Split list of objects into multiple lists of fields values using Java streams

Question

Let's say I have such object:

public class Customer {

    private Integer id;
    private String country;
    private Integer customerId;
    private String name;
    private String surname;
    private Date dateOfBirth;
}

and I have a List<Customer> . I would like to split such list with Java streams so that I would get a list of ids List<Integer> , countries List<String> , customerIds List<Integer> etc.

I know that I could do it as simple as making 6 streams such as:

List<Integer> idsList = customerList.stream()
        .map(Customer::getId)
        .collect(Collectors.toList());

but doing it that many times that I have fields seems pretty dull. I was thinking about custom Collector but I could not come up with anything useful that would be both neat and efficient.

Answer 1

For a type safe solution, you'd need to define a class holding the desired results. This type may also provide the necessary methods for adding another Customer or partial result:

public class CustomerProperties {
    private List<Integer> id = new ArrayList<>();
    private List<String> country = new ArrayList<>();
    private List<Integer> customerId = new ArrayList<>();
    private List<String> name = new ArrayList<>();
    private List<String> surname = new ArrayList<>();
    private List<Date> dateOfBirth = new ArrayList<>();

    public void add(Customer c) {
        id.add(c.getId());
        country.add(c.getCountry());
        customerId.add(c.getCustomerId());
        name.add(c.getName());
        surname.add(c.getSurname());
        dateOfBirth.add(c.getDateOfBirth());
    }
    public void add(CustomerProperties c) {
        id.addAll(c.id);
        country.addAll(c.country);
        customerId.addAll(c.customerId);
        name.addAll(c.name);
        surname.addAll(c.surname);
        dateOfBirth.addAll(c.dateOfBirth);
    }
}

Then, you can collect all results like

CustomerProperties all = customers.stream()
    .collect(CustomerProperties::new, CustomerProperties::add, CustomerProperties::add);

Answer 2

You can create a method like so:

public <T> List<T> getByFieldName(List<Customer> customerList, Function<Customer, T> field){
    return customerList.stream()
            .map(field)
            .collect(Collectors.toList());
}

Then just call your method with the field you want:

List<Integer> ids = getByFieldName(customerList, Customer::getId);
List<String> countries = getByFieldName(customerList, Customer::getCountry);
List<Integer> customerIds = getByFieldName(customerList, Customer::getCustomerId);
//...