override the return type of method declared in the interface after its implemented in class

Question

My requirement is I have an Interface where one method is declared and two classes implement the same interface, in which one class has return type of Set<object type> and other LIST<object type> ... please help me in correcting the code mistakes.

Here is the example code below :

Report file --- interface

public interface Reportfile
{
    public <T> parseReadfile();
}

Masterfile.java ---- class one

public class Masterfile implements Reportfile
    {
Set<Masterpojo > mset = new TreeSet<Masterpojo>();

        public String[] newline = null;
        public Set<Masterpojo> parseReadfile()
            {
                try{
                    Masterpojo mo = new Masterpojo();
                    CSVReader mread = new CSVReader(new FileReader(mfile),(delimiter));
                    while ((newline = mread.readNext()) != null)
                        {           
                            mo.setmline(newline);               
                            mset.add(mo);
                        }
                }catch(Exception e)
                    {
                        log.error("file not found");
                    }
                return mset;
            }
    }

Transfile.java ---- class 2

public class Transfile implements Reportfile
    {

List<Transpojo> tlist = new ArrayList<Transpojo>();

        public String[] newline = null;

        public List<Transpojo> parseReadfile()
            {
                try{
                    Transpojo to = new Transpojo();
                    CSVReader tread = new CSVReader(new FileReader(Transfile),(delimiter));
                    while ((newline = tread.readNext()) != null)
                        {
                            to.settline(newline);   
                            tlist.add(to);
                        }
                }catch(Exception e)
                    {
                        log.error("Transaction file not found");
                    }
                return tlist;
            }
    }

Masterpojo

public class Masterpojo
    {
        public String[] mline = null;       
        public String[] getmline()
            {
                return mline;
            }
        public void setmline(String[] mline)
            {
                this.mline = mline;
            }       
    }

Transpojo

public class Transpojo
    {

        public String[] tline = null;

        public String[] gettline()
            {
                return tline;
            }
        public void settline(String[] tline)
            {
                this.tline = tline;
            }   

    }

I error like belo when I compile the code in cmd :

Masterfile.java:6: error: Masterfile is not abstract and does not override abstract method <E>parseReadfi
le() in Reportfile
public class Masterfile implements Reportfile
       ^
  where E is a type-variable:
    E extends Object declared in method <E>parseReadfile()
Masterfile.java:34: error: parseReadfile() in Masterfile cannot implement <E>parseReadfile() in Reportfil
e
                public Set<Masterpojo> parseReadfile()
                                       ^
  return type Set<Masterpojo> is not compatible with void
  where E is a type-variable:
    E extends Object declared in method <E>parseReadfile()
Transfile.java:7: error: Transfile is not abstract and does not override abstract method <E>parseReadfile
() in Reportfile
public class Transfile implements Reportfile
       ^
  where E is a type-variable:
    E extends Object declared in method <E>parseReadfile()
Transfile.java:33: error: parseReadfile() in Transfile cannot implement <E>parseReadfile() in Reportfile
                public List<Transpojo> parseReadfile()
                                       ^
  return type List<Transpojo> is not compatible with void
  where E is a type-variable:
    E extends Object declared in method <E>parseReadfile()
4 errors

Answer 1

public interface Reportfile<T>
{
    public T parseReadFile();
}

public class Masterfile implements Reportfile<Set<Masterpojo>> 
{
    public Set<Masterpojo> parseReadfile()
    {
        ...
    }
}

public class Transfile implements Reportfile<List<Transpojo>> 
{
    public List<Transpojo> parseReadfile()
    {
        ...
    }
}

However, your code contains massive duplication ! Look at Transpojo and Masterpojo . The are exactly the same ! (except naming) Look at Masterfile and Transfile , both parseReadFile are implemented in the exact same way ! Except that one returns a Set and the other a List . All this can be simplified into something like (generics are not needed anymore):

public interface Reportfile
{
    public Collection<Pojo> parseReadFile();
}

public final class CsvFile implements Reportfile {
    @Override
    public Collection<Pojo> parseReadFile() {
        Collection<Pojo> result = new ArrayList<>();
        String[] newline;
        try {
            CSVReader reader = new CSVReader(new FileReader(file), delimiter);
            while ((newline = reader.readNext()) != null) {
                result.add(new Pojo(newline));
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            log.error("file not found");
        }
        return result;
    }
}

With Pojo :

public final class Pojo {
    private final String[] line;

    public Pojo(String[] line) {
        this.line = line;
    }

    public String[] getLine() {
        return line;
    }
}

Answer 2

Your Interface should declare what T is for the method parseReadfile (not the method itself) so if you make it so T is a generic type of ReportFile you can declare it in the classes that implement it.

For ReportFile.java

public interface Reportfile<T> { public < T > parseReadfile(); }

For Masterfile.java

public class Masterfile implements Reportfile<Masterpojo>

For Transfile.java

public class Transfile implements Reportfile<Transpojo>

You also have to change the method to return T not get T now like so:

public T parseReadfile();