Java: Lombok and unwrapping properties

Question

I am working with JavaFx properties and Lombok

I started recently using Lombok, it makes my code much simpler and readable, but I have the issue with JavaFx properties, it doesn't unwrap them like I would generate them with IntelliJ I get a getter for the property itself and a getter for the value. Here is a simple example with explanation what I want to do.

public class LombokAndProperties {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Model model = new Model();

        model.getStringProperty(); // returns the StringProperty instead of String
        model.stringProperty(); // doesn't exist -> doesn't compile

        // Expectation:
        // model.getStringProperty() <- return the String that is stringProperty.get()
        // model.stringProperty() <- return the StringProperty itself
    }


    @Getter
    private static class Model{

        private StringProperty stringProperty;

    }

}

I know that I can use like: model.getStringProperty().get() to obtain the String value, but I would prefer the direct way if it exists.

Does any solution exist for this?

Answer 1

I've found a way:

public class LombokAndProperties {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Model model = new Model();

        model.getStringProperty(); // <- return the String that is stringProperty.getStringProperty()
        model.stringProperty(); // <- return the StringProperty itself

    }



    private static class Model{

        private interface DelegateExample {
            String getStringProperty();
        }

        @Accessors(fluent = true)
        @Getter
        @Delegate(types = DelegateExample.class)
        private StringProperty stringProperty = new StringProperty();

    }

    private static class StringProperty {
        String property = "p";

        public String getStringProperty(){
            return property;
        }
    }
}

With @Accessor annotation you can manipulate your getter name, while @Delegate gives you a delegation pattern. You can find more here and here . However notice two things: first, those annotations are marked as "experimental" by Lombok team. Second, to me this is a quite confusing API, so use it carefully.

If this solution is too complicated, I would suggest to adopt only @Accessor and creating your own delegate method:

public class LombokAndProperties {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Model model = new Model();

        model.getStringProperty(); // <- return the String that is stringProperty.get()
        model.stringProperty(); // <- return the StringProperty itself

    }

    private static class Model{

        @Accessors(fluent = true)
        @Getter
        private StringProperty stringProperty;

        public String getStringProperty(){
            return stringProperty.get();
        }
    }

}