The BeanUtils class in the BeanUtils jar from the Apache Commons project (
http://commons.apache.org) can do this. A lot of this type of stuff (and some pretty complex things like POI) has already been done and is available from Apache.org.
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Walden H. Leverich
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 4:01 PM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: RE: Is RPG 'DEAD"
Remember that the copy-from-class is likely to also contain other
class variables.
Very true, The shallow/deep copy question is one that always is a
problem. But in the rough-parallel to the OP's comment about newDS =
oldDS your class wouldn't contain other classes.
How good is Java's reflection? Could you implement a generic copy using
reflection to inspect the members and copy them one by one? Perhaps
something like
Static object Util.CopyObject(Object oldObject, CopyType type)
Where CopyType was an enum of Shallow and Deep.
Or
Static object Util.CopyObject(Object oldObject, int depth)
Where 0 was the object itself, -1 was infinite depth and > 0 was the
number of levels to traverse.
You'd inspect the oldObject for its type. Spin up a new object of that
type, and then walk the member variables doing a copy as you go.
-Walden
--
Walden H Leverich III
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x3051
WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.TechSoftInc.com
midrange.com
