How to use Collections methods(removeAll() and retainAll()) for two objects. (objects are parent-child relation)

Question

I expected to result below but actually not. I would like to know how to show the differences between two Collections. (objects are parent and child relationship) In this case, can I use standard method like removeAll() or can you recommend another approach like using apache-commons. Thanks.

CONSTRAINT
------------------------------
1.Item.class is unmodifiable(eg. I can not add equals method)
2.If id is same between two objects, they are assumed as same things.
------------------------------

EXPECTED
------------------------------
removed object are:
2
same object are:
1
3
add object are:
4
------------------------------

ACTUAL
------------------------------
removed object are:
1
2
3
same object are:
add object are:
1
3
4
------------------------------

package com.javastudy;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class CollectionCompareToObjects {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        List<Item> before = new ArrayList<Item>();
        List<ItemEx> after = new ArrayList<ItemEx>();

        before.add(new Item(1L));
        before.add(new Item(2L)); // delete
        before.add(new Item(3L));

        after.add(new ItemEx(1L));
        after.add(new ItemEx(3L));
        after.add(new ItemEx(4L)); // added

        List<Item> removed = new ArrayList<Item>(before);
        removed.removeAll(after);

        System.out.println("removed objects are:");
        for(Item item : removed){
            System.out.println(item.getId());
        }

        List<Item> same = new ArrayList<Item>(before);
        same.retainAll(after);

        System.out.println("same objects are:");
        for(Item item : same){
            System.out.println(item.getId());
        }

        List<Item> added = new ArrayList<Item>(after);
        added.removeAll(before);

        System.out.println("add objects are:");
        for(Item item : added){
            System.out.println(item.getId());
        }

    }

}


package com.javastudy;

public class Item {

    private Long id;

    public Item(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

}

package com.javastudy;

public class ItemEx extends Item {

    private String name;

    public ItemEx(Long id) {
        super(id);
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

}

Answer 1

Java collections rely on the equals and hashCode methods (the latter is used by HashMap s, HashSet s and others).

If you want to be able to use the data structure capabilities of Java collections (such as removeAll , retainAll etc.), you need to supply objects with proper implementations of equals and hashCode .

If you can't modify the Item class, you can write a wrapper class with your own implementation of equals :

public class ItemWrapper {
    private final Item item;
    public ItemWrapper(Item item) {
        this.item = item;
    }

    public Item getItem() {
        return item;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        return obj instanceof ItemWrapper && item.getId().equals(((ItemWrapper) obj).item.getId());
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return item.getId().hashCode();
    }
}

Create a new ItemWrapper for each original Item , store the ItemWrapper s in Java collections, and use the required methods ( removeAll / retainAll ). Then iterate over the resulting collection and retrieve the Item s by calling each ItemWrapper 's getItem() method.

Your other option is to subclass ArrayList , but it seems like a more convoluted solution.

Yet another option is not to use Java collections for the remove/retain logic, implementing them yourself instead.