public Student(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
Following example shows you create java Function by using reference to one argument constructor.
public class ConstructorReferenceDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyFunctionalInterface1 mf = Student::new;
Function<String, Student> f1 = Student::new;// Function Example
Function<String, Student> f2 = (name) -> new Student(name);// equals to above line
System.out.println(mf.getStudent("Peter").getName());//Peter
System.out.println(f1.apply("Gerhard").getName());//Gerhard
System.out.println(f2.apply("Gerhard").getName());//Gerhard
}
}
4. Example with two arguments
@FunctionalInterface
interface MyFunctionalInterface1 {
Student getStudent(int id, String name);
}
class Student {
private int id;
private String name;
public Student(int id, String name) {
this.id = id;
this.name = name;
}
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
Following example shows you create java BiFunction by using reference to 2 argument constructor.
public class ConstructorReferenceDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyFunctionalInterface1 mf = Student::new;
BiFunction<Integer, String, Student> f1 = Student::new;// Function Example
BiFunction<Integer, String, Student> f2 = (id, name) -> new Student(id,name);// equals to above line
System.out.println(mf.getStudent(10, "Peter").getName());//Peter
System.out.println(f1.apply(20, "Gerhard").getName());//Gerhard
System.out.println(f2.apply(30, "Gerhard").getName());//Gerhard
}
}
5. Reference to constructor with var args example
@FunctionalInterface
interface MyFunctionalInterface {
College getStudents(int id, String... names);
}
class College {
private int id;
private List<String> names;
public College(int id, String... names) {
this.id=id;
this.names = Arrays.asList(names);
}
// getters and setters
}
Following example shows you reference to a Constructor with var args using BiFunction.
public class ConstructorReferenceDemo4 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyFunctionalInterface4 mf = College::new;
BiFunction<Integer, String[], College> f1 = College::new;// BiFunction Example
BiFunction<Integer, String[], College> f2 = (id, names) -> new College(id,names);// equals to above line
System.out.println(mf.getStudents(10, "Peter", "John", "Mike").getNames());
System.out.println(f1.apply(20, "Ram,Laxhman,Ravan".split(",")).getNames());
System.out.println(f2.apply(30, "Rahim,Akbar,Ismail".split(",")).getNames());
}
}
Output :
[Peter, John, Mike] [Ram, Laxhman, Ravan] [Rahim, Akbar, Ismail]
6. Conclusion
In this article we have covered about constructor reference in java 8 with simple examples.
