QuickDto was originally created to make it easy to create DTOs that could
handle partial data through dirty checking. It was then expanded to provide
equals and hashCode, and
"copy" methods, that performed better than reflection based libraries.
Finally, QuickCopy was added to allow copying of any object to another object.
QuickDto/QuickCopy are Java Annotation Preprocessors that generate source code at compile time. The generated code is similar to what would be written by hand, and can be easily accessed and used by the debugger to set through what is happening.
QuickDto/QuickCopy allow converter methods to be added easily convert from one type to another. It also understands if the coping classes are a QuickDto or use QuickCopy to automatically handle conversions even if they are a List or Set.
The dirty checking has been moved to a Feature, which means that the dirty checking only needs to be there if desired. The Feature construct also allows for other custom extensions to inject logic into generated DTOs and even inside the accessor methods of the DTO.
QuickDto can be found in maven central here: https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.reladev.quickdto/quickdto
Here are a list of links to setup APT:
QuickDto generates DTOs based on a definition object. Create POJO with the DTO name plus the suffix "Def". Add @QuickDto to the class, and fill the POJO with fields. Modifiers don't matter, and no need to generate getters or setters (that is what QuickDto is for).
QuickDto will generate a new file with the same package and name minus "Def".
If sources were added to the QuickDto annotation, then copy methods will
also be generated. To add dirty checking, just add DirtyFeature.class to
the QuickDto features.
@QuickDto(source = User.class, features = DirtyFeature.class)
public class UserDtoDef {
@EqualsHashCode
@ExcludeCopyFrom
long id;
String firstName;
String lastName;
}
To create a CopyUtil, just add the QuickCopy annotation to any class, and provide
target classes that QuickCopy should copy to and from. QuickCopy will generate a
new class with the same package and name with "CopyUtil" append. QuickCopy will use the
getters and setters to perform the copy if they exist or it will go directly if the
fields are public.
@QuickCopy(source = UserDto.class)
public class User {
public long id;
public String firstName;
private String lastName;
public String getLastName() { return lastName; }
public void setLastName(String lastName) { this.lastName = lastName; }
}
Used on the class to signify that it is a DtoDef, and is required for APT processing.
extend- defines the class the DTO should extend.implement- defines the interfaces the DTO should implement.sources- defines the source class should be used in the copy methods.converters-features-fieldAnnotationsOnGetter[false] - defines whether non QuickDto annotations on fields should be placed on the property or the getter method.copyMethods[false] - defines whether QuickDto should copy methods defined in the DtoDef into the DTO class. This functionality uses JDK classes that are not guaranteed to exist in all JDKs, so it isn't included by default. This is a compile time dependency, so if the copy is successful, then it can be used on any JVM.
Used on the class to signify that a CopyUtil should be created to help coping to the specified targets.
targets-converters-
Used on the class to signify that a CopyUtil should be created to help coping to the specified targets.
quickDtoDefSuffix["Def"] - The suffix for all QuickDto Definitions. The suffix will be removed to for the Dto's name.quickCopySuffix["CopyUtil"] - The suffix that will be added to the annotated class's name to form the QuickCopy class.globalFeatures- Features that should be included on every QuickDto/QuickCopy.
Used on fields that should be included in the equals and hashCode methods. Only fields
with this annotation will be included, but if no field have the annotation, then all the
fields are included in the equals and hashCode methods.
Used on fields that should not be included in copy methods.
values- Specifies which Classes the exclude should apply to. If blank then it applies to all classes.
Used on fields that should not be included in copy methods that copy this field to another field.
values- Specifies which Classes the exclude should apply to. If blank then it applies to all classes.
Used on fields that should not be included in copy methods that copy another field into this field.
values- Specifies which Classes the exclude should apply to. If blank then it applies to all classes.
QuickDto allows for extensions to be made to add logic to DTOs. To create a feature, just extend QuickDtoFeature and implement the methods to add logic to DTO getter, setters, or extra methods. To use a feature, just add the feature class to any @QuickDto, or the @QuickDtoConfiguration to apply to the feature to all DTOs.
This feature adds dirty tracking to DTOs. If a field changes, it is marked dirty. Additional methods are added to provide checking if overall object is dirty or if specific fields are dirty, marking/resetting fields as dirty, and copy methods to only copy fields that are dirty.
The dirty feature is create for handling partial objects that are sent in Restful APIs that use PATCH.
- boolean checkDirty() - checks to see if any of the fields are dirty.
- boolean checkDirty(Fields field) - checks if the specified field is dirty.
- List listDirtyFields() - lists all the dirty fields.
- resetDirty() - resets all the dirty fields, so checkDirty() is false.
- copyDirtyTo({source}) - a copying method that copies the dirty fields from the dto to the passed source.
A: Either one can be used. Using the DTO might show errors until the DTO is generated on the next compile.
A: This project was developed for use in GWT (Google Web Toolkit) projects, which compile Java to Javascript. The annotation is used to tell GWT not to transform those methods. QuickDto owns the annotation, so there isn't any dependency on GWT.